Publish or Perish:

Miou Miou

Cover photo credit: Bill Sanders

One day in July, a cat poised on my fence and then it dropped into my backyard. The cat was grey with black and brown stripes along its face and down its back.  It looked sad, and a bit disheveled.

So, right then I decided to put out food and water for her in the back garden.  I assumed it was a female.  She was shy of humans and was quick to run away whenever I approached her.

After about a week I laid the food and water closer to the back porch.  I was feeding her twice a day.

One day I was sitting in one of the rockers on the back porch, and the cat jumped into my lap and started purring.  This was the moment Miou Miou became my cat.

Okay, I good cat owner needs to take their pet for a Veterinary check-up. I borrowed my neighbor’s cat carrier for the Vet appointment. The pet carrier had openings in the front and on the top. I easily placed the Miou Miou in the carrier and put her in the back seat of the Honda.

This day was a three-digit weather day, one hundred degrees. I had all of the windows open in the car.  About one mile from home and two minutes to the Veterinary Clinic, Miou Miou made a big bang with her paws inside the carrier.  Unknown to me, she had kicked out of the top of the carrier and jumped out of the car window while I was driving 25 miles an hour.  Because I had my eyes on the road, and was I was focused on the other cars around me, I didn’t realize she was gone.

I proceeded to the Vet’s office. I parked the car in front and I went around and opened the back car door. The cat carrier was empty! 

What a surprise!  I looked under the seats. No cat. I was stunned. I went into the Vet’s office and told Jeanette the receptionist what had just happened. I cancelled Miou Miou’s appointment and told Jeanette I would look for the cat and reschedule when Miou Miou was found.

I got back into the car and retraced the route we had taken that morning. Alas no Miou Miou.  I did this the next day too. 

This event happened on a Monday. On the following Thursday at 7:30 am in the morning, Miou Miou was at the back door mew mewing. She had walked through heavy traffic and over the railroad tracks, hopped over the fence, and was home again for her two meals a day. 

I’m so curious about her adventures Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?  The dangers, and the risks of a little cat with trains buses, cars, people, motorcycles and other cats, or dogs. Where did she sleep, who did she encounter? Did she find any food to eat?

I called Jeanette at the Veterinary Clinic and set-up another appointment for the following week. I borrowed my daughter’s cat carrier with only one opening in the front. Furthermore, I recruited my next door neighbor to help me get her into the carrier, and to ride in the back seat to make sure we could get this feral cat safely to the Vet.

Miou Miou is a male

Dr. Weber let us know we had a Mr. Miou Miou. Dr. Weber kept him all day. He neutered him, inoculated him with leukemia vaccine and prescribed some antibiotic ointment for his left eye that looked infected.

When I went to pick him up, as soon as he heard my voice he started mew mewing. The pet technician said he had not made a sound all day until he heard my voice.

My cat is now a domestic cat.  He follows me from room to room, and outdoors, from place to place.  We are getting used to each other. Mr. Miou Miou is sleeping in the home office at night. Every morning, after he eats we both go outside to the garden.

I’m thinking about getting another cat too.  I think Mr. Miou Miou needs a companion.

The End.