Lost: one crazy cat

Today it has been 1 week since the cat has been seen.  She is an outside cat that lives at our house.  She stays in the garage during the cold winter months.  She gave me a really nice scar on my left arm, but i will not fault her for that ;-)

We told Claire last week that if the cat did not come back (which she normally does come back after a few days) we would take her around to look for the cat. So, today she went for a long walk with her dad, they looked around and called out "que-que", her name.  They came back without a cat.  Claire came back with tears in her eyes and fear of the unknown in her heart.

I keep expecting the cat to come running across the street... and i do not even "like" this cat like Claire does.  So i can not imagine how my sweet little 9 year old is feeling about her pet gone missing.

The harsh truth is that we would need to give the cat away when we move to California.  So the cat going missing, it is actually a small blessing for us.  I was going to look like the horrible mom when it came time to move away and we had to take the cat to a shelter.  With a house, the cat can live outside and we can see her all of the time (when she is around - which is actually quite often).  In an apartment, 3,000 miles away, the cat just would not work out for us. 

We were suppose to take the cat to my parents house a few weeks ago to live outside of their house, but my mom changed her mind and so the cat stayed here with us.  I have to wonder if she would still be around my parents house if we had taken her there?  Would she have taken off and also be missing today had we taken her there? 

Questions i have, answers i have not.  I sit her wondering how to comfort Claire about an unknown answer.  We do not know where the cat is, or if she will come back.  All i can do is comfort Claire, and tell her happier thoughts about the cat living better somewhere else.