Hey, there! Log in / Register

Hey la, hey la, his cat is back

Spatch posts the bulletin that Abbie the cat is back where he belongs tonight - and eating up a storm, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Apparently, Abbie never went very far even as Spatch, his roommates and a whole lot of other people fanned out across greater Davis Square looking for him - he was holed up in the "bahn" of the house next door:

Tracy was at home so once I got the message and told him, he dashed out to check. Abbie had, at that point, wandered past our house to the house on the other side and was busy in their side yard. Tracy got the cat's attention, whereupon Abbie walked right by him and up our driveway. Tracy then carefully followed the cat, knowing full well there was probably Scared Cat going on, but near the back of the driveway, Abbie turned around and let the big-but-not-so-scary-guy-who-looks-kinda-familiar approach.

Once inside, Abbie quickly ran up the stairs, over to the dining room where his food dish was supposed to be (it was still in the house trap at that point) and began to loudly complain. ...

Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

So glad to hear Abbie is back home safe, dry, and with a healthy appetite!

up
Voting closed 0

I tried to leave a message on his blog, but I couldn't figure out the log-in bit, so I'll just leave it here, if you don't mind Adam.

Rob, I'm very happy to know that he's back and in good health. All the best to you and Abbie. Take care. :)

up
Voting closed 0

Film at 11.

up
Voting closed 0

Film at 11.

up
Voting closed 0

and care a lot about his safe return. If you don't, there's no need to inform us of this.

up
Voting closed 0

This just in: "us" includes greater boston readers, 99% of whom have no clue who this cat (or its owner) is.

Besides, if "you" all know the owner, you read *his* blog, so there was zero point in re-posting it almost word-for-word on a site about *BOSTON* news.

No point, except for being drama queens, which LJ users are exceedingly good at.

up
Voting closed 0

REPEATED anonymous posting about your issues with how trivial other people's concerns are - to you!

NEWS FLASH - it isn't all about you, everywhere, all the time! Don't like that ... don't read it!

up
Voting closed 0

I love the smell of ad hominem in the morning.

Aside: how is posting anonymously any different than posting with a made up pseudonym? Hmm?

up
Voting closed 0

If someone posts with a registered pseudonym such as Spatch or SwirlyGrrl, you can be sure that the same person has posted every message that carries the pseudonym.

up
Voting closed 0

You couldn't just pass over the story if it didn't interest you? A lot of what I link to involves people you've never heard of.

I have to admit I know Spatch, at least online (we've never actually met in person), so, yeah, I am thrilled he got his cat back.

But aside from that, I found the whole thing interesting because there was this ad-hoc community of people who gathered to try to help him get his cat back - from the people who downloaded fliers and posted them to the people who actually went out looking for the cat. A lot of that happened online. It's a cool social-networking story, right up there in its own way with the global Anonymous protests, the pantsless T riders thing and that xkcd gathering.

That's why I posted about it initially. And having done that, I figured I'd post the results - a bit of good news amidst all the depressing and stupid crime stories I also link to. And I know that the readership of LJ and UH are not synonymous (and I also know that for all the whining that does go on on LJ, there are a lot of non-drama-queen discussions going on).

up
Voting closed 0

99% of the regular participants at this site don't have a clue who you are, nor do we give a fuck what you think. Go read up on social media and get a clue why someone would cross-post from another person's blog. Oh... and GYOFB so we can all get busy not reading it.

up
Voting closed 0

You'd better post about this in your journal.

up
Voting closed 0

Funny, I posted about his return last night and went to bed shortly thereafter. When I woke up this morning I found over 130 messages from well-wishers, many of them who had never met the critter, who said they were very glad and relieved to hear of his return. That's the most amount of comments I've ever received for a post, and that's also not mentioning the amount of local folks (and many non-locals) who helped search for him, put up flyers, called local vets and shelters, and sent good thoughts our way during his absence.

Apparently when you make friends, people do care. Now here's Jim with the weather.

up
Voting closed 0

and that's also not mentioning the amount of local folks (and many non-locals) who helped search for him, put up flyers, called local vets and shelters, and sent good thoughts our way during his absence.

All because you didn't bother to look next door, of course.

up
Voting closed 0

The cat wasn't next door the whole time. I spotted him a week ago on the far side of a very busy street and several blocks away.

up
Voting closed 0

Right...because animals who are outside TOTALLY stay in one place for days on end.

You seem very bitter about this whole thing. Did your parents love the family cat more than you?

up
Voting closed 0

Spatch, you don't know me from Adam (ha!), but I saw the UH post that your beloved cat was missing and it made me quite sad. I have an indoor cat and I'd be beside myself if she ever got loose (so would she, probably). I'm so glad that you found Abbie, and grateful to Adam for keeping us updated on the situation. Cheers!

up
Voting closed 0

So glad he's back and safe, Spatch! I had hoped he found some shelter and I'm sure his size protected him a bit too. When I went to get a cake at Lindells I returned to the car to find my younger son looking around - for Abbie! He saw a sign and thought he'd scope out the dumpster just in case.

For the record, I'm on the left coast this week and I checked in JUST to see if Abbie was back. Pthhhhhpt!

up
Voting closed 0

As the owner of an enormous cat (like Spatch), I figured he'd turn up soon. Kitties of a certain size always attract a bit of attention. Glad the posse came through!

www.thebigredblog.com

up
Voting closed 0

That cat sounds like a jerk. I honestly can't figure out what people like about them - they're mean, they run away, they scratch, they knock over stuff in the middle of the night, they jump on you when you try to sleep late, and at the same time they're super-quiet and you never know where they are...

Seriously folks - get a dog, or a turtle. Turtles are cool too.

up
Voting closed 0

Because dogs never are mean, run away, scratch, knock over stuff in the middle of the night, jump on you...

D'oh!

up
Voting closed 0

I don't get snakes, but I don't suggest that it is impossible to understand snakes and nobody should have them snakes.

My parents had a rather elderly cat who passed away at age 22 last year. A couple years ago, my mom had a stroke sometime in the morning after my dad got up. The cat realized that she wasn't responding normally and went downstairs to raise holy fucking hella noise at the basement door. My dad got his clue that something was really badly wrong and got upstairs before she tried to get out of bed with one side of her body not working very well. This probably saved her a bad fall - and a couple of hours of semi-conscious near paralysis at the side of her bed, followed by delayed treatment. She is fine now, in part, because she received medical treatment much more quickly than if her cat hadn't put out the alarm before she was even really awake.

I've also watched my kids grow up with our cats, and their relationships change. Like our big guy following me to the bus stop once, and then hounding me away from my grad work and out the door to get them when he heard the bus enter the neighborhood a couple blocks down. Like his sister hounding my older son at 9pm each night to lift her into his loft bed and get to sleep. Like big guy running to comfort any kid who is crying/upset.

So you don't get cats. Cats don't get you. So what? Don't have a cat. That doesn't mean that there are plenty of us out here who can build those relationships. Just because you can't doesn't mean others don't. Your not getting along with cats - not a problem. Your insisting that nobody can and nobody should care - problem.

up
Voting closed 0

Fuck you, anonymous asswipe.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

up
Voting closed 0

The sound of a joke flying *right* over your head, or alternatively, you getting sucked in by a troll.

up
Voting closed 0

Enough. If you like cats, that's nice. If you don't, nothing anybody has to say about them will change your mind. However, isn't it nice that someone found some happiness? Yes, it is. Now would you go crawl back into your respective anonymous holes until you have something worthwhile to add?

(If you're having any trouble understanding this, please see my comment above.)

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

up
Voting closed 0

Did it occur to you that there's more than one anonymous poster("Anonymous" is the default for "Your name"...) I didn't post the "man, why do people bother with cats" post.

up
Voting closed 0

in favor of consistent, registered pseudonymity.

up
Voting closed 0

Yes. That's why I said, "... respective anonymous holes."

No offense was intended, if you're a nice anonymous dude or dudette.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

up
Voting closed 0

think brendans are jerks.

up
Voting closed 0

Spatch, I'm glad Abbie came home (although I'm a little disappointed he was not snared in the housecat house trap). Abbie's lucky to have such a persistent, caring person.

And to anonymous - cats are aloof, and scratchy, and destructive, and tough to figure out...and yet they're still better people than you. Go figure.

up
Voting closed 0

I'm glad to hear you found your cat and he is safe back home.

up
Voting closed 0

I'm so glad to learn the good news. And I'm very very glad to have closure on this story, which I took kinda personally because I don't know Spatch except online, but I have three indoor cats of my own including a big guy with a bad habit of trying to jump the front door from time to time. In fact, he got out a couple of weeks ago, and got as far as hiding under one of the cars next door, and it was a pain to get him out and back in the house just from that. So hooray and thanks for making sure we got the end of the story as well as the beginning and depressing middle.

up
Voting closed 0