Then, do that - when he approaches, you retreat. Can you secure the other animals so that they won't run out the back door if you leave it open?

Then you can do the lure, approach, retreat thing until you get him into the house.

Good call, Sumi. I'll try that.

I hope it works!

Good cat-wrangling-ma!

Thanks!

Sumi. I owe you. Huge.

Locked Elliot in the bathroom. He immediately got into the window and started meowing. We heard faint meows coming from below the building - we have a crawlspace and there's an access panel next to the back stoop that Joe blocked off the other day when Switch got out and Joe had to retrieve him from there. Joe moved the access panel, I put out food, and opened the back doors.

I came back in and all of a sudden, Elliot starts meowing again. Elliot is not, despite being half Siamese, a vocal kitty. I got out and see Switch's tail go under the building. I tell Joe. Joe starts suiting up for another bout of cat wrangling - infantry crawl style.

I peek back out and Switch is half on the stoop. He spots me and goes back under.

Joe goes under, corners him in the furthest corner of the crawlspace and drags him out.

We get him into the house and he is COVERED IN DIRT AND MUD. But otherwise, no worse for the wear, as seen here: [link]

He has sought solace in Emeline's bedroom window where he has been given his own bowl of food and water and he can gaze into the open air and dream of his 24 hours of being Switch: King of the Ferals.

Little does he know that tomorrow, he will be Switch: King of the Bathtub Bathing Kitties.

Also, I have decided that the Miracleborns are not in fact leaving California. It's true that on Tuesday they will be making a long drive to a vaguely Michigan-shaped location, but they will in fact be remaining right exactly here in California, just in an inconvenient, vaguely Michigan-shaped suburb of LA.

THEY WILL SO. DO NOT CONTRADICT ME.

And you doubt that I need a "What JZ Said" t-shirt.

Aims, glad you got Switch back. I've been packing all night, so I didn't catch up until now. I find the lure, retreat, let-kitty-think-it's-his-idea routine to be extremely effective. If he kept coming onto the stoop, he wanted to come back home. I'm guessing that he, like Mia, just gets scared and does the kitty-bolt thing when startled. Poor kitty. Poor Miracleborns.

In happier news, Em is SO FRIGGIN' CUTE! Those pictures are priceless.

I also want to take a stand and say:

JOE = BIG DAMN HERO. AIN'T HE JUST?

Yes, yes he is. He is, after all, MIRACLEMAN!

Coffee:

Off to get a few hours of sleep before the Big Damn Adventure, as a matter of fact. Smooches to all--see you on the other side.

When I first read that Switch had run off, my poor heart nearly stopped. I was so glad to see that he was retrieved successfully. The little bastard deserves a bath after what he put you and MM through.