Finding Jimmy - Part 1

by Robert the Serious Siamese.

A black-and-white cat named Jimmy lived in our neighbourhood. Jimmy and I were buddies -we enjoyed walking the streets side by side and sometimes we playfully wrestled.

Jimmy went through stressful times in October as his family (his brother, his dog and his humans) were moving house. 

Little by little furniture started to disappear and there were men coming and going, making loud and scary noises with their machines. 

On the 29th of October Jimmy had enough. 
He decided to leave and never come back. 

He was now a streetcat named James the Free. 

His owners were heartbroken and worried. They searched for him everyday, walking the streets calling his name. 

But the newborn James the Free no longer responded to his old name.

The family moved many kilometers away, but the lady owner kept coming twice a day to our area to look for her beloved Jimmy. 

Sometimes Jimmy was hungry and he missed the warmth of a home. I tried to keep him away from our house and once I gave him a huge round of cat slapping when he tried to enter my home through the cat flap door.

My thought back then was that I only share my food with my own brother, Jacob. Now I regret my egoistic behaviour.

Jimmy was clever and started coming when everyone was asleep. MyPerson was wondering why all cat food was gone in the mornings. But she thought Jacob was snacking in the night, because he kept getting fatter.

A week later MyPerson actually spotted Jimmy, but only his hindpaws when he made a quick escape through the cat flap door. Soon everyone in the family had had a brief glimpse of Jimmy's black-and-white hindpaws.  

Jacob and I were stressed in the beginning, but we decided to avoid having a fight and  stayed away when we heard Jimmy coming. 

MyPerson planned to activate the microchip function in the cat flap door to only allow me and my brother to enter. But Jimmy had luck - MyPerson stayed true to her habit of procrastinating and being forgetful.

Now Jimmy's owners were desperate and they put up flyers everywhere with Jimmy's picture on it asking people who saw him to call as soon as possible.

MyPerson saw one of the flyers and immediately called Jimmy's owner. She was careful not to give false hopes because no-one had ever seen all of Jimmy. The owner was delighted and sure it was her dear cat who had been visiting us.

Jimmy's owner and MyPerson stayed in touch. MyPerson sent updates on food gone missing in the night and every sight of black-and-white paws disappearing into the night.

It was the last week of November and the weather was getting cold here in Basel. MyPerson decided she would have to try to catch Jimmy...