Yeah, I haven't talked about this yet, but last week, my older cat, Felix, went missing after he and his little brother, Junior, managed to escape the house. I got Junior back in an afternoon, because he can't not come running when you call for him. But Felix was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't TOO worried, because it's not unusual for him to disappear for an entire day at a time, and earlier this year during the Summertime, he got out once before and disappeared for three days before coming back skinny, but otherwise safe and found. However, we have coyotes, which was troubling.
Well, I looked all over for him spanning three days and didn't find him, and then when the REALLY cold weather and snow hit, I knew that if he wasn't dead before, he would be now. I was sad, but I knew I had to consider him dead by then. I didn't discuss the matter online because I didn't want to talk about it.
Then, earlier today, I went down into my grandparents' basement to do some work with the water line down there (they live very near to where I am) and there he was. Cold, skinny, dehyderated, and weak, but very much clinging to life. Now, no one, including my grandparents, hardly ever go down into that basement so no one knew he had taken shelter there. Well, I dropped what I was doing to quickly take him home. I put him in my bedroom (the smallest and warmest room in my abode) in front of a floor heater, food, and water. Then I did what I needed to do over my grandpa and grandma's house before checking on him again.
I could get him to eat, but not drink, so I called the vet and took him over. The Doc is going to keep him overnight, because his body temperature was very close to a danger zone. He's going to be hooked up to an I.V. unit to get liquid into him and he's been given some mild shots. Doc said he has a 50/50 chance of survival.
Now begins a long night of worrying.