Hope you're doing better, Clean!
In our cat world, Kid #2's mama cat Waffles had a rough day yesterday: her two kitties, 7 weeks old and just really starting to get around well, disappeared. So did the adoptive dad (the other barn cat), Fuzz. Poor Waffles was bereft all day (not to mention probably hurting, as one of the kits isn't weaned yet!), as was Kid. They and Norman the Wonder-GSD kept looking all around the farm, the LP tank, the trees, the edges of the fields around the house, the lane, the machine sheds--nothing.
By late afternoon, Fuzz came back, but no babies. Then Waffles and Fuzz disappeared for about an hour and came back--no babies. Towards dark, the entire search party (Kid, GSD, and cats) were combing the yard, under the deck, in all the nooks and crannies, and still nothing. The dog had kept stopping and looking at one area of the cornfield that comes up to the yard, and finally, out strolled the little ones, no worse for wear after being lost in the heat for at least 12 hours with no food, acting like nothing had happened. Whew!
(I told Kid #2 I could just imagine if they all could talk. Waffles was probably chewing Fuzz out up one side and down the other: "After 7 solid weeks of these kids being all over me, I ask you to watch them for ONE hour, and what happens?!")
All's well that ends well: they had supper and lots of family time after dark, and when I went out to the farm this afternoon, mom was herding the babies around on the deck; if either one got more than 6-7 feet away, she'd pick them up by the scruff and take them to the back door where she could keep an eye on them!
