My Milo, Episode 5

Previously...
Our long-suffering cat, Milo, went missing during a very cold, very snowy week. There was much worrying and fighting off of mental images of frozen felines.

The saga continued....

Okay. The worrying was all me. Thursday at bedtime, we prayed for Milo and his safe return. Afterwards Josiah says, "Our cat is missing?" (That whole "time is relative" concept is sometimes a blessing. My plan had worked! You see, I had purposefully not drawn attention to the situation in an attempt to prevent the boys from worrying.) When Josiah asked if we would make posters for him I told him that we probably would.

Our search efforts on Thursday night were unproductive. I walked up and down the block calling for Milo. I even had John dig out the sewer, which had been blocked by a wall of snow, to see if perhaps Milo had gone in there and been trapped by the snow plows.

Friday morning, John made the requested "Missing Cat" posters and placed one at each end of the block. Within just a couple of hours, we got a phone call from a lady who thought that it was our cat which she had housed for a night. When she wasn't able to find his owners the next day, she took him to the ANNA shelter.

John called the shelter and they confirmed that our description matched the cat there; however, the shelter is only open three hours a day and they were closing in 5 minutes. Seriously? Three hours? We had to wait until Saturday to (hopefully) retrieve our Milo.

John went to the shelter Saturday while I was at class. I gave him a call during my break. It went something like this:

Me: Hi. Whatcha doing? (asked just like Isabella asks Phineas and Ferb)

John: I got the cat.

Me: Our cat is home?

John: Yep. We had to pay $35 to get him back.

Me: Really.

John: Yeah, but while he was there he drove them crazy by spraying all the time.

Me: Milo was spraying? (He has never done that at home.)

John: Every time a male cat came near.

Me: Oh.

John: So they fixed him.

Me: What? They just neutered a person's cat!?

John: Apparently, he was driving them crazy and it was before we called.

Me: They didn't take out his claws, did they?

John: I don't think so... but they gave him his shots too.

Me: Huh. *inwardly thrilled that our cat was neutered and shot up for a mere $35*

John: They told me that he was spraying so much that they made the vet squeeze him in right away.

Me: Okay. See you later. *and there was much rejoicing*

Later, Josiah asked me what "fixed" means. I told him that Milo wouldn't be able to be a daddy now unless, of course, he already is. "He can't be a daddy? What if he already was?" "Well, then he'll still be a daddy but he won't have any more little cat babies", then recalling that he already knows that girls have the babies I added, "He can't help a girl cat have kittens anymore." The questioning continues, "Why not?" *sigh* After trying to gauge how much information he will need to be satisfied, I tell him, "They did a surgery that cut the tubes that carry the cat seeds to the girl cat." His next question was "Can he be a grandpa?". So I inform him, "Not unless he already has kittens out there somewhere and then they have kittens some day." The follow-up question: "Well, can he be an uncle?" Not sure where this is going I ask, "Hm?" Josiah clarifies, "If he meets a girl cat and she has kittens already, can he be their uncle or something?" I responded, "Yeah, sure." Satisfaction was achieved. *and there was much rejoicing*

To sum up: Cat was missing. Cat was found, slightly altered. No more man whore cat.

Doesn't he look thrilled to be back?