All Seven Cats Found Alive After Tornado Levels House in Monson, MA

Many of you may have heard about the tornado that tore through Springfield, MA, and  surrounding towns on June 1, 2011.   One man, Michael Roescher, was home with his step-daughter and their seven cats when the tornado leveled their house.  Initially he was convinced that none of the cats had survived, but then he miraculously found their goldfish still alive in the rubble.  With renewed hope and the help of many friends and strangers, Roescher persisted in his search, and he was able to find all seven cats over the course of five days and none were seriously injured.

Read the full story on Masslive.com

If you haven’t seen the footage of the tornado, check out this video.

Lost Indoor Cat Found 25 Days Later – Hiding Under Neighbor’s Porch

After doing everything possible to find my missing (indoor) cat, turns out she was under a neighbor’s porch just two doors away! My next-door neighbors found her this morning (April 8th) — the woman who lives there had been giving her treats — and with their assistance, they caught her and brought her home and said “Happy Mother’s Day!” I burst into tears. Don’t give up; it’s true what they say about indoor cats; they can be hiding nearby and won’t make a peep. I was out on our street last night at 2 a.m. and I was outside that neighbor’s house calling for her (and jingling one of her toys), but heard nothing. I honestly couldn’t believe she was hiding nearby; there has never been a single sighting of her. Some people told me she’d probably been attacked by coyotes (and there are coyotes near us). And I tried to trap her but only caught raccoons.

Dinah is thin as a rail, you can feel every bone, but otherwise she seems fine. She doesn’t appear to be dehydrated (we’ve had a lot of rain and there’s a stream/small pond nearby so I think she was OK for water). I’m not sure how much longer she could have gone without food; I doubt she’s had any. (She only weighs 5.5 pounds now and was 7-8 before.) After scarfing down a dish of food, and meowing constantly for 15 minutes to demand lots of back scratches, she curled up in her favorite bed under a lamp, as if she’d never been gone. She did try to sleep but she’s very agitated and got up again almost right away. I think I’ll take her to the emergency vet just for a checkup.

One month later:

Dinah had two trips to the vet, mostly because she needed fluids and for tests, but she’s fine now. It took her about a month to regain most of her weight (she was down to 5 pounds), and she was exhausted. But she recognized home as soon as she came in the door and was obviously very happy to be back. For the first few days she wouldn’t let me out of her sight.

Looking back at all the things I did to try to find her (from setting out raccoon traps to posting newspaper/Internet ads and checking local shelters), the most effective was simply putting up posters/flyers in the neighborhood and making sure all my neighbors were looking out for her. And not giving up!

Later I found out that one of my neighbors a little farther away had seen her right after she went missing, but didn’t know at the time that I had lost a cat.  They called me after they saw one of my posters, but she was gone by then (chased by a dog).

Deborah from Ontario

(Originally shared on Missing Cat Assistance Yahoo! Group)

Cat Thought Dead Survives Fire

There was recently a story in the news about a woman near Boston whose apartment burned while she wasn’t home and whose dog was assumed dead.  However, nearly one month later, her dog was found living in the burned out apartment (full story on AolNews.com).  While this certainly is a miracle, a short search on the internet revealed that there are many similar miracles taking place with cats in house fires.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Smoka, Miracle Cat Survives Blaze & Fire Debris:  This 16 week old kitten survived 26 days trapped beneath sixteen feet of rubble after a house fire.  She was found by the construction crew conducting the clean up and survived her ordeal.  (Source: Love Meow blog)

Tally the Cat Survives Explosion, Fire:  This cat survived a fire caused by a gas line explosion that took the lives of five people and destroyed an entire row of homes.  (Source: The Anipal Times)

‘Miracle’ Cat Survives Deadly Apartment Fire:  This family was saved by their cat from an apartment fire that killed several other people.  Sadly, the cat panicked and hid in the apartment when they tried to leave.  One month later they received a call from their landlord that he had found a cat living in the apartment.  They rushed back only to find that it was not their lost cat but another cat that had survived the deadly apartment fire.  They later found that the cat’s owner had perished in the blaze so they adopted her and named her ‘Miracle.’  (Source: PeoplePets.com)

Cat Survives Fire by Hiding in Couch: (Source Itchmo: News for Cats & Dogs)  There are actually many stories of this kind where the cat is found after the fire and hiding somewhere in or under the house.  To find more, just do an internet search with key words “cat survives fire found.”

Going to Extraordinary Measures – Cat Found After Six Months

You may get to the point where you think that you have tried everything possible to find your missing cat.  However, few people have tried methods as creative as those used by one woman in New Zealand to find her missing cat, Darwin (a.k.a. Mr. D).  Visit the Catnip Chronicles, October 2008, to read Darwin’s story.  Note that even though Darwin was missing for six months, he was still found only 1 mile from home.  For more great cat stories and other useful information, check out the most recent edition of the Catnip Chronicles.

Here is the news story that covered Karyn’s efforts before she actually found Darwin.

Cat Found After 11 Years

Another miraculous long-term recovery due to a microchip!  Salem managed to slip unnoticed out of an open door just several months after the kitten was adopted.  After several weeks of searching the neighborhood, the Hill family gave up home of ever seeing Salem again.  Then on Christmas Eve, 11 years later, they received a call from the RSPCA (the United Kingdom equivalent of the ASPCA) that Salem had been turned in by someone who had been feeding her.  She was brought to a shelter about ten miles from original home.

To view the full story, visit Gossip Rocks

This story and others like it really underscore the importance of microchipping your cat and keeping the contact information up to date.  Many people move or change phone numbers and forget to login or otherwise contact their microchipping company and update their contact information.  A surprising number of cats with microchips are never claimed from the shelter because their owners’ cannot be located.  If your cat is lost and you have given up all other methods of searching, your cat may some day still be found if s/he has a microchip and if you remember to keep your contact information accurate.

Cat Lost Near Canadian Border Survives 3 Months in Winter

I recently found this blog post about two cats that went missing during the winter in Washington state near the Canadian border.  When it took place is unclear, but it was an unusually harsh winter for Washington.

For the full story, visit HubPages.com

Summary:  In early December, their two cats, Toby and Tigger, crawled into the carpool van and hid under the seats.  At the carpool parking lot, Toby bolted into the woods, and when they arrived for work at the oil refinery, Tigger also escaped.  They were able to put many posters where Toby went missing, but not in the area of the oil refinery where Tigger got lost.  The oil refinery is located 100 miles from their home and up near the Canadian border.  The family eventually gave up hope as the months passed by and the snow continued to pile up.  Then in February, they received a call from a woman who lived south of the oil refinery that her son had found Tigger.  She doesn’t specify in the article, but I assume that Tigger still had on his collar and ID tags when he was found.  Tigger was skinny but otherwise okay, and he was very happy to be found.  He survived three months in the freezing cold in a remote area filled with predators.  Since he returned home, his hunting skills have improved considerably.  Sadly, they never did find Toby, but he was lost in a residential area so there is at least a better chance that someone took him in.

Source:  posted by Anywhere Gardener on HubPages

Lost Cat Found During Recent Winter Storm

Angel was lost on January 17th in Hanover, PA.  She apparently crawled up into the engine of her owner, Will’s, car, and she jumped out somewhere on the way to his wife’s job at the hospital.  On January 31st, The Evening Sun ran an article on Angel’s story and the effect her loss had on the family (read the story here).  A neighbor near the hospital saw the story and remembered seeing a cat that looked like Angel.  Will’s daughter put up more posters in the area and more sightings came in, and they put out food on one of the porches.  Then on Tuesday night as another major storm was moving through the area, Will was driving around and saw Angel sitting in a front yard.  She initially ran from him, but he got down on one knee and talked to her and she came running right into his arms.  She is now safe and warm and back at her home after 15 days lost.

To read the whole story, visit The Evening Sun

Lost Indoor-Only Cat Survives Three Snow Storms

On Christmas Eve, Jinxy, an indoor-only short-haired black cat, managed to slip outside unnoticed.  Her owner, Jazzy, searched the neighborhood for hours each day, distributed flyers to many of her neighbors, and put posters up and down her street.  Over the next two weeks, she received calls of several sightings, but none proved to be the missing Jinxy.  Meanwhile, Rhode Island had its first big snow storm of the year with at least 10” on December 26-27.  Then on January 10th, Jazzy received a call from a neighbor two houses down that they might have seen Jinxy on their porch.  Jazzy started putting out food and trapping at her neighbor’s but only caught other cats.  On January 11-12, there was a second big storm dropping another 12” of snow.  This was followed by a snow and rain mix on Jan 17-18 and another couple of inches of snow on January 21st.  Temperatures throughout December and January often dropped into the teens at night and on January 15th, it dropped all the way down to five degrees.

On January 16th (three weeks after Jinxy escaped), I drove out to Rhode Island to help Jazzy in her search and rented her two wildlife surveillance cameras.  She put one camera up outside her home and the other at the neighbor’s house with the most promising sighting.  On January 22nd she found several pictures of Jinxy on the camera and she again stepped up her efforts to try and trap her at the neighbor’s.  Jazzy made frequent trips to her neighbor’s house to check the trap and add fresh food since the wet food kept freezing.  During one of these trips around 8pm, she arrived to find Jinxy walking towards the trap.  When Jazzy called her name, Jinxy initially ran and hid, but she was meowing at the same time.  Jazzy got down flat on the ground and continued to talk to Jinxy.  She was purring as she came back out to eat the food, so Jazzy crawled slowly towards her.  When she picked her up, Jinxy didn’t fight or try to get away, and Jazzy put her in the trap and carried her home.

All told, Jinxy survived below freezing temperatures and three snow storms with a total accumulation of nearly 30” of snow.  She did have a small amount of frost bite on her feet and an injury to her tail, but she is now safely home thanks to Jazzy’s persistence and never giving up hope.

Source: Compassionate Pet Services case file

Cat Found After 7 Weeks in Freezing Weather

I found my sweet black cat Tuner after 7 weeks of him being missing in the freezing weather in Boise, Idaho. I was horribly depressed and felt guilty because I knew why he left.  My ex-husband moved much of the furniture out of the house and I left for two vacations shortly thereafter. Plus new neighbors brought new cats into the neighborhood that moved in on my cat’s territory.

I put posters on the far corners of my neighborhood, scoured the large field behind my house, and drove around at night. Then I read here that they don’t go far from home. So I put a poster on my own street and the street immediately behind the field. As I was hanging a poster, someone drove by and said they had seen my cat in their yard!

I walked down that street and called out for him. When I got to the end of the cul-de-sac, I heard meowing. He wasn’t on that street but my voice carried and he came from the next street over.

I hardly recognized him because his long fur had grown to adjust to the freezing weather. But beneath all that fur I found his collar. I picked him up and brought him home.

He’s very glad to be home. He hardly wants to go outside anymore, which is fine by me. He’s eating like crazy – averaging two cans a day, plus dry food.  He wasn’t far from home at all. I had called for him near that area when he first disappeared. But I figured that if he was there, he would easily find his way home and I focused my efforts elsewhere.

Anyway, I want to thank you all for your wisdom and encouragement. My friends were telling me to get another cat because surely the coyotes got mine. I was just about at that point too, but it’s thanks to you guys that I kept looking.

I hope for many other happy endings here.

Blessings!

Cheryl

(Source: Missing Cat Assistance Yahoo! Group)

Fluffy, a cat from Texas, Survives Three Months Lost in Yellowstone

Fluffy went missing while his Texas family was camping in a trailer in West Yellowstone in August 2008.  He was caught in a humane trap three months later, one mile from the campground, and reunited with his family through his ID tag.  Visit MSNBC for the full story.  Many grief stricken owners are quick to assume that their lost cat was killed by coyotes or other wildlife.  However, if you don’t find remains that you can positively identify as your cat, do not give up hope on your lost cat.  Cats are incredible survivors and if Fluffy could survive three months in a wilderness full of wolves, coyotes, foxes, badgers, grizzly bears, black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, eagles, and owls, then it’s possible that your cat could survive too.