Three happy cats, one not

In a city with as many coyotes as Vancouver, there are always plenty of posters about missing cats pinned up here, there and everywhere. Each one is a stab to the heart if you have your own outdoor cat, especially one that has already had a run-in with coyotes. You know the next poster could be yours.

But sometimes you're lucky enough to come across street images of happy cats. A saucy cat painted on the rear window of a car, for example, with the windshield wiper made into its tail. Stalled in traffic on a rainy day behind this image, wouldn't it cheer your morning to see its colourful tail swishing back and forth?

 Tongue out, windshield-wiper tail swishing, this rear-window cat would be a sight on a rainy day.

Elsewhere, I looked up at a big tree trunk during a walk one day to see a blue-and-white-striped cat, probably made out of cardboard, smiling down at me. The stripes were reminiscent of the Cheshire cat's in Alice in Wonderland, but there was no explanation of what this tree-cat was all about.

A jogger approaches a striped cat high above her on a tree trunk.

 

There was no explanation of what this colourful critter was all about.

And then, in the back yard Wednesday night, Mr. Darcy ran up the apple tree, perched on a limb for awhile and smiled down, just like the blue-and-white cat. Obviously, he didn't hear the vets who said he would never jump or climb again after he lost a big chunk of one haunch in a coyote attack three years ago.

Mr. Darcy does his own smiling down from the trunk of the apple tree in the back yard.

 Mr. Darcy doesn't climb as much as he used to, but with a good run at it, he can easily get himself up the apple tree. Once there, he enjoys climbing from branch to branch.

It's hard to tell who's fuzzier -- Mr. Darcy or the tree with its layers of moss.

Not so lucky is the male bob-tailed tabby who's been missing for several weeks now, according to the many "lost cat, reward offered" signs that have sprung up throughout the west side of the city. The signs  have gotten bigger and more professional as the weeks have gone by, but unfortunately, coyotes don't know about rewards. And a cat can't be reconstituted from a coyote's tummy.

Missing-cat posters break my heart. I always feel quite certain about where that poor cat ended up -- part of a coyote's breakfast.