MISSING OUR MOUTON

We lost our Mouton this weekend.

He'd been living in the sunroom with Maxine since the end of August (because his naughty behavior was escalating, not just harming household items, but also his sister) and had recently begun spending time outdoors over the past two weeks, while supervised by us (because he was curious, and he always loved laying in the sunshine). We let him out Friday morning as usual, but he refused to come back inside as we were leaving for work. So we let him stay out with Maxine, as he wanted. We were out late that night, and couldn't get him to come when we called him, either when we got home or at bedtime. Same thing Saturday. He wouldn't come for me or Jay or the kids. By this morning we were getting worried because we'd had a large thunderstorm come through in the early hours of the day and we knew he would be hungry and scared. And he'd never been out more than a day and a half before. I looked for him before I went for my run, and again when I got home, and still nothing. Before lunch, once the rain had really cleared and we'd hoped he'd come out of hiding, we tried again.

We found him down the hill near the back of our property. He'd been bitten by a snake, probably back on Friday. We are so upset to have lost our special little guy, and feel so guilty for letting him stay outside unsupervised. Being an indoor cat his whole life, he was unprepared to come across a snake. We came inside to tell the kids immediately. Cora brought me a washcloth for my tears and told me it would be ok, sweet thing. James cried along with us. Jay went back out and took good care of Mouton, laying him to rest beside the big hollow log that he'd sheltered himself in once long ago on another night that he'd gotten out of the house (unexpectedly) and was too scared to come back inside by himself, and I'd had to pull him out, cooing to him the entire time, and carry him in. Jay planted a fern on top of the spot, and we later took the kids out to say our goodbyes and lay a fresh gardenia from the garden.

We've cried off and on today, as has James (and Cora has as well, though we don't think she really understands what's happened - she has the words, and has asked a lot of questions, but I think she's more concerned about seeing her mommy and daddy cry than anything else). James walked up to me at one point this afternoon and said "Mommy, I have to tell you something" and when I said, ok, go ahead, he told me "Mouton isn't going to get to enjoy Halloween with us!", then promptly broke down into sobs. He gets it. Of course, at bedtime as I was tucking Cora in, after she'd see me crying again (I'd just gone out to feed and water Maxine and Jude...), she told me "I'm so sorry Mouton is dead Mommy, I loved him so very much." So maybe she does get it. Breaking my heart.

So our Mouton is gone. The kitty who thought he was a puppy, loved to snuggle, sleep in crazy positions all over the house in any nook or cranny he could squeeze himself into, who never took no for an answer when he wanted to be pet and/or sit in your lap, who howled and talked incessantly and ran around like he was possessed on full moon nights, who had the absolute softest fur of any cat we've ever known, and who was so very loved by all of us. We miss him a lot already. Goodbye Mouton.