Sunday September 5, 2010 – 1:00 p.m. – I have absolutely no updates on Mugsy, but I figured that what I need — what we ALL need — right now is a little dose of HOPE. So I thought I’d share a few stories of displaced, panicked cats who were recovered against all odds. These stories, told by the people who found their own lost cats, are proof that Mugsy is NOT a lost cause!
ZARRA
“One day became 18 days and I could not sleep from constant worry about my beautiful cat. Then I thought about searching on the Internet for some help to find my cat and I found Missing Pet Partnership’s web site. THANK GOD! Your instructions were precise, and I followed them immediately. I went out at 9:00am and started my one block radius search. I called out here name repeatedly at each one of the houses next to ours. After the 4 house, I came up close to my neighbor’s garage, and called out to Zarra and this time I heard a faint meow coming from inside of this garage!! One week prior, I’d asked this same neighbor to please just open his garage and to leave it open just to make sure she wasn’t inside and frightened to come out. He replied, “She is not in my garage because I was just working in their on Sunday.” He was wrong. She got trapped because of fear (she’s a skittish cat) and the sound of his large wood cutter that he used that day. She was skinny and dehydrated, but still alive. She went a total of 20 days with no water or food. Thank you SO MUCH for the priceless information that you’ve posted on your website.” — Donna Grosso, White Plains, NY
MEGHAN (This one made me cry!)
“After 7 weeks, our cat Meghan is finally home! She slipped out a door that had blown open on the night of November 10th. My parents saw her disappear. They tried to catch her immediately, but no luck. Meghan is a former feral that we caught in a live trap while trying to get a raccoon eight years ago. She has NEVER wanted to go outside, so we are sure she had no idea what she was doing and immediately got scared and disorientated. As a former feral, she was always easily spooked and unlikely to come to us, so we knew from the beginning that live trapping would be our best bet. We found good information here and in the links for some tips on live trapping. But it was this site’s explanation of how many cats just go catatonic and do not break cover that helped us. We would have given up if I had not read about how long it can take. It helped to know that in all likelihood she was not far away and would hopefully find her way back to us. However it took 6 weeks before we saw any trace of her. As you say, she just vanished. But a little over a week ago we spotted her on our road, though we weren’t sure it was her. But the next day there was snow and we could see cat tracks all over our property and the neighboring field. The tracks helped us place feed bowls to tempt her closer and in a day or two my mother saw her sunning herself on the porch and could positively ID her. We thought we’d catch her immediately in the trap, but she was too light and too wily. We actually watched from a window as she ate the food in the trap and walked right out of it. We finally got her this Saturday (Dec. 26) by setting some cardboard over the trip plate. We were very worried that we would have to re-tame her because she was so upset and snarly in the trap–to the point where we wondered if it was our Meghan. But once we got her in the house, with a pen set up to receive her, it’s as if the scents and sights suddenly clicked and she realized who we were, and that we were good. I don’t think she has stopped purring except to sleep. She is horribly thin but seems uninjured. We think she may have kept under cover for almost the whole 6 weeks, and once she broke cover we had a sighting almost everyday. Missing Pet Partnership’s site kept us trying the food and the trap, even on those days when we all felt that we had lost her forever. For anyone else in a similar situation, do not give up! And even if you do give up on the inside, keep setting that trap and looking for signs! Thank you again for giving us some hope and direction.” — Virginia, Michael, Devon and most-of-all Meghan, Chelsea, Michigan
SYLVIA
And for those who are afraid that a 17-year-old cat (like Mugsy) just couldn’t survive more than a week without food, check out Sylvia’s story:
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I credit your website for giving me the hope to continue to look for my 19+ year-old Calico, Sylvia, who was lost for one week after darting out the front door. Several people told me she might have “gone off to die” or been “eaten by coyotes,” but I followed your advice regarding fliers et al — and it worked! Sylvia was one block away the whole time on a neighbor’s porch! We were reunited this morning. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” — Marica, Oak Forest, IL
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I feel pretty optomistic right now! Mugsy…WE WILL GET YOU BACK HOME!
