Thursday, June 18, 2026 - 9:47 PM

GRAYSON IS HOME!

Over the weekend, the trail cam we'd been lent by the rescue group finally caught a cat we were SURE was our Grayson (it wasn't, but we'll get into that later), and I'd propped open our apartment building door and sat on the stairs watching from about 1:30am to nearly 3am, hoping he would sneak in. (We'd talked to our neighbors about leaving the door open, but there'd been a rat problem a few years ago, so leaving the door open is a no-go.) We finally had hope in our hearts that he'd come back towards home.

Tuesday morning, I woke up groggy and sluggish after sitting out until around 3am. And then we heard a cat crying outside. I bolted up, threw on clothes, and ran outside. I thought it was probably just one of the kids outside, but still had to check. I had to check. I got downstairs, and a neighbor who'd been out walking flagged me down. She'd seen him!

She'd taken some photos (the above was one), and it was CLEARLY our boy. She showed me where she'd seen him hiding in the nearby bushes, though he'd hidden again and was out of sight. It was AMAZING. He was so close. We just had to get him HOME. We called him, tried to lure him out, but with no sign, we had no way to be sure which part of the bushes he might be in. Under advice of the rescue we'd been working with, we set up the crate we'd been using as a kitty refuge and food, alongside the trail cam the rescue had loaned us.

I skipped my German class for the day, Robin went to take notes for both of us, and Violet and I stayed outside watching the site in shifts. To keep an eye out and making sure the borrowed camera didn't get snatched, since it was out right next to a walking path. The day oozed by. I did a little bit of German practice in the field, but mostly listened to videos and drifted, as my brain was absolute mush from exhaustion.

Evening came with no sign, not that we expected any while the sun was up, Robin got home from class, and Violet took over watching so I could go up with Robin and we could go over what I'd missed in class. As we were coming to a break, the lady from the rescue arrived with the humane trap to help us get that all set up. We milled around, helping her get things done and doing little chores. As Violet was laying a scent trail along the path we'd been spawn-camping all day, vi sees him. Just...chilling in the bushes.

We go over, try to coax him out, but he's skittish as hell. The rescue lady starts setting up the trap nearby. Meanwhile, I'm half buried in the bush, trying to coax Gray out, since I'm His Person. He slowly starts recognizing us, and starts crying. We keep talking to him, keep trying to lure him over, and his cries turn from "I'm scared" to "Come save me!" I inch forward, wary of scaring him into fleeing. I offer forward again the chunk of leftover bratwurst from the previous night's dinner that I'd been trying to tempt him with, and finally, he comes to me. He eats some of the sausage I'm offering him, lets me touch, gets more confident and going for big bites and...GRAB!

I have a particular set of skills, between horse stuff and having been a dog and cat groomer and veterinary assistant. I know ALLL about scruffing and haranguing cats. He bloodied us a bit, but we got him!

Not that he was particularly happy to be in the carrier.

He hissed and struck at the door a few times, growled a bit. But. He was secure. And he did calm down. We carried him across the field and up to our apartment, secured him in the room we call the Sex Dungeon with food, water, and an improvised litterbox, and opened the door of his cage.

He stalked out, his first business being to locate a place he could hide. Once he found a place though, he was Back. And immediately started stropping against us and asking for attention.

Once we'd secured his sister, we let him into the greater apartment, and tried to go get through the last of our German notes.

Between brain being soup, and him getting more and more relaxed and cuddly...yeah, that wasn't happening.

The plan had always been to take him to the vet's to get checked out as soon as possible once we got him Back, especially because parasites, and though we saw no injuries, he was super dehydrated, had lost a TON of weight, and he had a tick on his forehead that needed addressed. One of those, "We need to remove this, and it needs to happen tomorrow. If we can't get him in to a vet tomorrow, we'll do it, but if we can, we'll have them do it," things.

We set up my bed in the Sex Dungeon, and I slept in there with him, since D, our other kitty, was NOT happy to have this STRANGER here. Yeah, we know she missed Gray, but he didn't exactly smell like himself, and she was NOT having it when he accidentally slipped into the room she was in (always tough going through a door trying to keep one cat from exiting and another from entering. Teamwork for the win).

It was a long night of me just...petting him. Any time one of us wasn't actively petting him, he would chirp at us, needing the reassurance. And the last time I'd really slept...I'd woken up with him gone. I'd watched him drift to sleep in my arms that night already, purring and happy, for his paws to start twitching with dreams, his purrs to slow to nothing, and for him to jerk awake, looking around, only to settle when I pet and spoke to him. I didn't want my own nightmares of him being gone. So I drifted, and he drifted, and we kept each other comfortable together.

Yesterday morning dawns, and my cat is still here. He gets two breakfasts, and slows down a bit on the second one. Violet books the vet appointment, it lines up for after Robin's and my class, and we're ready for the day. Robin and I go to class, despite how hard it is to pry ourselves from our poor sweet boy.

We meet Violet and Gray at the vet's office after class. The vet was amazing, super kind and gentle, removed Gray's tick with literally no fuss, and dealt with my anxious concerns like a champ. He gave us flea and tick treatment for Gray and D, told us what to monitor for and let us know we could always schedule a follow-up in a month or as needed, and sent us on our way, declaring Gray young and healthy, and that he would be able to gain his weight back over the next few weeks, and that yes, I should look out for signs of parasites.

Robin took Gray home, and Violet and I swung over to the Hospital. Yeah, like I said, we both got a bit bloodied in the drama of the night before, and the rescue lady had heavily advised us to go. My finger was quite swollen and I had a slightly pussy splinter from one of the thorns, and Violet had gotten a bite, which SUCK. So we headed over. For about the same amount of money as the vet cost for Grey, the two of us got checked out, I got the splinter treated, the finger wrapped with a Very Extra bandage, and we were prescribed antibiotics and 600mg tabs of ibuprofen.

But the events of the night weren't over yet! Once we got home, before we gave Gray his dose of flea and tick treatment, it was time for a bath! Cats handle indoor dirt just fine, but having been outside, he was greasy, grimy, and stinky, and had signs he'd expressed his anals (usually a fear response, very gross and stimky). With my hand wrapped and needing to stay that way for 24 hours, I only had one hand to wash a cat with, so Violet stepped in and did most of the hard work while I helped hold Gray and vi put up with my backseat bathing.

Gray was such a good boy for his bath. He hated it, but he held it together. Poor boy got cold while he was drying, tho'. With all the weight he lost, he was shivering as I worked on helping dry him with hands, towels, t-shirt, and brush. Eventually, he let me tuck him under a blanket and warmed up 💙. Once he was finally dry, he got his flea and tick medicine applied, and he was good to go! A good bath, time to dry, flea and tick treatment, and a return of his collar later (also clean and dry!), and he's looking and feeling much better!

^_^ He's getting extra food, his appetite is starting to settle back down. We'll build his weight back up. His fur being clean made a HUGE difference in how emaciated he looks. He seriously looks like himself again.

The collar surviving really fuckin' surprised me! Our kitties wear quick release collars, so the don't get strangled if the collar gets caught up on something. I'd assumed he'd lost his pretty early. Nope! It was still on him until he was found! It only came off when I scruffed him and shoved him in the carrier! (The collar is the reason we know that the cat from the trail cam wasn't actually Gray. That cat wasn't wearing a collar, and Gray still was.)

Next hurdle: Reintroducing his sister to him.

Gray: Sister! I missed you! I love you!
D: Who the fuck is that GET OUT OF MY HOUSE

^_^ I'm so fuckin' happy to have my cat back.