I don't think he's coming back...

pictured cuddling with Aidan in the backyard

Our cat Bentley was quickly dubbed "Uncle Bentley" around here because he was always taking care of the other animals.  When we had our dogs Lucy and Frasier, if one of them was uninterested in playing with the other, he would come in and let them roll him around on the kitchen floor and run back in forth in the backyard while they chased him.  When two of our cats had kittens and wanted to go out and party at night, he would stay in and make sure the kittens were tended too.  After his sidekick and my childhood cat Patrick passed away, he would sit at the foot of my bed when I didn't feel good and when Aidan came along he would sleep on the rocker in his room guarding his crib at night.  He would sleep on Adam's head making it impossible for him to breathe and even more impossible for him not to warm up to the fact that he might be married to a crazy cat lady.  All things Pat the Cat had previously done.

Of all the animals that have come and gone around here Bentley was an OG and tough as nails.  He had survived being dropped in a dumpster at my old job,  his brother being kidnapped and never returned by neighborhood kids, raccoon attacks, numerous cat funerals in our backyard and Aidan the horrible cat wrangler.  When Scout came along, they must have had a chat because Scout never bothered him.  All of our neighbors loved him!  We literally were always joking that Uncle Bentley would always be around. 

Until he wasn't.  It was the weekend after July 4th when I made mention to Adam that I hadn't seen him in a day or two.  He assured me he was probably just shacking up at a neighbors house for a couple of days (this was not unusual) and would be back soon enough.  But the days turned in to weeks and now here we are in October and he never came back.  I've spent more time than I would like to admit asking neighbors if they have seen him, checking the Lost Pet section of our county website and making trips back and forth to Animal Control.  It wasn't until two weeks ago when Aidan and I tried to convince ourselves that a grey and white cat with no tail was our Bentley that I started give up hope that this outcome is looking grim. We probably won't ever know what happened to him but I like to think that he found a nice new family where he is the only pet and king of the castle and they feed him turkey all day long.