UPDATE TO MY UPDATE
Sherbert is in surgery. It looks like he was attacked by a raccoon. He's in bad shape. His muscle is actually completely exposed and torn in his arm. They have to declaw his back paws because all of the claws have been yanked out and they are just open holes.
Sherbert will be an indoor cat from now on.
UPDATE
Sherbert is at home. I am getting ready to take him to the Emergency Vet. He was attacked by something.
I've never had an indoor/outdoor cat before and because I'm well aware of the dangers of letting your cat go outside, I never thought that I would.
When Sherbert was a baby, we took him in as a foster cat, with the intention of finding him another home. He had been rescued at 3 weeks old and was from feral cats. Between his feral bloodline and the lack of socialization as a baby, it quickly became clear to us that Sherbert wasn't adoptable. He has always been fearful and aggressive and his curse is that he's so cute. People want to touch and pet him, but are usually sorry that they try to.
When we lived in the city we could never have let Sherbert out. Not only were we in an apartment building, but Philadelphia has a terrible problem with stray cats and he never could have survived. Through the years Sherbert became more and more aggressive with our family. He, overall, seemed horribly unhappy. He would attack us, relentlessly, night and day. Most people that have met Sherbert fear him. He was refused flight when we moved to CA for being aggressive and in order to treat him, the vet has to have him restrained, wear protective gear (I am not kidding) and have several techs on hand to help.
When we moved to California, Sherbert's desire to go outside heightened and his aggressive tendencies became more and more... Finally, we let him go out. We allow him to go out in the morning and then call him to come in before dark. During the day he comes in and out and if it gets dark and we haven't called him, he comes up to our front door and waits for us to open it. Sherbert is a lot like a dog. No matter where he is, if I open the door and call his name, he comes running.
We live on a quiet street that even has speed bumps and Sherbert never wanders far. He usually stays within a few houses of ours. So, though I do worry about him being hit by a car, I know that he's smart and the cars here are slow.
Sherbert has always come when called...
Until yesterday.
Yesterday when I was returning home at about 1:30 pm I thought it was strange that Sherbert didn't greet me in the driveway. Usually he will be on standby and run over to us as soon as we pull in. Then, when I ran back out an hour or so later, I noted that he didn't come out. So, I texted Jay to see if he was asleep in the house. Jay couldn't find him anywhere.
We searched and called...
But Sherbert never came home.
I put food out on the front porch and had a very restless night, and other cats came to eat it... but not Sherbert.
At 6AM I went out in the car, searching for his body. But I didn't find it.
At 9AM the girls and I canvased the neighborhood, knocked on doors and talked to strangers... no one has seen him since yesterday morning.
I know that cats do this sometimes, but I can't help but think that Sherbert is trapped somewhere and needs help.
If he comes home, will I ever be able to let him out again?
If he doesn't come home, will I be able to live with the guilt?
I knew that this was a risk before letting Sherbert out in the first place, but because he was SO miserable indoors, I decided that a life of torture in captivity that was long and unhappy but safe was worse than a short, happy life that had significant risks.
I can't give up hope though. I have to believe that Sherbert will come home.
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