Together Again: Catnapped!
I have finally snagged my lovely white cat, waiting up until after midnight. Moisesito disappeared for five straight days. I had gone to the house of a woman who had found him before, which is less than 200 ft. from my house on the street behind me, and asked if he was there. He was so close to me and I didn’t know it! After Moisesito vanished again, I went back to the woman’s house several times and she denied having him. A little later that day, I asked the finder and her sister to cease feeding Moisesito so that he would come back home to eat. He’s been an indoor cat almost all of his life and he has no street smarts. He doesn’t understand traffic. This had me very worried since he kept crossing a major thoroughfare without looking.
Finally, some of the neighbors on that block decided to help me. They told me they would call me as soon as they saw him. They also told me that though she consistently denied having my cat, she did in fact have Moisesito. I learned that she was moving house and was intending to keep him and even changed his name. While I don’t know all the facts, when I did find him, he was on her porch waiting to be let in and was feeding from bowls of food and water.
When he got out from my house, Moisesito had a collar on with information about how to contact me. Because he is snow-white, super-clean, healthy and very friendly it is obvious that he is not an outdoor cat. The woman who found him had, it transpired, had Moisesito checked for a chip on the insistence of others and was very upset when PetLink contacted me. Several times she asked me to give him to her and made no bones about it, even insinuating at some level that I am not a good pet parent. Well, I made it clear to her that my cat is not up for adoption and then he disappeared after the last time I denied her request.
I only found him at 1:00 a.m. with the help of neighbors who felt that what she was doing was not right. Thank God for PetLink! Without Moisesito’s microchip, I would never have been able to prove that he belongs to me. He has so much charisma that everyone wants him so now I have him in a very secure space. I’m afraid that if Moisesito gets out just one more time and the finder sees him, I might never see him again once she finally moves away.
Anyway, PetLink, thank you. I would have lost Moisesito a long time ago without the chip. I really appreciate your help and think that my story is a very good example of the importance of microchipping our pets.