REWARD for our BELOVED LOST CAT

[manishie]

"Goldbug" was attacked by a cat and a neighbors dog in our yard and disappeared on Sunday, July 10th
near xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in Sebastopol. Our family is so sad!
If alive, he is probably injured, lost, scared, and hiding.
He has been indoors almost exclusively since our move and doesn't know the territory.
He is a large, short haired dark classic tabby, with beautiful circular markings on his sides.
He acts semi-wild outside but is a dedicated mushy, love bug when home.
Any information would be gratefully appreciated. We miss our furry friend!
Thanks

[Barrie]

Hi! I tried again to contact your cat. He says that he knows how to get home, he just doesn't want to encounter the same dog and cat again. He doesn't feel like it is safe for him there. I told him that you would probably let him stay indoors if he doesn't feel safe outside. Again, go outside and call him just after dark. I have seen a number of cats come home this way. They feel more comfortable traveling in the dark.

Good luck! Barrie

[Moon]

If a small animal friend of yours has gone missing, the first thing to do is to
start phoning people who hire out the services of themselves and tracking
dogs. If the missing individual is a cat, they’ll swear up and down that allowing the dog to track a cat would “ruin” him. Horsepuckey! Refer them to Kat Albrecht’s work, to lostapet.net &/or to me—just insist. If you absolutely can’t
talk anyone into it, get a friend with a dog to sniff the missing cat’s bed, and
then try to get across to him the idea of following that scent outdoors. That’s
the hard way, but you must get a dog on the scent now—before it rains!
Corrections: The URL is lostapet.org.
What necessitates urgency isn't rain--it's the criss-crossing of the scent trail with other animals' (or vehicles') scents.
If anyone needs to refer to this again, you can find it by searching "Small Animal Retrieval."

[manishie]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded on the website and privately. I'm very sad to say, but our dear Goldbug seems to have died from the initial attack by the neighbor's pit bull. We found him after 8 days in a spot where the dog has dragged the remains of many other tiny creatures (just a few hundred feet from our house). It's very sad and our children our traumatized.

"Goldbug" was attacked by a cat and a neighbors dog in our yard and disappeared on Sunday, July 10th
near xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in Sebastopol. Our family is so sad!
If alive, he is probably injured, lost, scared, and hiding.
He has been indoors almost exclusively since our move and doesn't know the territory.
He is a large, short haired dark classic tabby, with beautiful circular markings on his sides.
He acts semi-wild outside but is a dedicated mushy, love bug when home.
Any information would be gratefully appreciated. We miss our furry friend!
Thanks

[Shandi]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded on the website and privately. I'm very sad to say, but our dear Goldbug seems to have died from the initial attack by the neighbor's pit bull. We found him after 8 days in a spot where the dog has dragged the remains of many other tiny creatures (just a few hundred feet from our house). It's very sad and our children our traumatized.

First I want to say how saddened I feel when I hear about this kind of thing. It happens more often than is reported on WaccoBB. It's heartbreaking to know one's pet has suffered from an attack like this.

Please read these posts on "Stray Pet Network"

Animal control will only respond to major cases and the police seem to be too busy .... Does anyone have any experience to share? There are laws to protect animals... how do we enforce them?

Rosanne


Are you talking about the killing of the cat by the neighbor's dog? I see no reason that AC&C won't respond - that's their business as well as the police. The DA's office understands that where there's animal abuse there's often spousal and child abuse.

Dian

Sandy Murphey to StrayPetNetwork

Even though there are laws, that doesn't stop things from happening. Animals depend on their owners to be
aware of the laws, but even if there's a law, it doesn't mean people obey it, or even care about it.

If I were aware of owners who have pets who have hurt or killed other animals, I would make a report to
animal control and the police. I would also post a flyer about this animal, (and a picture if possible -cell phone)
for neighbors to be aware.

If you know your neighbors have kitties that go in and out, give them a flyer in person, stating what has
happened that you know of.

I used to have indoor outdoor kitties, but I have a new system for my new kitty. I bought a wonderful
(reversible) cloth halter on EBay with velcro fasteners, and it works great. She gets some SAFE outdoor time,
and I don't worry about her getting attacked or lost. I protect her as I would my child. She may prefer to go out on
her own, as a small child might want to, but she's my responsibility to keep safe from harm, out there.

We know that they're are "human predators" and so we take steps to protect ourselves as much as possible.
Yet, we seem to forget that there are "animal predators", some of whom have been especially trained for this.
(Pit bulls are notorious for being trained in this way, but not all are like that, if raised in a loving environment.)
Still, the dog instinct is to chase, and if kitty runs, disaster can follow for either animal.)

My roommate disagrees, and says "cats should be free to go out on their own". She has a dog that she
takes out on a leash.

Working at the shelter has increased my awareness of the number of lost and injured kitties, white kitties
with ear cancer with their ears cut off. (they should be indoor only cats because of this)

My answer is that like any law, there isn't that much enforcement, until something happens. As Diane pointed
out, in many of these cases, there's also human abuse, but the police won't come until something happens.

It's really up to us as pet owners to "prevent" these things as much as possible. We treat our pets like
children in so many ways, why not protect them in the same way?

Sandy


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