The Search

I went down to search for the lost cat in Eugene today.  I had made lots of fliers.  Once there, I even climbed up into the attic from a rickety ladder and searched, although no cats have access to the attic, only one smaller area and she still could be there, way down in the rafters.  There were two cats up there then. I searched the larger area.  It was darn hot up there.  I am still itching from it. I had to slide along a 2x4 so I wouldn't break through the ceiling.  I can still shimmy!

The two cats stared at me from the other smaller section, over the hen house, through netting they had put up to keep cats out of the larger attic area.  Nonetheless, I was sure I heard kittens.  If I heard them, then she's in the rafters in the other section.   I laid there quiet in the dark but did not hear them again.  I know what I heard though.

We put food and water up there anyhow, just in case, in the larger section. Then I let myself down, until my feet hit the top of that old wood ladder.  After that, I searched the yard.

After that, I went around talking to everybody.  The woman across the road loves cats but says her son's dog might kill an unknown cat if she came into their backyard or tried to go under their house, that has an opening their dog can also get through.

I talked to a nice older couple.  They looked at the photo and said they thought that was the cat hit by a car.  They found the white and black cat screaming and flopping, back broken and didn't know what to do, she was hurt so bad.  So they called animal services who came and took the cat away.  But then, it turns out, they called animal services to come get that injured cat three days before I even took the cat down to Eugene.  They're real sure it was not last week that happened, but the week before that.  I will contact LCAS to see if they have records though. I sure hope it wasn't her with the broken back hit by a car.

I walked to a park then on into a trailer park talking to everyone and handing out fliers.  There were two women about to leave for WA state, but they said they had 15 minutes time and love cats and I handed them fliers.  I found one they put up at the store a block away.

I talked to lots of people on the street behind where she was lost.  I saw lots of cats.  Two houses in particular were real cat people. One was home and one wasn't.  I left a flier tucked into the door of the one who wasn't home and gave the guy at the other house a flier.  They live only two houses down and behind where she was lost. I had already e-mailed several nearby churches and schools with her photo and the flier.  I already got a response from one principal who vowed to have his students watch for her.

There are lots of cats in the area who look almost like her, however.  It's hard to tell the white and blacks apart.  I hope she can be found.   I spent hours down there and met a lot of friendly people who want to find her.  But if that old couple mixed up the day they called on the badly injured cat, if it was her hurt so badly, boy that will be hard.  I will try to find out.

I had to go, you see, to search.  I can't just sit here in mourning.  I am an action person.  When a cat goes missing, I find it much more therapeutic to try to find the cat, rather than sitting around crying about it.