Today we received a thank you message from a woman named Rosanna. She used our cat attracting tips and sheer dogged (why don’t people say”catted”?) persistence to recover her lost cat. Here is the story in her own words:
I lost my cat in Astoria Oregon on May 6th at 6pm at the Astoria Oregon Co-op grocery store.
Stella
I am from Seattle Washington but I have a vacation home in Gearhart Oregon, about 25 minutes away from the co-op where I stopped to buy groceries. I did not notice it at the time, but my cat Stella jumped from my car when I was loading the groceries.
When I got to my home in Gearhart, I was horrified to discover that Stella was missing from my car! I immediately went back to Astoria with my friends and looked everywhere for Stella.
The neighborhood around the co-op helped a great deal as did the employees of the grocery store.The local public radio station KMUN 91.9 began broadcasting announcements about Stella being lost.
In the meantime I was given your website from my daughter who lost her cat in Columbus Ohio. I followed your advice and began doing all the things you recommended.
I got up at dawn, went to Astoria and began searching for Stella and looking everywhere in the vicinity of the co-op. I scoured the community and put flyers everywhere and talked to many people. They were so helpful. I went to the area dawn and dusk. I printed flyers, put them up with her photo and posted on local FB pages.
I went every night to the co-op. I parked in the same place where I had lost her. I put out her scratch pad, cushion and a towel with my scent on it. I put out sardines and smelly tuna fish, to lure her back to the front of the store. I did this every day!
Items left to lure Stella out of hiding: her scratch pad, tuna, towel with Rosanna’s scent
I did not sleep at night. I was pretty exhausted and depressed. Stella is like a member of our family. She is very important to my youngest daughter who is a freshman in college. I had to find her!
I did this for four days and nights. On the fourth night I got a call from the Clatsop County Animal Shelter saying they had a sighting of her. I went to the spot, talked to the people and left photos and food.
I thought to swing by the co-op to see if there was any activity. There were sightings of Stella at night around 9:30. Then I saw two employees by the dumpster. They recognized me. They said they had heard a cat meow…they closed the gates of the fenced garbage area and Stella came came out!!!!! We could not believe it!
Stella and Rosanna, happily reunited
I followed your advice and even went further and tried to be there waiting for her. The lesson I learned was not to give up – you were right – cats do not go far from where they are lost.
Thank you for your helpful advice. It worked! I reached out to the community and they helped so much! But it was by being tenacious that I found Stella.
Thank you, PET FBI!
Warmly,
Rosanna
