Two months ago my daughter Jenna and I were very very saddened when our cat Buddy disappeared while I was away on a trip and he was spending time at another house.   I was very concerned because he went missing 10 miles or so from where we live.  He was already missing four days before I even found out.

We, as well as our dear friend Lisa, put up rain-protected flyers all over the area with his description (extra digits on his paws!), we went door to door all over the neighborhood, put up flyers at vet offices, went to both animal shelters 1-2 times a week looking for him, put ads in the papers, and said lots of prayers that where ever he was, he was happy and at peace (we weren’t sure about the coyote factor).

A day or so later, while on the internet, looking for suggestions on how to find your lost pet, I stumbled upon a professional tracking service.  I called him, almost on a whim, but he said he could drive right up with his two dogs who work all over the world and who have found buried earthquake victims, murder victims (these dogs were on a Discovery channel show about what they do) as well as many lost pets.  How could I say no?  We wanted our beloved pet back.  His tracking dogs traced Buddy’s steps down to the lake (Buddy is attracted to water….coming from Hawaii he’s got instinctive “fishing” genes), along the lake, then across the lawn to the driveway of a just completed new house right on the lake, where the scent abruptly “disappeared”.  But the dogs gave the signal that there was no smell of trauma or death.  The tracker said it could mean the Buddy went into a vehicle that drove off (construction worker’s truck bed that had a lunch in it?? who knows).  That was that.

Meanwhile, Lisa knew of an animal intuitive (very “under the radar-not advertised”) whom I did call and who tuned into Buddy and conveyed many messages from him to me, of a soul level nature.  Buddy “told” me things through Mandy (who didn’t know me previously) that were perfectly attuned to what was going on for Buddy, me, as well as Jenna and regarding other things besides this physical separation.   There was a deep meditative quality to the messages, beyond the animal instinctive-physical plane.  I would consider sharing them with any who are truly interested.  That was an amazing piece.

A month ago I had a call from a young college man, home on a break from Berkeley, staying with his parents just a few houses down from where we formerly lived, saying he thought he saw a cat that looked just like Buddy’s photo on the flyer, twice. He likes cats a lot and he wanted us to get our cat back, his dad said.  I spent time going back and forth, different times of the day, talking with my former neighbors as well as the lovely family who bought my house.  No Buddy.

After that I just kept checking the shelters weekly, checking the “founds” in the paper and Craig’s list, and, even though Jenna or I would just start crying at times, in grief, and profoundly missed his presence in our family,  I was working in an inner way, to “let go”, surrender and accept what was, our cat was gone physically—maybe to coyotes, maybe adopted to a new family, maybe still “out there”—but he was still a strong presence energetically, with us.   Through working with Mandy, the messages were to just Trust.  Trust that whatever and however it played out, the Love, the connection was still there, and that how it unfolded, to have him back physically or not, was ok, had purpose, and that this whole process had meaning and was part of an unfolding.

Then, four days ago or so, I had a call from a lady who lives on a small lane in a house right on Lake Whatcom, about halfway between our old house (where Buddy was sighted) and the house he was lost at.  She had just noticed our flyer TWO days earlier (after two months out, I was even surprised the flyers were still up).  So I drove down there and walked up and down the lane, calling his name, putting out cat food, but no sign, stayed about two hours, then left, after speaking with two other neighbors on the lane who also had seen a cat similar to the photo I carried with me.  I couldn’t get right down by the lake shore where the cat was really seen because it was on private property and at that point I hadn’t been invited.

Also, I’m sure an animal on it’s own, especially a cat, must travel a good range to find adequate food and safe shelter.  The cat could have been half a mile away when I was calling out and offering food.  And a cat on it’s own would wisely be in an extreme state of survival and not come running easily when in that state.
In the next few days I went back and forth, the ten miles between our house and the area, as well as “talking” to Buddy, asking him if he was ready to rejoin us.  Then, two days ago, I was at the Humane Society, doing another “lost cat check”, finished and went out to my car, feeling defeated.  As I just sat there a thought came into my mind, like someone whispered an idea to me, to go back in and ask them how they catch the many cats at the shelter.  I did, and besides the cats that people just bring in, they told me they use live animal traps, and that they were for rent!  So I got one.    Then, awhile later, another idea like a whisper in my ear…… I remembered that Buddy LOVES watermelon and mangoes….what can I say, he’s from Hawaii.

I called the neighbors at the sighting and one of them, Nilah, was so kind and helpful, saying I was welcome to come set up the trap on her deck and she would also help me, having had cats before, and having caught feral cats as well.  We set it up with the mango and fragrant watermelon I brought, then I sat outside, around the corner from the deck.  My goal was just to see the cat, just to determine that it probably wasn’t Buddy, as had happened before.  No sign of an animal for over an hour.  Nilah brought me some delicious homemade tomato soup, to warm me.  The sun set, it became very chill, and I left, driving up the lane, then pulled over to take a call from Jenna.  Right after, my phone rang again, it was Nilah!!   She said, “We have a cat!”.  I went right back to her house, flew out of the car as she was saying, “And he’s got extra toes!!”.  Then I lost it, crying, ran around the corner, and there was Buddy in the cage, totally freaked out by being trapped, all his survival instincts exploding out….but safe and whole and just THERE!

I hugged Nilah over and over, then drove Buddy home, phoning Jenna on the way, and she couldn’t stop crying for joy, and kept phoning me back, then I phoned my son Nate who was waiting to hear— he was so happy and had been so sad that Buddy was missing too…. Then Buddy and I were home.   I sat down on the floor with him until Jenna got home. Talking with him, he calmed down so quickly….he couldn’t get enough cuddling and energy (me too!), the purring was nonstop, and then he would go eat more food (the vet said he lost over 3 pounds, a lot for someone who only weighed 13!), then more cuddles, then another snack, then more and more cuddling.   Jenna came home and held him and held him and Buddy stuck to her like glue.   He follows us everywhere and slept peacefullly on Jenna’s bed, and only woke me at 6:30 this morning. Buddy and I speak to one another from a whole other place.  I call him Sir Buddy Binky, the Lion-Hearted, a brave and true cat.      We are a happy family.

Marlena–Vancouver, B.C.