Isabelle

Isabelle was a roamer. Sometimes she would disappear for days then nonchalantly just show up (as if I hadn't been searching frantically) and never say a word about it.

One day in May when she was about six years old, she didn't come home.

I have often wondered if she got hit by a car, although I searched all the ditches and never saw any sign of tan fur. Or maybe the coyotes got her. Perhaps she wandered into the territory of a mean dog. Or maybe a dog came into our yard and killed her. (The neighbor's dog cornered my mother-in-law's cat in her own yard and that's why her new name is Tripod Willie.)

But the best theory is that she simply found herself a new home with some little old lady who buys her canned cat food and doesn't own a dog.

Cally and Isabelle are mother and daughter, but after Cally was about eighteen months old, she became the "dominant" cat, and bullied poor Isabelle. When we got a dog, that was the last straw. Cally is very casual around Lucy, but Isabelle, being farm bred I guess, was always afraid of her and would streak for the nearest tree whenever Lucy was around, inviting Lucy to chase her, of course, and bark, escalating Isabelle's terror. Between Cally's bullying, and Lucy's chasing, Isabelle might have decided it was just time to move on.

I hope so.

Done