I had posted my story in a couple of threads here but I think it deserves its own thread. This is about not giving up hope, even though I pretty much did.
My male cat Kelly got out of the house on July 20th. It couldnt have been at a worse time. I was leaving for the airport in about 5 mins the morning he got out. I did a quick search but with no luck. I did call the chip company, Home Again and reported that he was gone.
I got back late the next day and made up posters and put them on all the mailboxes in my townhome subdivision. I called our animal hospital and alerted them and also called several animal shelters. When I got home from work a few days later there was a message on my machine from a lady who saw a cat fitting the description hiding in some bushes about a block and a half away from my house. I went there daily at different times of the day but could never see him.
A few more days went by when another lady called and said she saw a cat fitting the description behind her house. She was actually able to take a picture of him. I went to her house and saw the picture. It looked a little like him but the picture was grainy so I couldnt be sure. I decided then to get a live trap from animal control. We set it up the next night. At 4:00AM the next morning she called me and said that the cat was in the trap. I ran over to her house and, to my disappointment, it wasnt my cat. I took the trap back the next day.
For the next several days I would leave the overhead garage door open overnight. I would put out food and water. Almost every morning I would check and the food was eaten. One night my son came home from work and as he pulled onto the driveway he saw a cat run out of the garage. He said he was pretty sure it was our cat.
I then decided to try the live trap again. I had to know what was eating the food even if it wasnt my cat. I baited the trap with food for 10 nights in a row and got absolutely nothing. At this point about 2 months had passed so I then began to start to lose hope. I was trying to get myself to the mind frame that I wasnt going to see my cat again because thats what I thought. But for some reason I couldnt bring myself to throw out his things. I just packed them up and put them in the garage.
As the days passed I thought about him less but I knew I would never forget him. October passed. November was passing. Then yesterday Nov 19th my phone rang at 9:45AM. I could see on the caller ID that it was our animal hospital. I figured they were calling me to remind me that my cat was overdue for his yearly shots. The vet who called identified himself and asked if I was Glenn. I said I was. He then said, "we have your cat". I almost dropped the phone, I was dumbfounded. It turns out he had made his way over to the subdivision just to the west of mine. The lady who brought him in to the vet had been feeding him for over a month but couldnt bring him in the house because her husband was allergic to cats. She could see he was friendly and on this day finally decided to take him in and see if he was chipped.
Surprisingly he had only lost 1/2 pound but did have fleas. The vet said he would treat the fleas, give him his shots and that I could pick him up later that afternoon. I picked him up and brought him home. He is eating like a horse and sleeping a lot. I know he has been thru a traumatic experience so Im going to just leave him be and let him get used to things here again at his own speed. I can tell he is still a little confused with what is going on in his life now.
So thats my story. I wanted those who have missing pets to read and know you cant give up hope like I did. I know every missing pet wont return and I thought mine was going to be one of those. But here he is, sleeping next to me on the couch.
Glenn
My male cat Kelly got out of the house on July 20th. It couldnt have been at a worse time. I was leaving for the airport in about 5 mins the morning he got out. I did a quick search but with no luck. I did call the chip company, Home Again and reported that he was gone.
I got back late the next day and made up posters and put them on all the mailboxes in my townhome subdivision. I called our animal hospital and alerted them and also called several animal shelters. When I got home from work a few days later there was a message on my machine from a lady who saw a cat fitting the description hiding in some bushes about a block and a half away from my house. I went there daily at different times of the day but could never see him.
A few more days went by when another lady called and said she saw a cat fitting the description behind her house. She was actually able to take a picture of him. I went to her house and saw the picture. It looked a little like him but the picture was grainy so I couldnt be sure. I decided then to get a live trap from animal control. We set it up the next night. At 4:00AM the next morning she called me and said that the cat was in the trap. I ran over to her house and, to my disappointment, it wasnt my cat. I took the trap back the next day.
For the next several days I would leave the overhead garage door open overnight. I would put out food and water. Almost every morning I would check and the food was eaten. One night my son came home from work and as he pulled onto the driveway he saw a cat run out of the garage. He said he was pretty sure it was our cat.
I then decided to try the live trap again. I had to know what was eating the food even if it wasnt my cat. I baited the trap with food for 10 nights in a row and got absolutely nothing. At this point about 2 months had passed so I then began to start to lose hope. I was trying to get myself to the mind frame that I wasnt going to see my cat again because thats what I thought. But for some reason I couldnt bring myself to throw out his things. I just packed them up and put them in the garage.
As the days passed I thought about him less but I knew I would never forget him. October passed. November was passing. Then yesterday Nov 19th my phone rang at 9:45AM. I could see on the caller ID that it was our animal hospital. I figured they were calling me to remind me that my cat was overdue for his yearly shots. The vet who called identified himself and asked if I was Glenn. I said I was. He then said, "we have your cat". I almost dropped the phone, I was dumbfounded. It turns out he had made his way over to the subdivision just to the west of mine. The lady who brought him in to the vet had been feeding him for over a month but couldnt bring him in the house because her husband was allergic to cats. She could see he was friendly and on this day finally decided to take him in and see if he was chipped.
Surprisingly he had only lost 1/2 pound but did have fleas. The vet said he would treat the fleas, give him his shots and that I could pick him up later that afternoon. I picked him up and brought him home. He is eating like a horse and sleeping a lot. I know he has been thru a traumatic experience so Im going to just leave him be and let him get used to things here again at his own speed. I can tell he is still a little confused with what is going on in his life now.
So thats my story. I wanted those who have missing pets to read and know you cant give up hope like I did. I know every missing pet wont return and I thought mine was going to be one of those. But here he is, sleeping next to me on the couch.
Glenn
