Blake went missing nearly 2 years ago from the home of his adopter. The teenage black kitty had been adopted from FieldHaven just a few short months prior. Blake was on the “shy” side and one day he scooted out an accidentally left open door. His family searched and searched, postering the neighborhood, checking the shelter – anything to bring this kitty home. A kitty whom they had fallen in love with in spite of the fact that he seemed to not be fond of human affection. As time marched on their hope waned and they adopted 2 small dogs into their family.
Last week I was just stepping out of a meeting at Placer County Animal Services when a staff person stopped to let me know that a semi-feral cat had been surrendered in a trap that morning. At first he seemed destined to be classified as a feral but, alas, a microchip was found – a microchip that had been implanted by FieldHaven. Thank you PCAS for checking for microchips on all incoming animals no matter how un-owned they may appear.
I quickly checked the chip in our database and found his adopter’s contact information. The adopter was surprised by the call – after all Blake had been missing for so long they didn’t harbor any hope that he’d be found. She was ecstatic and told me her daughter really missed that silly shy cat. She said she’d love to bring him home but was concerned about the 2 new canine family member – would Blake be comfortable with them?
After a conversation with her we elected to bring Blake back to FieldHaven where we could all work together to work out the best solution for him.
We have found that Blake has reverted back to his mostly feral state. Volunteers are working with him to see if he can be re-socialized enough to return to his family or if a different living situation would be better for him. But, thanks to his microchip, he is safe and cared for. And, his family is comforted by knowing where he is.
River was found by a jogger wandering in the open space behind the Lincoln Home Depot in October 2007. He was skinny and starving. A neutered male that obviously belonged to someone at some time but he was not microchipped and a search did not turn up an owner. Several months later River was adopted into a great home. But River knew he didn’t belong in that home. He let his adopters know that he didn’t want to be there in that unpleasant way cats do – he peed everywhere he wasn’t supposed to.
The adopters tried everything; a medical workup, the pheromone plug-ins, trying to reason with him, whatever they could try they did. But to no avail.
Tearfully, they returned River (now known as Linus) to FieldHaven after a year. That was 2 months ago. We did another medical work-up in the hopes something had been missed. Nope, River was just a chronic bad kitty!
We love River but, heck, do you know how hard it is to adopt out a 5 year old, black/white, slightly overweight pee cat? We’ve been down this road before and we just try and keep the faith. You just never know when “that person” will come along. Sometimes it takes months and months but we just keep trying.
River hasn’t had the best of times at our PetSmart Adoption Center – he gets stressed there and doesn’t put his best face forward to the public. Instead he hides somewhat and just sits there. No head-butting “take me”s against the adoption center windows for this guy.
This week Jen decided to try River again at PetSmart just to see if he would like it any better. Who would’ve known how that decision would turn out.
Last night Kristian was shopping at PetSmart when she wandered by the adoption center and began looking at kitties in the adoption center. When she saw River sleeping in his bed she thought of her family’s black and white kitty, Charlie who went missing shortly after they moved to Lincoln nearly 2 years ago never to be found in spite of months and months of searching.
When River lifted his head to look at Kristian she was stunned by what she saw – a black nose and a black dot in the center of his white chin just like Charlie. It was Charlie!
Admittedly, we were skeptical when Kristian called last night. Could she really recognize her black and white cat after 2 years? Kristian came to FieldHaven today with pictures – no doubt about it – it’s Charlie.
Today Jen and I had the most incredible joy of witnessing the reunion of Kristian and Charlie. These are the times in rescue and animal shelter that make our hearts swell with love and pride for the work we do. How can it get better than this?
Charlie/River/Linus now has a microchip. But we hope he never needs to use it.
The Lincoln News Messenger was also there to witness the reunion – watch for the story in next week’s paper.
Please microchip your pets.
Kristian and Charlie - see the black spot on his chin?
