Update – April 30th, 2021

Bob went missing this past January 9th, 2021. His body was found yesterday, April 29th, 2021. He drowned in Falls Lake. He has been dead for many months based on the condition of his body. We took his body to the vet where he was scanned and the microchip number confirmed the almost unrecognizable body to be Bob. We are having him cremated. He will be coming back home with us, in a different way. But, at least he’s home, again.

**If your cat or pet goes missing, the posters you put up work. The person who found Bob’s body made the connection because of the poster on the community mailbox. That was where he was able to get our phone number, to call us.

Original Post – January 31st, 2021

My purpose for writing this is to process the emotional roller coaster ride of a missing pet. Out cat, Bob Jazeera went missing three weeks ago. Bob is a true outdoor cat. He typically goes out for a few hours, then returns, never too far from home.

It is winter here in Nova Scotia, Canada. Lots of snow, dampness, and frigid, cold temperatures. We’re living in a rural location, up in a low mountain – in a lake community. This means lots of forest and places to get lost; and lots of people who are cat friendly and take in/feed stray cats as a result of this isolated location being a location where people are known to dump unwanted cats.

I know this unhappy fact as a result of the community here coming together to help us find Bob.

Michael and I have posted posters, scattered kitty litter into trails leading back to our cabin, posted on lost pet web sites. The questions will always be – have I done enough? Is he suffering? Is he dead? Will I ever see him again?

When Bob first went missing, there was one sighting here in our community, as a cat matching Bob’s description was seen looking into someone’s kitchen window. When they tried to entice him with tuna to get him inside, he wouldn’t take the bait. Next were two recent sightings of a cat matching Bob’s description, along the same street, some 24 kilometers away from home, in downtown Windsor. If this is Bob, how he traveled the 24 kilometers from here to downtown Windsor, is a mystery to us. The two people who contacted us described this cat as the cat with the “raccoon tail’ and the cat with the “spot on his nose”. Michael and I walked the area, calling for him. No Bob. Those who spotted him are continuing to keep an eye out, and when they see this cat, one will try and take a picture, the other is trying to catch him.

Michael and I rescued Bob when he was a wee kitten while we were living in Doha, Qatar. Bob is a resilient, street smart cat. He loves being outside. Even in the snow! But, he doesn’t like the cold.

In my own way, I guess this blog is a tribute to him. I’m trying to do everything right – so that my heart doesn’t hurt so much.

Below are blogs I’ve written about Bob:

The Kitten Who Adopted Us – Bob Jazeera!

Remember Bob?

I’m not sure how this story is going to end.

I find myself going from an acceptance that maybe he is dead, to despair that he maybe suffered from a coyote kill, to hope that maybe somebody has taken him in and hasn’t seen our signs, to grief that I may never see him again. Not knowing is the hardest. I can imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios and a few hopeful ones.

People I’ve spoken with on the Internet’s lost pet sights offer hope – that cats have returned home months, years after being lost. Then there are cats who never come home…

Again, not knowing is the hardest. Today I may have hope. Tomorrow, I may allow myself to accept the possibility he is dead. All I can do is try to be in the present moment, as best as I can, and pray that however this story ends, we know that Bob was loved so much by us.

S, 💔

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