The Last Word On Hibbert
posted in Cat Stories |It is now 5 weeks and there is still no sign of Hibbert. We’re finding it difficult to handle his disappearance even though we only knew him for 6 months.
We think of him a lot and often try to work out what happened to him, going over the smallest details of our time together trying to make some sense of it.
The obvious, and rather upsetting conclusion is that he was injured or killed and could not make it home. I’ve fed strays in the past who have made it home after accidents and believe me none of them resulted in a happy ending even though they got home.
First there was Thompson, then Marney and more recently Oliver. All had been hit by cars and were terribly injured, but we (and the vet) were unable to save them.
However, during the course of our Hibbert wonderings we came up with a less upsetting, rather obscure, but perfectly plausible idea. It’s a bit complicated to explain succinctly but I’ll have a go.
Hibbert first came to our attention in January. When I asked around the neighbours at the time everyone had seen him, but no-one knew where he had come from.
Just before Xmas the pub at the end of the lane had changed hands. We never met the people who moved in and knew nothing about them.
Conversations with neighbours since Hibberts disappearance reveal that the publican “had cats”. Indeed I have seen a black cat with white feet and a ginger tabby in our garden who both headed off in the direction of the pub when startled. I’ve even seen Hibbert chasing them off in that direction.
It just so happened that the weekend of Hibbert’s disappearance the pub changed hands again. What if he was their cat after all, and he has simply moved away with them? I certainly haven’t seen the other 2 cats since the publican left.
I find this idea quite hard to believe on several levels, but it could just be possible.
I’ve never seen Hibbert heading to or from the direction of the pub, except when he was chasing the other cat.
He was always hungry, in fact in the early days he acted as if he was starving. I’ve never seen a cat so frantic about food.
During winter he slept in my neighbours stable which is quite near the pub. If he was theirs why did he not sleep around the pub or its outbuildings.
He spent hours in and around our house, playing in the garden or just sitting with us on the bench, which incidentally is overlooked by one of the pubs upstairs windows. Wouldn’t they have noticed this and said something to us?
The bottom line is you could just about make a case for him belonging to the publican because of the timing of his arrival and disappearance. It certainly makes his absence easier to bear knowing he could be safe somewhere.
Right from the first day Peter said Hibbert must have another home besides us, if it turns out he was right (and he usually is) it just re-inforces my belief that cats are opportunists, who know when they’re on to a good thing.
For 6 months I fed him, loved him, played with him, tended his wounds and gave him worm tablets. Part of me feels that he played me like a fiddle and I feel a bit of a mug.
The other part of me knows I’m simply a cat lover.
