Share your lost and found pet stories

In My Humble Opinion
21

A few years ago at my old apartment, I woke up one morning to find the front door wide open (the door would naturally swing open if it wasn’t 100% latched). I quickly searched for my 3 month old kitten, hoping she was still inside. I looked in every room, behind every piece of furniture, inside every basket and box but there was no sign of her. So I ended up calling in sick to work and my roommate did the same so we could spend the day searching for that cat.

Over the course of the day, I searched just about every square inch of a 1 mile radius from my apartment buiding. I even climbed up on the roof but she was nowhere to be found. After more than 8 hours of searching, it started to get dark and we finally went inside. Even though almost all of our hope was lost by then, we decided to make several ‘lost kitty’ posters to hang up around the apartment complex. After about my 8th poster, my kitty suddenly walked into the room and brushed against me. (I think she had been sleeping in my roommate’s sock drawer the entire time).

I grounded her for like two months after that.

22

I hate telling this story, but I will in the hopes that you will get some tips on how to find your cat.

Thanksgiving 2007, I went to California for a week to see a friend. I was going to hire a pet sitter, but my parents begged and pleaded to be allowed to keep my two cats. I was reluctant, because my cats are indoor only animals, and my father has a habit of leaving doors and windows open. I made them promise to be vigilant about that, and they agreed.

I returned on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to discover that my father had left a window open (no screen) for TWO DAYS, and didn’t tell anyone else in the family when he discovered my cat Rex was missing. He also didn’t look for Rex, or even put out a dish of food, for another day after that, until my mother realized he was gone.

My father then refused to “let” anyone call me and tell me the truth of what had happened. My parents also decided it was too much trouble to actually look for the cat. So they didn’t. And it was extremely cold, with snow on the ground. And my parents live in a wilderness area.

Starting the very night I returned, I searched all around the house. Indoor cats usually hide very close to the house when they escape. Even though it had been six days since his escape, I spotted Rex right up near the house. He ran away in fear, though, and I couldn’t catch him.

I continued to circle the house looking for him for several hours. No luck. So I sat outside in the cold for another full day, hoping to see him if he poked his head out. No luck.

So I called a pet detective for advice. She told me to get some Have-A-Heart traps and put one where I had last spotted Rex, and the others in areas close to the house. I covered the top and back of the trap with a beach towel to make it seem warm and cozy. I put a blanket with his scent inside. I baited the traps with tuna fish (though jack mackerel is cheaper and recommended). You are supposed to check the traps every four hours.

On Monday night, I caught Rex in the trap I placed in the area where I had seen him. In fact, I caught him in the first four hours they were out. I checked the traps at 2 a.m. and there he was, skinny and scared, after eight days in the snow.

The thing is, indoor cats often freak out when they get outside, if they have no experience with the outdoors (or little experience). They will stay close to the house and hide themselves very carefully, squeezing into nooks and crannies.

Good luck!

23

Another one from the “other side”…

One day when I was young and still living at home, I was doing something or other in the garage. I noticed a couple of dogs wandering about out front, just checking things out. One was a golden lab, the other a small breed - I don’t remember what. I could see tags on both dogs, so after watching for a few minutes I decided to take action.

The little one would have nothing to do with me, but I finally managed to coax the lab into letting me check his tags. The address was down at the other end of the street, about half a mile away. So I went and got my dog’s leash, coaxed the lab over to me again, hooked him up, and we started off down the street. The little guy just followed along.

As we approached their house, they both got really excited. “Oh boy! I recognize this place!” I went and knocked on the door, but got no answer. So I went to the side of the house, and found the gate wide open. I herded the dogs into their backyard, made sure the gate was latched shut, and walked home.

Their owners probably never had any clue their dogs had gone missing.

24

Senor Beef, I’m sending good vibes that she’ll be home ok.

My aunt had a cat who was missing for over a week. She got out and some kids found her and decided to keep her. Their mother wouldn’t let them bring her in the house so they kept her in the garage. She was there for 9 days before she escaped.

Hang in there.

25

Sending good thoughts your way, Senor Beef

I’d had Cole (the one on the right) for about two years when he got chased off by a goose. I put up Lost Cat signs, complete with a color picture. Days went by and I didn’t hear anything. I was frantic because I was about to leave for a week.

The night before I was due to leave, he wanders up to the back door and meows to be let in like nothing happened. I go on my trip, completely forgetting to take down the signs. When I get home, there are five messages on my answering machine from various people saying that they’d seen my cat. The last call intrigues me though. “We have your cat,” they say. I call them back to thank them, and to tell them that no, they don’t have my cat; I have my cat. They insist that it’s him, and since they’re in the same building, offer to bring him over to show me.

What they brought me was Truffles, the cat on the left in the picture, who, as you can see, looks nothing like Cole, and is a female. But, Cole gave her butt a sniff and agreed that she should be allowed to stay. I wish he would have told me that I was adopting a cat that was already pregnant with four kittens!

26

Senor Beef I wish you the best.

Christmas, 2002. My Aunt, her oldest daughter and daughters husband and I were on Highway 101 headed South to the Aunts house in Orange County. With us was Bosh the cat.
Bosh the cat belonged youngest daughter who was going to the Upper Pennsula to be with her husband’s family.
We checked into a motel to overnight in Solvang. We’d hit a Danish restaurant and the girls would spend a day antiquing.
While we were moving in to the rooms, somehow Bosh must of sneaked out. He just disappeared.
Bosh was lost in a strange city and he wasn’t even our cat to lose!

Gone was the restaurant and the antiquing. We looked all over the motel and went to bed (it was late) The next morning we went to a little print shop and had 100 “LOST CAT” signs printed, then spent the day posting them all over the neighborhood.

With heavy hearts we left Solvang catless. How would we explain this to Melanie? And the two kids? Back at Orange County we lost daughter #1 and husband who flew back to New Jersey.

The next evening the phone rang. It was the motel manager in Solvang. They found Bosh.

Next morning we were on the road for the 4 hour drive, knowing full well that on the way back it would be Friday afternoon in the middle of LA traffic.

Bosh was in one of our old motel rooms, laying on the bed watching CNN. The manager said guests checking in found him in the room. He had apparantly crawled into a tear in the mattress box spring and kept quiet. He’d never left the room.

We drove back to the Southland and vowed never to tell Melanie and her family that we almost lost their cat.

27

Years ago I had a black cat with a patch of brown fur on the inside of each front leg. Once he disappeared for about a month and just showed up one night. The next time he didn’t come home I found a dead black cat with brown fur on the inside of his front legs laying in the gutter. Three days later I walked past the same spot and while the cat was gone you could see the spot on the concrete where it was lying. Yep you guessed it when I was walking up the steps to my apartment later that night there he was. Coincedence? Maybe, but I sure looked at that cat a little differently after that.

28

I have one of these.

It started off early in the morning with me walking my beagle. When I was done, I took him in and headed off towards my friend’s house a few doors down to play some soccer or hockey or something… On my way there, I saw my dog. Thinking I hadn’t closed the door properly on my way out, I took him back home and went back to playing soccer. Later on that night, I put out some food for the dog and went back inside. A few minutes later, I hear two dogs growling and getting ready to fight. It turns out, I had found a different beagle that looked almost exactly the same. For the two days we had that dog, they were friendly with each other, except when food was on the line. We figured out the second dog had a little bit larger of a white spot on his tail but it was almost impossible to tell without looking at them very closely. The dog had crossed two cities to get to where we were (somewhere in LA County). We were actually able to find its owner.