I'm grieving something terrible right now. One of our cats, Lucy, managed to get of the house yesterday unnoticed - at least, we think that's what happened. We didn't really worry about her absence until today as she tends to hide for extended amounts of time. We made fliers & posted them in a few laundry rooms & near some mail boxes around our community. I called the local animal shelter to report her missing in case any one turned her in. I'm worried that she was either hit by a car or eaten by coyotes. What I'm most afraid of, though, is that she died while in hiding some place in the house & we won't discover her until, well, you know. I don't think I can handle finding my pet dead & decomposing. I highly doubt that's the case though; I figure that if she is dead in the house Gabe, our other cat, would hang around wherever she is. I feel so sick to my stomach right now. I feel like we're horrible pet owners for not seeing her escape. We're usually overly cautious about the sliding screen door being shut since we have a toddler & 2 cats who love to go outside. If she died in the house I'd feel like some sort of criminal. What if she dehydrated? Neither Jason or myself noticed their water bowl was dry as a bone yesterday (that's never happened in the 3 years we've had our cat). I killed my cat!! I should go to jail for negligent homicide or something. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I keep praying that God will bring her back safely. I hope He obliges.