Smacky stayed out last night ’til about 2 AM. Woke me up to come in. Not liking this new schedule.
Went back to bed. Got up around 9 AM (yeah, I slept in. Felt great). When I got up again, I made some breakfast, and Smacky was being very affectionate. Climbed up on my shoulders as I shuffled around in the kitchen. While waiting for the water to boil and the bagel to toast, I looked out the back door, Smacky purring and draped across my shoulders and head-butting my cheek. I reached up to scratch his head, and discovered that his collar was gone.
“Smacky, you’re not wearing your collar! What happened?”
He just purred and licked my cheek.
He must have lost it last night, because I’m sure he had it yesterday when I went to bed. I’m pretty sure, anyway. I was still half-asleep when I let him in, didn’t notice then.
I poked around the apartment, and found his collar, broken, in the yard next door, just on the other side of the fence. Did he break it himself? It was a safety collar, with a stretch-y section that would let him slip out of it if it was caught on something, and the stretchy section was the part that was broken.
Willful kitten! He’s not going to be going outside without a collar. But if he keeps breaking them… argh.