Reader Doc Bill is extraordinarily fond of his cat Kink, so named because of a bend in his tail (see last photo below). I visited Doc Bill in Houston five years ago and met this estimable cat, who sat next to me on the table at dinner (Doc Bill and his wife are great cooks!)
Now Kink has unaccountably disappeared from the front yard where he customarily sits, and it’s unexplainable. He was either kidnapped or a predator got him. He may not come back, and that’s what Doc Bill is assuming. [He was chipped, so I am still holding out hope.]
So I am presenting Doc’s memorial for Kink below as a supplement to today’s Caturday Felid post, which will be up later. Doc’s words are indented:
Kink the Cat, so named because of the distinctive kink in his tail, was my constant companion for 15 years. Kink was a very vocal cat with about a dozen different sounds from “hello, I’m here” to “food!” to “where are you” and more. A very photogenic cat, Kink earned several awards from photography contests, including his most prized possession, an autographed and illustrated copy of WEiT. Throughout his life Kink was devoted to the study of gravity. Whether it was a bowl of food or a bottle of wine, Kink felt that not enough experimentation had been done. The sound of things crashing to the floor was common in our house.Kink disappeared from home last week suddenly and without a trace. He was a homebody, not a wanderer. He never missed breakfast. Kink came into our lives by chance and left us with a mystery. He will be missed greatly.
Photos: Portrait from 2011; sitting on a sweater 2021; tail picture [showing the kink] 7-months old.
So sorry to hear that Kink is missing, Doc Bill – fingers crossed that he makes a swift return.
I am so sorry to hear this. Who knows to where cats vanish. The movie “Men in Black” might have been on to something: Maybe cats are visiting aliens that get called home from time to time. I hope Mr. Bill’s K is just taking a short vacation.
Love that central photo. What a beautiful cat! I hope this story ends well. As for the third photo, I’ve never seen a cat do that: rather sprawled on its side while eating. That’s peculiar.
That was the prize winner! I got (yet another) copy of WEIT – hey, can’t have too many – autographed by the Author his own self.
I also sincerely hope he returns home soon. My sympathies. Not knowing what happened to your pet is one of the worst feelings, IMO.
I hope very much that Kink returns to his family. It’s heartbreaking to lose a four-legged friend in any circumstances.
The birds of prey, hawks and eagles, are very active in our neighborhood. A red-tail spent the better part of two days on our front porch nomming on a couple of rabbits.
I was thinking an owl, large enough to snatch a 10-lb cat. Or a dastardly hooman, even worse.
Definitely a possibility. In our neck of the woods, I’ve only seen a couple of owls, but hawks are very plentiful and there are at least 3 bald eagles around. We keep a pretty close eye on our 6 pound dog!! 🙂
So sorry to hear this.
I sure hope he comes back DocBill. I’ve never had a pet go missing, but I can imagine the anxiety it would produce.
We don’t have these predator problems here in the UK. I don’t know what kind of place they’re living in. My village facebook group is forever full of lost and found cats. When I was a kid we had our cat go missing for days and she came back covered in coal dust. This was a mining area and lots of people had receptacles for coal or even coal sheds in their gardens. We thought she’d got stuck in one and then released. Let’s hope Kink comes home.
There’s always hope, though I appreciate that ten years is too long in Kink’s case: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-58597174