A Couple of Lost Cat Stories

This is Quadzilla, our first "repeat customer." Murphy, my cat detection dog, was able to find him when he escaped a couple of years ago. This time we were not so lucky. QZ's family had moved to a new house on the edge of the woods, so I guess predators may have played a role. But it was kind of a tough search because there were 3 houses under construction on QZ's street while we were working, and Murphy was pretty nervous from all the loud noise. QZ's mom pulled out all the stops to find him; she used all of our best tricks and still...no Quadzilla. Here's what I wrote to Mom now that 2 weeks have passed:

At this point, you can probably give the big posters a rest...possibly repost in a couple of weeks in case he laid low for a while before making friends with a new family. Even if it's just a few flyers, try to keep something out there for at least a month. It also can't hurt to keep him on craigslist as long as you can stand it and post him on as many random "Lost/Found Cat" sites as you can find. (I never used to recommend this last thing but I think I told you about my realtor friend in St. Louis who found her cat after 6 months that way. Jane didn't realize that the cat stowed away in her car and jumped when she dropped her kids at school, miles from home. The cat was in pretty bad shape by the time a man took her in, so the guy assumed she came from a bad home and didn't try to find the owner. Six months later, the man's friend guilted him into checking a few websites because she had experienced the agony of losing a cat. He found "his" cat's pic on a site and called Jane.

Another client recently called to say that she located her cat Nekko about a half mile from home after 4 months. Nekko has been eating from a lady's backporch for several weeks and the lady saw a flyer. Nekko will let the owner come and pet him, but when she tries to pick him up he runs away. Kathy's still trying to figure out if she should 'make' Nekko come home.