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Cat missing around 32nd and Broad
06/27/2009 8:50 PM by John M
Contact Linda at lwikete@gmail.com if you’ve seen Sophie:
Her name is Sophie, and she’s a Bengal. She’s pretty small and is used to wandering around but always comes home after a few hours. I live at 32nd and Broad and she usually stays pretty close to there. She wasn’t wearing a collar or anything, but is friendly. I’m offering a reward if anyone can tell me where she is. Oh, she went missing last night (Friday).
… I do hope you find her. Not to discourage you, just mentioning it… but about 9 years ago, we lost two the exact same way, Hopi and Puzzle. We lived at 3018 Broad… we looked everywhere and one we found dead under our neighbor’s house, and the other, never found at all. I am just punching it in here, because it is kind of weird reading this. Our two were the exact same, always would come home, there was no explaining why they were taken from us, they didn’t cross the street. Our new two are pretty much 100% indoor cats, and on leashes when they go out in our yard in our new house. Best of luck and we hope you find her.
Neat cat! I’m sorry to hear this and will certainly let you know if I spot her!
Best of luck to you in your search for kitty.
I lost my (indoor) Siamese a few years ago and found her after a month! I remember thinking that he must have wondered far but we ultimately found him hiding under the building next door (on a tip from the neighbors) in a crawl space. He survived on mice and bugs….and despite being super skinny and malnourished when we recovered him, he eventually fattened back up and is back to being the same great cat he was before his ordeal.
Check under decks and in places that would provide shelter during inclement weather. We also enticed the cat by placing food on the porch and in the immediate area.
Why do cat owners insist on letting their pets run wild outside of their homes?
With some notable exceptions, dog owners are generally responsible enough to keep their animal companions either inside, or restrained by a leash or cage of some sort.
These cats aren’t domestic, because they’re allowed to roam free part of the time. Yet, they’re not feral, because they’re claimed as domestic pets.
Domestiferal cats decimate the already threatened songbird population of urban and suburban areas. The felines’ droppings pollute the environment and foul the gardens and yards of their owners’ neighbors. They also just can’t compete with the cars whizzing about a neighborhood like ours.
Stop whining about your “lost” animals and start keeping them inside if you really give a fig about them or the ‘hood.
ps- Before cat owners claim that their animals “need to roam,” and that it’s a “natural instinct” for them to be outside and chase birds. do this- Let your animal fend for itself for food & water, as it does in the wild. Only then will your deference to your pet’s “natural instincts” make any sense logically or biologically.
wow Anon. What kinds of cats live on your block? good grief!
In my entire life I don’t think I’ve ever once come across the “environmentally polluting feline droppings” you allude to. And I don’t think you can compare an outdoor cat to a dog running loose (cats are so much smaller and less likely to intimidate folks, they don’t generally dig up turf like some dogs do, and they are SO much more discrete in the poo-poo droppings department).
Furthermore, domestic cats that are allowed outside do a nice (chemical free) job of controlling rodent populations. True, on very rare occasions a cat may also manage to take a bird – but this can generally be eliminated with a simple belled collar. Also, there are many, many cats who show no interest in catching birds at all.
While I think it’s fine to have an indoor cat, I also have no problem with outdoor cats – they generally don’t cause any trouble at all. Most people who have an outdoor cat let it out BECAUSE they care about their cat very much and want it to enjoy life a little and be happy. And most outdoor cats stay VERY close to home when they are out.
In any event, I’m not sure that a philosophical debate about the virtues and pitfalls of allowing a domestic cat to go outside is really appropriate or helpful (or sensitive) to this particular situation.
I hope Sophie turns up soon.
BTW Linda: Just in case you haven’t seen them, there are non-lethal traps available that might help here. They look a lot like a regular cat “carrier.” You put some food in and then the cat eats it, a door falls shut to catch it (her, in this case).
We once had a sick cat get out and run off… disappeared for a couple of days. We used a trap like that to catch him so that we could get him back on his medicine and get him better again.
you can see examples here: http://www.wildlife-traps.com/cats.html
You might also try a Southern States – or maybe even Church Hill Animal Hospital (25th & Marshall-ish) would have one they could rent or lend to you.
Again, good luck.
Bullwinkle- Get the facts-
This, from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, is a good place to start, and there are links at the end to more information:
Americans keep an estimated 60 million cats as pets. Let’s say each cat kills only one bird a year. That would mean that cats kill over 60 million birds (minimum) each year – more wildlife than any oil spill.
Scientific studies actually show that each year, cats kill hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds. In 1990, researchers estimated that “outdoor” house cats and feral cats were responsible for killing nearly 78 million small mammals and birds annually in the United Kingdom.
University of Wisconsin ornithologist, Dr. Santley Temple estimates that 20-150 million songbirds are killed each year by rural cats in Wisconsin alone.
Cats are a serious threat to fledglings, birds roosting at night and birds on a nest. Research shows that de-clawing cats and bell collars do not prevent them from killing birds and other small animals. For healthy cats and wild birds, cats should not be allowed to roam free.
http://library.fws.gov/Bird_Publications/songbrd.html#Cat
Thanks for the tips Bullwinkle – and your support!
I don’t think Sophie has ever killed a regular bird much less a migratory songbird – in the US or the United Kingdom – but I guess you never know….
It’s only humane to let a cat roam free. They are not our prisoners, they are our friends. I’d love to see how Anon lives all aspects of his life without any environmental impact whatsoever.
If we could train the cats to kill only pigeons, we would be onto something.
Bullwinkle makes some good points in regard to cats killing birds. While not all outdoor cats might kill birds, they certainly can and do. (I have a feral living in my back yard, and I’ve seen her in action, killing fledglings.) I have two indoor cats (one is allowed out only when I am there to supervise his activities.) He’s too slow and old to catch a bird anyway.) Of great concern to me is his contact with any other outdoor cats. Not only can they fight, claw and bite each other, but cats carry a host of communicable diseases that can infect and kill your indoor/outdoor cats. FIV, feline leukemia, and others, many of which cannot be vaccinated against. Additionally cats can be killed by cars, dogs, foxes, possums and yes, humans. Cats who are let outside have a much higher statistical rate of early deaths than do indoor cats. If you love your cat, and want to be ‘humane’, don’t let them out of the house. I have a small roof on the back of my house that they are allowed to go out on and sniff the breeze and watch the world, but they don’t have free reign to do whatever they want. And they’re happy, healthy and not missing from their home. I DO hope you find Sophie. She’s a beauty.
Oops, I meant to say Anon, not Bullwinkle.
BTW, Please contact Churchill animal hospital for their opinions on letting house cats run free.
Another photo –
I’ll keep a look out. I’m further down Broad.
BTW: Anon: Poop is natural fertilizer. Farmers have used it for years.
And to #9: I would say it depends on the individual cat. I keep my cat in the house but let come out w/me on the porch. He went out w/my husband unnoticed and get locked outside for the night. He clawed on the door all night to get in.
I am so sad to learn that Sophie is missing and I hope she turns up soon and in good health. I’m sorry that Sophie is missing, but I am not surprised. I’ve met her durinig walks. She is a sweet, pretty girl, but I’ve worried for her safety. She doesn’t shy from strangers; she wore no collar and I would see her in the road crossing the street. My neighbors lost two cats in recent years; one hit by a car on E. Broad and one that died after a brief, but violent attack by an unknown animal in the alley behind their home. I have a neighbor who dislikes all animals has said on numerous occasions that he/she was considering putting out poison to rid the yard of unwanted animals. There has also been speculation about cats and small dogs that have gone missing in Church Hill. Concerns have been voiced about animals being taken for use in training dogs in fighting rings. Also, Bengal cats are an expensive breed and while Sophie’s markings and size aren’t typical of a Bengal, some unscrupulous person may have taken her for that reason. There are many dangers faced by outdoor cats: people, other animals, cars, Feline Aids and Leukemia viruses, poisons, etc. I’ve known too many animals that have perished as a result of roaming freely. The statistics speak for themselves, indoor cats on average live twice as long as those that go outside. I pray that Sophie returns safely to her home and hope that her owner will keep her safely indoors (with lots of toys and opportunities for exercise and perhaps a companion cat). But if Sophie is to remain an indoor/outdoor cat, I hope her owner will keep a breakaway coller w/ ID on her and have a microchip ID implanted by her veterinarian. Good luck in your search.