If I were a stray cat, I would definitely knock on our door. That's exactly what happened on Sunday evening as I was about to leave the house to meet Himself at the airport. Just as I was grabbing my bag from the living room I heard a miaow at the window. The ledge is quite high off the ground so I was surprised to see a cat there.
I opened the front door to investigate. I got a shock. He looked very like our much loved Captain Socks, who was knocked down just before Christmas last year. A very friendly black and white little thing, he ran towards me and curled around my legs. He was crying and followed me inside. Luckily, our own cat Waffles was behind the closed kitchen door. I texted Himself to tell him that I wouldn't make it to the airport. Oh, and I had found another cat on the doorstep. Moses basket, anyone?
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| PURRFECT COMPANY: Our mystery houseguest |
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| SIMILARITIES: Our much-loved Captain Socks (RIP) |
The mystery cat was fed and watered, and spent the rest of the night huddled up beside the radiator. Poor Waffles could smell and sense the house guest through the wall and was not best pleased. But he didn't complain too much. However, Waffles (who is bullied by a local cat) is very much of the one-cat-per-home lobby, as is Himself. Otherwise I would have invited him to stay longer.
So, after a military operation to put Mystery into the cat carrier, we brought him to the local vet to see if he was micro-chipped. Unfortunately, he was not. I can't understand why dog and cat owners fail to put a collar with an ID tag or a microchip on their much-loved pals. It causes so much heartbreak for the owner and frustration for the finder when a pet goes missing.
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| A LITTLE PUT OUT: Unwitting host Waffles |
After knocking on a few doors on the way back from the vet, we rang the
DSPCA to see if they had room in their rescue and rehoming facility. Thankfully they did, but this wonderful organisation is under a great deal of pressure with the sheer volume of animals they are helping. I was sad to say goodbye to Mystery. We then postered the local area and a security guard in a local shop thinks that the same cat featured on a lost poster some weeks ago, so fingers crossed they will see one of our posters and get in touch with the DSPCA. We have also used
Lost.ie and
Lostandfound.ie to put up Found ads for free. He is also featured on the DSPCA's website
here. Hopefully this cat's tale will have a happy ending.
To prevent your pet from getting lost, please get a microship inserted by the vet and put a comfortable collar onto them with your mobile phone number and address. There is no point in putting the pet's name onto the tag. Keep cats in at night, as this is when they often go missing. For lots more advice, see the following:
http://www.catsaid.org/information_leaflets/info_leaflets.html
http://www.dspca.ie/LostAndFoundPetAdvice
