It was Friday evening just before 5:30, and we were preparing dinner and planning for the weekend. But then our next-door neighbor messaged both of us, asking what to do about a very sweet tortoiseshell cat that had wandered into her house. She posted on Nextdoor at our suggestion, but with a very excitable dog in her family she wasn’t in a position to provide temporary housing to a cat, however adorable it might be. With their closing time fast approaching, I called the nearest vet’s office. They said they could scan our newest feline friend for a microchip if we could get her there in the next forty minutes. We hastened to our neighbor’s house with a cat carrier.
All of us wearing masks, our neighbor’s son brought the cat over, and tried to put her in the carrier sitting in the back seat of our car. But she bolted away! We were afraid she ran away for good – in hindsight we should have had her in an enclosed area. But luckily the son found that she just retreated to her hideaway under the neighbors’ back deck. The son worked on coaxing her out with some more chicken. We were told she had already eaten a lot while our neighbor was cooking! She wandered further and further out from her hideaway, as the bowl of chicken was placed a few steps out each time. We got her in the house, then with some more coaxing, we got her in the carrier. She was a scrawny kitty! I picked up the carrier and brought it to the car, and she hissed and growled to let us know that we had crossed her.
The two of us and the kitty arrived at the vet’s office parking lot, technically closed at the time (but still within our forty-minute deadline), and called so the technician would come out. The technician came to our car, wearing a mask and carrying a chip reader. She carefully manipulated the carrier to scan the kitty in the usual places. Nothing detected, so she tried some less common places (she explained that chips can sometimes migrate). Still nothing – meaning the kitty was not identifiable by chip. So then I asked for the stray-cat spiel. The vet tech explained the two local shelter options, and encouraged us to file found-reports.
The technician determined that the kitty must be at least a year old because her eyes had fully changed colors. (Somehow I remembered this as “about one year” – whoops! Probably because she was so scrawny, we assumed she was very young). She had a sore in her ear that could have been parasitic. And the technician saw no signs of pregnancy. Something I hadn’t even thought of! (Did you know that kitties as young as four months can be pregnant?) She expressed the importance of posting on local pet lost and found pages and getting people to share. She also mentioned that she runs a local cat rescue organization. We theorized on the way home – that this was very likely an older kitten who has never had a home, and that we’d need to make some decisions. Three little kittens, I half-joked, alluding to our two boys at home.
We got home and got the foster kitty set up in our laundry room, removing safety hazards like our stash of plastic grocery bags and the like. And my spouse made a point of turning off the breaker to our clothes dryer in case the kitty went exploring behind it. She was very sweet, rubbing up against us, and she enjoyed some time on my spouse’s lap. She was happy to drink water, and enjoyed quite a bit. She wasn’t so interested in a jingling plastic ball toy or a paper bag. This wasn’t playtime so much as a photo-op, though. I got a bunch of pictures of her and posted on social media. We also made a point to introduce her to the cat litter, realizing she may have never used it before. With my notification sounds turned on and frequently checking the posts, we went to have dinner in the living room, about two hours later than initially planned.
Shortly after we left our foster kitty area, we heard her whining for attention. I was tempted to console her, but I didn’t want to reinforce the squawking (we’ve learned a thing or two from our boys). I continued monitoring the posts and they got lots of likes and shares. Approaching 8:30, I got a message from someone who saw the post, and made the connection with a neighbor’s lost cat. Not only that, but she sent me a picture of a plump house kitty with identical markings! There was another potential lead around the same time, too. I was hopeful that the neighbor with the photo was the rightful owner – I briefly thought of how someone could respond intending to snatch up a new sweet kitty companion. I then messaged the number from this neighbor. After not too long they texted me back. Yes, that was their cat, who had a name, and who had been missing for over a month! They were just coming back from travel and could pick her up that night or the following morning. We continued messaging to sync up that night.
We figured that this kitty had trekked about a mile and a half from her home to our next-door neighbor’s house. As we were sitting in the living room working through the details, we noticed our two kitties were visibly intrigued. We figured it was likely because they heard our foster whining. But then when we got up to check on her after dinner – we realized the bi-fold doors were open. She had escaped! But she could only go as far as the dining room, She greeted us in the kitchen shortly after we discovered her escape. She clearly wanted company! And she showed us that she wasn’t thrilled to see our kitty boys, by hissing and growling at them through one of our baby gates, while our orange kitty meowed. That must have been why the boys were so intrigued earlier. Our foster displayed far more adeptness with doors than our boys have.
So we spent some time with our short-term foster before her sendoff. She sat on my lap (such a bony back – she must not have been eating well in the wilderness), before moving to continue resting on the towel-covered fluffy pet bed from the next-door neighbors. But once I got up, her eyes followed me, and she followed me back into the kitchen! We shut her back in the laundry room (more securely this time) to help her get some rest. She had a very big day. Right before her family arrived, we loaded her back into the cat carrier, with minimal resistance from the top flap. Our boys watched intently as she sat in our front entryway.
The family greeted us with masks and expressed profound gratitude. After more than a month, they assumed that a fox got her or something. We released her from the carrier into the husband’s arms. The kitty was so calm as he held her and we talked. They said that she’s 12 years old, and that they’ve moved about as many times in about as many years. (I learned before that apparently cats can become disoriented after moving and even try to return to an old home.) They’ve even traveled across the country together. The family had adopted her as a bit of an older kitty already, and though she’d been fully vaccinated and all, they hadn’t gotten around to microchipping her yet. They also explained how they think she escaped. While the wife had COVID-19 the month before, their older kid was helping to let the dog out, and the kitty must have slipped out. They went hiking through the woods looking for her for weeks, but with no success.
They said that having their kitty back made their Christmas. Their older kid, a 6-year-old, asked them if Santa was going to bring her back. I guess he kind of did.
We were in touch the next day, and we were happy to learn that the kitty was going to the vet for a full workup that Monday. The family left us a holiday card and gift (which we had told them wasn’t necessary!) – which drove home for us just how much this happy ending meant to them.
We’re so glad for this heartwarming happy ending! She was a such a sweet kitty, but also a spitfire. And this doubles as a PSA for microchipping your pets!
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