Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Lousy?

If so, please tell him to come home! I haven't seen Lousy in at least three days. He often stays out all day and all night, but he usually comes home at least once a day to eat, drink water, and get a few rubs before heading back out into the wild.

He's an adventurous lad and prone to getting into trouble. Last week he came home all messed up with some weird gunk on his head and parts of his body. He was so sick that he stayed home and slept for three days straight. The left side of his face was quite swollen. Then he wandered out one afternoon for a short while but came back in to spend the night. The gunk on his head turned out to be some sort of puss coming from a wound on his forehead. It started to erupt one evening and I had to wipe it off. The next day that spot was scabby and the hair was matted down. But I knew he was feeling better because he had more energy and he wanted to go outside again. I haven't seen him since.

Ironically, I recently learned a Japanese fairy tale from one of my students about a cat who is very happy with his owner and when he gets old and sick, he comes to his owner to say goodbye then goes off alone to die.