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So this month Susan and I have had an unexpected surprise come and meet us at our back yard door. She was as skinny as possible, dirty and had a back leg that appeared to have been involved in some sort of recent incident. At first she showed up briefly during the day to lay in the sun in our back yard which wasn't the first time we've seen cats walking the fences. Then after a few days she started to come to the patio door and stare in, eventually Suz decided to start putting some food out for her and before you knew it she was in our flat and laying around like she owned the place. After our first week she started looking a lot more healthy and we began noticing other cat's approaching our porch. Two big male cats in fact, and literally by the end of the first week Merlyn (her new name) was in heat and howling to go back outside. Up until this point we had been just leaving her outside during the night since we didn't really have any kitty facilities for her. However we decided we had to make the commitment and buy some kitty litter and proper cat food as we began taking ownership of our new friend while protecting her from the male forces outdoors. Another week went by and she finally began coming out of her episodes of morning howls and all was becoming good with our friendship. So we purchased a cat carrier and a collar so we can make the big trip out to the vet and get her properly fixed. This all was going as planned except... now she's gone! Susan let her outside on Friday afternoon while the sun was out (which we've done a few times before) and she left and has yet to come back. So now all of a sudden the tables have turned and we have everything we need to own a cat but we're missing the cat! My hope is still pretty good however that she may still return yet, however it's a pretty crazy world out there for a cat and it's not too far from the imagination to think that something terrible may have happened. Merlyn's a great little kitty it's amazing how quickly you can become attached to a friend, hopefully all is well with her...
--EDIT--
She's back!! 42 hours later! **whew**
Now we've put a collar on her with a bell. Hope she doesn't do that again!
