Conference misery::feline_v1

    Jess,
    I hope your cat shows up.  Here are some suggestions for helping
    find him.  Take a very good picture of him with you and go door
    to door asking everyone if they have seen him.  Put up notices at
    all the local vets offices that he is missing and how you can be
    reached.  Visit the humane society in your area and fill out a report
    on him in thei lost pets notebook.  While your there, check in the
    pets found notebook to see if anyone found him and is looking for
    the owner.  Also, keep your eyes peeled to the lost and found ads
    in the local paper.  If you can afford the expense put in an ad
    of your own.  Our humane society says that it is not a good idea
    to put your pets name in any of the ads or posters you place.
    
    Also- if your cat is addicted to any kind of treat, take them with
    you when you go out looking for him.  I shake a can of pounce and
    my four come running.
    
    Keep me posted and I'll let you know if I think of any more ideas.
    I lost my first cat when I moved from my apartment (I was evicted
    because I had her) to a new condo.  She tturned up at the old apartment
    (how ironic! she was the last thing they wanted to see!)
    
    Oh, I almost forgot...have any of your neighbors gone away for x-mas?
    When our cats were outdoors, one of ours was locked in a neighbors
    garage for the duration of a four day weekend.  You might check
    this out also.
    
    JoAnn

    Ditto.  We feed our cats around 5:00 evenings and don't let them
    out afterwards so they are more inclined to come home (neutering
    also helps).  Last December Fillmore disappeared for 3-4 days. 
    At this point I was just about to call it quits, since he had always
    come home before.  I then checked with a neighbor if I could search
    his basement (which had a door to the outside).  Sure enough.  He
    was so weak he didn't even cry when I called him until I was right
    next to him.  He's fine now, but still stupid.
    
    Don't give up hope.  Some people in this file have lost their cats
    for weeks, then the cat returned.  Check all garages and basements,
    sheds, everything.  Shake the food (we put ours in glass so it throws
    the sound farther).
    
    Good luck.
            Carol

    Well, I phoned Pet Watch, the local radio station and all the animal
    shelters, but no luck.  Today's my first day back at work after
    a course, and when everyone asked me about Ifor this morning I told
    them that I'd come to the conclusion that he'd gone, because a lot
    of tabby cats get stolen for their fur coats around here.
    
    At 11.00am I phoned Pet Watch to let them know Ifor was still missing,
    and they said they had heard about some woman near me who took in
    stray cats and didn't notify vets or anyone.  I phoned this woman
    and she said she had a tabby.  A friend in work drove me straight
    there and...............it was Ifor!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    This woman lives just up the road from me.  She'd seen Ifor in the
    garden, so got her husband to take him into the house (he's still
    got scars 'cos Ifor doesn't like being picked up by strangers).
    Ever since then she's fed him, but kept him locked in!!  So he couldn't
    get home.  He looks fat and well fed, but his coat is dull and he
    doesn't seem very happy.  I took him home and shut him in the bedroom
    and then had to come back to work.  I can't wait to get home!
    
    I know this woman thought she was doing good, but she's got another
    "stray" cat there, and I wonder who else is breaking their heart
    over a lost cat.
    
    Oh well, I'm off home to feed Ifor.
    
    Jess (very happy)
      

    
    Hearing that you've got Ifor back is the *nicest* way to start the
    week!
    
    	Penelope

    I know this may be hard for you to understand right now but how
    was this kindly woman to know that Ifor was not a stray?  Was he
    wearing a collar with identification on it?  She thought she was
    doing a good deed by taking care of this cat.  If he was identified
    as yours then there is no excuse for her not letting you know that
    she had him.  But if he wasn't...  Maybe she thought she was protecting
    him from the tabby coat stealers by keeping him inside (BTW- do
    people really do such things as steal cats for there tabby coats?)
    
    Jo

    Ifor doesn't wear a collar.  Pet Watch said they were glad he doesn't,
    because they've seen lots of cats hung by collars.  Most people
    in my area let their cats loose without collars.  Ifor spends a
    lot of time indoors, but pops out every now and then for a quick
    look around.
    
    Lots of the neighbours know him, and one old man came asking where
    he was, because Ifor used to visit him every day, and he missed
    the company.  I can understand her thinking he was stray if he'd
    been hanging around all day, but she told me she saw him crossing
    over her back garden, so sent her husband out to catch him.  Ever
    since then he'd been locked in, so had no chance to get home.  I
    know she thinks she's doing good - Ifor has been very well fed,
    but if's very unfair to catch cats, keep them locked in your house,
    and not make any effort to notify the owners.
    
    I asked if I could put a notice in the vets with her phone number,
    to say that she's looking after another "stray", but she said no,
    because she doesn't want anyone to take the cat away from her.
    
    I must admit having Ifor live somewhere else is preferable to him
    being caught for his fur, I would just like to have known about
    it!
    
    And yes, they do steal cats for their fur coats.  It's not been
    happening much lately, but last year a gang was going around catching
    cats (especially tabbies).  They ship them off to Germany somehow,
    then when they get there they are killed and the fur is used for
    coats and things.  Because I live near a very large housing estate
    close to the motorway, it's and ideal location for 'catnappers'.
    It doesn't seem to be happening so much lately, so now the cold
    weather is here and Ifor and Idris spend much more time indoors,
    I hope they'll be safe.
    
    Ifor had a big dish of liver last night and spend the night curled
    up on our be with his sister - the best New Year present ever!
    
    Jess
    
    ps  Thanks everyone for your concern and support.

    
    Jess,
    
    I'm with you.  I think it is unreasonable to "adopt" a cat as a
    stray just becasuse he/she is in your yard.  A few years ago, when
    I had only one cat, a young cat was hanging around my yard in the
    dead of winter.  It was well below zero at night and I had seen
    the cat for several days - both morning and night.  I let her in
    only twice to feed her and make sure she was not injured and to
    let her warm up.  After less than an hour in the house I would put
    her out.  She eventually did get home and I see her now and then
    a few blocks away.  I often think that if one of my sweeties ever
    got out - that's what I would want someone else to do.  Make sure
    they are ok, but allow them to go home.
    
    It sort of sounds like the lady you spoke of has a problem.  She
    wants to have a cat around the house, but she would rather use your
    cat than her own (I have some family members that are like that
    with money!).  She should not be allowed to do this, but I don't
    know what to suggest you do about it (in my case I just stopped
    lending money to my family).

    You are right, it does sound like she has a problem.  Did she offer
    any argument when you went to reclaim Ifor?  Sounds like the type
    of person that would try to say that she had had the cat for years.
    This has happened to me once.  I had a jet black persian type mixed
    breed cat that got out of the house one day.  We put out flyers,
    went door to door with pictures, put an add in the paper, the works.
    We went to this one house about three blocks from us and while we
    were talking to the woman that lived there (and she had just told
    us that she hadn't seen a cat that looked like ours lately) a jet
    black persian type mixed breed cat came walking towards the front
    door!  I called my cats name out and the cat started toward me!
    The woman yelled at the cat, explained to me that "Midnight" wasn't
    allowed out and shut the door in my face!  We went back the next
    day and asked to see the cat again...she wouldn't let us.  She said
    that there was no way that it could be our cat because they had
    found it several months before.  Our cat did have a collar on with
    our name, address, and phone number on it.  We never did get our
    cat back.
    Jo
    
    PS- Isn't it against the law to use domestic animals for fur?  I
    can't believe that anyone would buy a fur knowing that it was cat.

    I think that's really awful about your Jo.  Although there's the
    slight consolation that you knew she was being looked after.  You
    must have been really upset and VERY angry.
    
    I keep Ifor in as much as possible, and when he disappears for several
    hours I think that if he doesn't come back, at least I don't have
    to worry like I did last time.  So far tho' he keeps coming back.
    I think he's more happy with us because he can come and go when
    he likes.  He also like cuddling up with Iddy, his sister, not to
    mention all that liver we've been giving him!
    
    Yes it is against the law to use domestic animals for fur.  But
    of course there are also sorts of wierdos and sickos out there.
    There doesn't seem to be any of it going on at the moment, so maybe
    the craze has died down, or the people got caught.  Perhaps someone
    should skin them to teach them a lesson!
    
    Jess

    I've just realised that Jo is your name, not the cat!  Sorry!!!
    

RE: .6

I would tell the Pet Watch people about this woman.  If she makes a habit out
of taking in stray cats and not telling anybody, she ought to be one of the
first places people look when their animal is missing.

There is a legal term for taking in an animal that you have every reason to
believe belongs to somebody else and making no attempt to notify the original
owner.  That term is theft.

--PSW