I got something in my eye*

The elder of our two cats has been missing for three days. Unlike when our other cat went walkabout a couple of years ago, I'm afraid there won't be a happy ending to this story.

Oscar hadn't been himself for about a week. He was a bit wobbly on his feet and his pupils were extremely dilated. The last time I saw him was around midday on Sunday, when he was poking around in my study. He didn't show up for dinner that evening, and when he missed breakfast the next morning I was pretty sure we wouldn't see him again.

I won't go on about how cute Oscar was. Cuteness wasn't his forte. He was certainly playful and entertaining as a kitten. He always loved getting inside boxes, even if they were too small. In fact, the smaller the better. We used to push open tissue boxes just to watch him dive into them with his front legs outstretched, ending up with his head and front legs out one end and his back legs and tail out the other. But he had what in humans we would probably call a personality disorder, in that he would be happily rubbing up against your leg one minute then biting it as hard as he could the next. Since he was already around a year old when we got him (the previous owners had a young child and were nervous having a cat around), we accepted no responsibility for this behaviour, although this didn't make us any less nervous when unsuspecting guests (or suspecting family members) tried to pat Oscar or less shamefaced when he bit them.

As an adult, Oscar was rather stubborn and aloof. He did like a good lap to curl up on at night, but didn't enjoy being picked up and cuddled. He was also very strong. At one point we stopped letting him sleep in our bedroom because he would wake us up very early by jumping up onto Mrs Fool's bedside table and knocking over everything on it. But come morning he would throw himself against the door in an effort to get it, making an awful racket. We had to resort to barricading the door with a suitcase to stop him gaining entry.

For the last few years, Oscar's favorite sleeping spot has been on top of the Sky TV decoder in the living room. I think he liked the warmth. It can't have been the most comfortable of places to sleep. It was hard and a bit too small. Often his head or tail would dangle over the edge of the decoder and block the infrared window so that we couldn't change channels. Once or twice he fell off while sound asleep.

So, farewell Oscar. You were a good cat.

*One of the many memorable lines from the movie Spartan. You can see more here.

Distance walked since last post: 12km
Total distance walked since Koshu Kaido training began: 182.3km
Days left until departure: 35