THE ADVENTURES OF PERIWINKLE & STINKY: PART CCXCVI

Stinky & Periwinkle are two cartoon tabby cats. Stinky is a Manx cat and doesn’t have a tail. They are alter egos of Sawyer, who lives in Virginia, and Noelle, who lives in Florida. They began as boyfriend and girlfriend but are now engaged. The tabbies alternate planning adventures, which they post on their blogs (The Cat on My Head and Friends Furever) on Tuesdays. The tabbies travel between locations in a cat play tunnel, which they refer to as a teleportation tunnel. They have shared more than 300 adventures.

National Lost Pet Prevention Month*

 

* Stinky is an imaginary, cartoon cat, so he never actually went missing. I have, however, written many posts as part of this series indicating he did. As most of you know, that was his alter ego, Sawyer. In an attempt to keep this post from becoming confusing, only Sawyer will be referenced as the missing cat.

As always, Stinky is impatient for Periwinkle’s arrival. Only seeing her once a week makes him quite lonely at times. He does not have to wait long, however, until he sees the teleportation tunnel begin to vibrate. Soon after, Periwinkle comes tumbling out in a whoosh into his waiting paws. Once Stinky sets her upright, they spend a few minutes paw hugging and whisker kissing.

Before Periwinkle can ask what Stinky has planned, he tells her, “I hope you don’t mind, but we will be staying home again today. We have some really important information to share with our friends. And, it is just so darn hot outside, I don’t really feel like going anywhere.”

“Okey dokey … as long as we are together, I’m happy,”  replies Periwinkle. “I think I might be able to guess what the important information is about. Is it National Lost Pet Prevention Month, as this is the time in 2021 when Sawyer went missing?”

“You are so smart. That is exactly right. We are going to give tips to help our friends find their kitty should it escape and disappear. Mom said she had her eyes on Sawyer one minute and then it was as if he went ‘poof.’”

“That was the most scary and heart-wrenching time of our lives, and both Noelle and I are so happy he has not tried that again.”

“So, today’s adventure is about what worked for my mom and dad as well as mom’s suggestions for any pet parents facing this situation.”

“Sounds purrfect, Stinky.”

Some Things to Keep in Mind

“When Sawyer decided he wanted to try his paw at living outdoors again, my Mom read every article she could to find what methods she should use to find him and bring him home. The list of tactics we are going to discuss is quite long. Some she found helpful and some useless.

“Some web-sites will tell you an indoor pet most likely will stay within 2 1/2 houses of home, and an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat is probably within 17 houses of home. That may not seem far away when traveling up and down your own block, but if your cat is transversing from block to block, that can be 8 to 9 blocks away. An adult cat might travel as much as 1.5 miles per day. Additionally, a cat can sprint at up to 30 miles per hour and travel as much as 10 miles in a day,” Stinky informs Periwinkle.

“Stinky, I remember Sawyer ended up .9 miles from home, which is way beyond 17 houses away. That was still within that 1.5 miles, however, and he was gone for three-and-a-half weeks. He must have taken baby steps.”

Stinky giggles and reminds Periwinkle that this is a serious post before saying, “That’s right, Periwinkle, and he crossed a very busy street as well. If he’d traveled 10 miles every day, he would have been over 300 miles from home.”

Periwinkle gives Stinky a big paw hug and replies, “Yikes, we never would have found him. Thankfully, Sawyer didn’t do that.”

Best Tips for Getting Your Lost Pet Home

Collars & Microchips

“For starters, my mom recommends all cats wear collars with ID as well as any pertinent medical/vet information.”

 

 

“If one is an indoor cat, why is a collar so important?” asks Periwinkle.

Stinky replies, “Even if a cat is microchipped, s/he is easier to identify with a visible collar. Also, if the kitty has an ID, it does not need to be taken to a vet or rescue to be scanned for a chip. Collars are now breakaway, so can easily be lost, but it is still a good tool. Raleigh is the first of the Kitties Blue that absolutely refuses to wear a collar, which makes Mom very nervous. As you know, he has escaped on two occasions. Though he never left the yard, it took Mom and Dad three-and-a-half days to get him back in the house the second time.”

“Even with a collar and ID, cats should still have a microchip shouldn’t they?” asks Periwinkle.

“Yes, definitely. And some microchip companies provide a tag that can be put on a cat’s collar. Pet parents need to make certain the microchip company always has their current contact information. And they should be notified if the cat goes missing.”

 

 

Locator Tags

“Many companies offer locator tags that can be placed on a pet’s collar. Sawyer did not have one of those when he took off. Now he wears one as do Kizmet and Audrey. Kizmet is an escape artist, and Audrey has a tendency to have her collar pulled off when wrestling with Raleigh or Kizmet. They all wear Apple AirTags. Pet parents can check the internet for other brands and recommendations.”

Searching for Your Cat

Do this everyday. Include garages, basements, sheds and crawl spaces on your property and that of your neighbors. Don’t forget to look up in trees and on roofs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Stinky, I remember Sawyer used to get on the roof before your Mom and Dad blocked access.”

The best times to search are dawn and dusk, as cats are crepuscular, meaning they are most active during low-light hours. Also, this is when it is more quiet outside and frightened pets are more likely to venture from a hiding place. If you searched an area once, don’t dismiss searching again. Many pets are not found as their humans become fatigued by the searching, give up and stop.

Social Media

Get your pet’s photo and relevant information on all the lost pet web-sites. Start with the local ones like your neighborhood forum and ones for adjacent neighborhoods. Some sites are listed below. You will find others by searching, “Lost Cats” on the internet. “My mom used the first two plus another she can no longer find listed on-line,” Stinky says. (Click on the listings to go to any of these web-sites.)

1. PawBoost
2. Lost My Kitty
3. PetRadar
4. Petco Love/Lost
5. Pet FBI
6. Petkey

“Periwinkle, these sites should be checked daily to see if one’s cat has been found and listed,” advises Stinky. My mom has listed Cooper Murphy and two other cats that were hanging around that she didn’t recognize.”

Avoid listing on Craig’s List. Many scams have been associated with individuals falsely claiming to have a person’s cat and requesting money to return it.

Animal Control & Rescues/Shelters

Contact Animal Control, all local rescues and shelters, your vet and any vet offices in your area. Some of the web-sites listed above will do this for you for free or a small fee. But call or drop by with a lost pet poster anyway. Make certain they all know your pet is microchipped (if it is).

Posters, Flyers & Signs

Posters: Sites like PawBoost and Lost My Kitty create a poster/flyer for you that you can print. For posters, place them inside a plastic cover before putting them up. And change them out if your pet is still missing after a week to ten days. “Mom started with a PawBoost poster and switched out to a Lost My Kitty poster, each with a different photo. This will make people look again, not knowing if it is the same lost pet they had seen on the previous poster,” Stinky tells Periwinkle.

“That’s a great idea, Stinky. It reminds people that the kitty is still missing,” comments Periwinkle.

“That’s right. It is equally important to take all those posters down when the cat is found or returns home on its own.”

Flyers: Deliver these in your neighborhood to residences and businesses and ask business if you can post on a bulletin board or in the front window. Personally talk to as many individuals as possible while doing this.

Signs: Make a sign for your yard that is highly visible to passersby both on foot and in vehicles. Include a photo of your pet, contact telephone numbers and any other information that might help you locate your cat. “See how Mom included the information that Sawyer is tailless. That made him more easily identifiable.”

 

 

“Stinky, I remember that your mom said this was probably one of the main things she did that helped bring Sawyer home.”

“That’s right, Periwinkle. A lady who walked her dog by our house remembered the sign when she saw a photo of Sawyer listed as “found” on a nearby neighborhood forum,” replies Stinky. “She contacted Mom and then met her at the house where Sawyer was spotted to help search.”

“Wow, that sure was nice of her!”

 

 

“Periwinkle, you know it took Mom several hours to catch Sawyer and bring him home. Even though she didn’t locate him right away, she never left the neighborhood where he had been seen, That is a very important for pet parents to remember.”

Other (Not Recommended) Suggestions

“Periwinkle, my mom received additional suggestions from friends and other bloggers as well as discovered others on-line. Though, I am listing them, they have proven to be less than or not helpful as reported by others and verified by my mom after trying some of them.”

1. Place your cat’s litter box outside.
2. Place a piece of clothing belonging to the pet’s human outside.
3. If you have no additional pets, leave the door or window open from which the cat originally exited the house.
4. Put out a Have-A-Heart trap with stinky food in it. (This will more than likely attract a neighbor’s pet or a wild critter such as a possum, skunk or groundhog.)
5. If your cat is treat motivated and not afraid of strangers, hand out small bags of cat treats to your neighbors to use to entice your cat should they see it.

“Stinky, that last one might have worked for Sawyer had he not left the neighborhood and wasn’t such a fraidy cat,” comments Periwinkle.

“Maybe so, Periwinkle.”

“I really hope all this information will be useful should the cats of any of our friends go missing.”

“Me too, Periwinkle. But I also hope my mom and dad never face this situation again.”

Snack Time

“Now that we have finished providing all this helpful information, Periwinkle, would you like a snack?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Periwinkle says with a giggle.

“As I said earlier, it is super duper hot outside, but let’s go to the front porch. There is a ceiling fan there.”

 

 

After they have eaten, it is time for Periwinkle to head home. Before she leaves, Stinky promises to take her someplace extra special for their adventure in two weeks. Periwinkle throws her paws around Stinky and gives him a huge hug. He then takes her paw and leads Periwinkle to the teleportation tunnel where they share several more paw hugs as well as whisker kisses. Then Periwinkle enters the tunnel and with a final wave and blown kiss, she is gone in a whoosh.

Stinky returns to the house to cool off, nap and dream of Periwinkle.

The End

 

Pet Prevention graphic at head post created by the Cat Blogosphere for use by bloggers. All photos are by the author or the author’s spouse and used with permission, except the one of lost Sawyer, which was provided by the individual who found him. As Sawyer went missing in 2021, I no longer have that person’s name.

Information on how far lost cats travel is from PawBoost, Missing Animal Response Network and Vet Explains Cats.