You Can Never Plan These Things Part II

Shzung, upon returning home.

So, after being certain that Shzung was consumed by some rabid, wild beast roaming our new property, she has graced us with her presence again!  Hugh thought he saw her one evening around midnight.  Given that he was sober, has 20/20 vision with out corrective lenses and not prone to hallucinations, I had to believe him.  What a shock!  Usually, when cats disappear they have gone over the "rainbow bridge," so to speak.  However, she was elusive and I didn't see her for another two weeks.  Once I saw her, I thought it would be a simple matter to pick her up and bring her into the house.  But, I forgot about cats and plans.  Specifically, that cats don't care about my plans.  So, we put out food, we called her in sweet voices, we let her daughter cats out to see her.  I employed every strategy I could think of.  She would have none of it.  This went on for a month and a half!!  Quick sightings followed by an empty food dish.  Finally, one evening Huckle went out with me, meowed into the woods and Shzung meowed back.  I started in with my sweet voice and low and behold, she came up to me!  Shzung has always been described as a "snot rag" by my husband and this just proved his point.  She purred, rubbed on my leg, climbed into my lap and acted as if nothing happened!!  I couldn't even be angry at her for deserting us!  Then, I was trapped in a dilemma.  Do I grab her and head to the house, or do I let her move at her own pace?  I didn't want to have her get mad at me and take off but I didn't want to miss my opportunity.  After deliberating for 10 minutes, a while petting the cat, I went for the grab and run.  Luckily, the dog, her nemesis, was no where near and I was able to safely stow Shzung in the laundry room.  My daughter was overjoyed!  We decided to let her and the other cats roam around the bottom level of the house and strictly monitor the dog while everyone adjusted.  That actually worked pretty well and the cats were then integrated into the rest of the house.  Shzung promptly decided it was a good idea to pee in my daughter's room.  Bad plan!!  Cats should stay downstairs!  Still a bad plan!!  My husband has a sleep disorder (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, actually we all have it but I will write about that later.  Go here for more information), so he sleeps downstairs sometimes.  The cats keep him awake.  Okay, now that we know the cats will come back, they can go outside.  No!  The scratch and whine at the door and keep Hugh awake.  They can have a kitty door and go in and out.  No!  They bring mice in the house and they really keep him awake.  Please read his account here. So, now he is attempting to "train" the cats to leave him alone.  He has had some success with this and figures that in comparison to the issues that accompany mice, it's not so bad.  So, I thought we could go forth with all the family members back in the fold.  Alas, Huckle decided to go on a walk about and now she's been gone for a couple weeks.  I also realized that Three seems to have vacated the premises.  So, the saga continues.  My plans are for naught. We are now down to one cat who provides a constant reminder that "The best-laid plans of mice and (wo)men / Often go awry." (Quotation from "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough" by Robert Burns,  the addition of both genders by me!)