7/7/04
Hi,
After
6 days Router is home!!!!!!!!!! Here's
a story to add to the many encouraging stories of cats returning
home!
First
of all, I want to send out a GREAT big thanks for this site. It
was such a blessing — we would have been lost without it, and
we would not have been doing any of the right things. Words cannot
express how incredible grateful both me and my husband are for this
site.
I hope
you always know that you provide a priceless service. If ever you
feel down or have a bad day, remember the immeasurable joy you have
provided for all those you have helped unite with their lost cat,
and the hope and comfort you provide to those in the process of
searching. You kept our spirits up, and our hope alive and well
as we worked on getting our Router back. Without you, we would have
surely been in the darkest despair and fumbling in the dark as to
how to get him back. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!
So,
here's what happened. We started using a humane trap the second
day of Router's disappearance. On the first night we caught a stray,
who at a distance was a bit of a look-alike, though up close distinctly
different. This was a blessing for this un-neutered Tom-boy. We
took him in in order to get him neutered and named him Thomas. Today
he was neutered, tests showed he is positive for FIV, but it looks
like we may have found a home for him with a woman who already has
an FIV positive cat. She's coming to visit and meet Thomas this
weekend. Keep you fingers crossed.
The
third night nothing in the trap.
The
fourth night, a cat was in the trap. Don't know if a stray or an
owned cat. We released her or him on the spot.
Fifth
night caught a baby possum.
Sixth
night caught a known neighborhood cat around 2:00 am. Around 5:00
am my husband got up to bring the trap in for the night. There was
another known neighborhood cat in the trap. He released her, and
using our two-way motorola let me know the news. Apparently Router
then heard his voice, and mewed, a kind of plaintive distress mew,
sounding like a cat calling to someone it knows. George called his
name, and he responded — this time the mewing was a little
closer. Closer and closer the mewing came, until Router appeared
from the brambles and walked right up to George to be petted. He
petted him a little, then grabbed him up and secured him inside
the trap. As soon as I got the word over the 2-way radio, I burst
into tears, and burst through the fence to where the trap was.
There
was Router! Unbelievable joy!!
We
carried him in, and when we brought him out found him to have lost
a little weight, but looking glossy and healthy and no sign of injury.
He ate with a hearty appetite and was affectionately greeted by
his buddies Mr. Bill and Gus.
I
had a great sense of unreality... but I am now starting to realize
he's really here : ) He's so happy to be home. He purrs a lot (much
more than he used to before his disappearance) but most of all he
sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. Just what both George and I need to
do now!!
For
those of you still looking: I had a strong intuitive feeling on
where Router would be hunkering down, and he appeared from that
very area. We had been serving a kitty buffet there, and I am sure
that helped root him to that area.
I
can't recommend the trap enough. Though we did not catch Router
in the trap, the trap still brought him back in my opinion. Had
it not been for the trap, George would not have been out there at
5:00 am (we were both quite exhausted, and had gone to bed at 2:30
am, with very little sleep the last few nights). The trap made it
mandatory to go out, and there was Router!!!
Also,
trapping every night keeps the spirits up. We caught a cat we'd
never ever seen before and a baby possum. We had never seen a possum
here, and it just proved that just because you don't see an animal,
does not mean it's not there.
Don't
give up for lack of positive sightings. It was very discouraging
to not know if Router was out there or not, but this site made us
believe he WAS indeed close by, and sure enough he was. Even with
the TERRIBLE noise of the 4th of July fireworks, going off right
over his head, he still stayed put in the brambles. Don't ever,
ever lose faith, and keep looking and trapping.
When
our spirits were low, we kept reading the success stories on this
site, so our seeds of doubt could never find ground to sprout into
full grown weeds.
Recommendation
for an excellent trap:
