Hoping for some insight/advice from the more experienced (warning - this is long!)

I am a relatively newly practicing witch (about 4 years).  I have always had certain gifts of intuition and premonitions, but never realized my true potential until recently.

My familiar is a black male cat.  I keep him indoors since we live across the street from a wildlife santuary that is home to foxes and coyotes as well as large eagles and falcons.  Last Thursday, my boy ended up missing and we assumed that he somehow escaped when one of our family was coming or going.  Typically, he goes right under a pine tree in front of our house and stays there to watch the birds until one of us drags him back inside.  Well, after scouring our neighborhood and adjacent apartment buildings, there was no trace of him.

The night he disappeared, I did a simple candle spell requesting his return on the third night.  I must have done something wrong (this was my first actual spell). I light a white candle to illuminate my boy's way home and let it burn until it died out on it's own.

Fast forward to this past Saturday night (exactly 10 days of my boy being gone/10th night).  My husband and I went out to have one last smoke before going to bed.  Our neighbors across the street had their outside lights on, which was very unusual.  Hubby and I were watching the fireflies in the space on the side of their house between them and another's fenced in back yard.  Directly behind our neighbors is the wildlife sanctuary. 

Out of no where, there appeared a misty apparition in the shape of a large dog or cat.  It was hunched over like a cat stalking it's prey.  It moved from the clearing to the bushes outside the fence.  As it moved, it changed shapes from a large, predator type animal to a large white bunny hopping among the bushes and into the grass.  I had socks on, so I didn't want to cross the street.  My husband crossed the street to get a better view.  The closer he got to this thing, the smaller it got and suddenly took on the shape of a smaller sized white cat.  He said that it's eyes were hollow/black.  He saw the cat and even in his fear, he called out to it.  His calling out to it made me call out to it too "Here kitty, kitty." 

From the pine trees in our next door neighbor's yard we heard a yowl.  I knew instantly it was my boy.  I started calling louder and using his name - at the same time, I was watching the apparition.  My husband had turned his back to it and was crossing the street towards my boy.  As he was crossing, I watched the apparition disappear.  I said so outloud and my husband turned around and noticed that it had gone.

Hubby walked to my boy and scooped him up.  We took him into the house and removed the tick stuck to his ear.  Other than loosing a substantial amount of weight and being skidish, my boy was unharmed except for an inch long scratch on his left side.

My questions are these -  Was the apparition evil?  I did not feel an maliciousness, but my husband said that he felt it was trying to keep my boy away/keep us separated.  I felt it lead us to my boy.  Could another's power animal take on three different forms?  And would one have enough energy in power animal form to keep my boy away from me or even take him away?  I prefer to think that my husband is letting his imagination get away from him and think that the apparition lead us to my boy.  But now hubby would like me to do some extra protection spells on our house and children.  He feels that there is some negative energy being directed towards me and he is worried.

I would really appreciate any guidance/advice/insight from those more experienced than ourselves.  I apologize for the length of this post, but am a solitary witch and have no elders or coven to go to in regards to this experience.  Thank you in advance for your help!