Jake the Stray Cat

Odie/Jake

I live in a senior community and there are many neighbors who have pets.  When my Betsy was here with me we would walk several times a day, and during those walks we would see friendly neighbors also walking their dogs.  It is a wonderful bond that is formed when doing these daily rounds with your furry companion.  Many times, I would see a beautiful orange cat running free in areas around my block.  One night last year I saw this orange cat trying to rip open my bag of garbage that I had put out on the curb for pick up the next morning.  It was just before a big thunderstorm and I tried to go out and see if I could get the cat, thinking that he probably belonged to someone on my street and had gotten loose. Of course, he ran away when I approached him and climbed into the bushes in the yard across from me.  Shortly after, we had one of those severe storms that lasted all throughout the night, and I worried about that poor cat out there somewhere in that weather.  During the winter, I would occasionally see the same stray cat again, sometimes out in very cold, icy weather.  I thought about him whenever the weather was extreme, both summer and winter, and I hoped and prayed that he had shelter and some food to keep him alive, somehow.

Last month, I read in our monthly community newsletter that there was a wonderful couple who lived on the next road who discovered the stray cat and started putting food out for him and giving him shelter and warmth in their backyard.  They were trying to catch him to keep him from starving or freezing to death.  In addition to putting food and water out for him, they put a heating pad under an outdoor chair cushion for him to keep warm.  This speaks volumes for their caring, kind hearts.  Although some of their neighbors were not of the same kind nature (we have a leash law in our community) and tried to destroy the feeding bowls, the couple kept on feeding the cat and trying to get him safely inside their home.

Odie/Jake, finally indoors and safe resting under a kind neighbor’s Christmas tree

The couple named him Odie, and after a while he trusted them enough to go into their house where he took a long nap under their Christmas tree.

They let him go in and out for a few days until he was stable enough to be taken to a veterinarian where he could be examined.   They took him to the same vet where I took Betsy regularly for nine years.  The Bay Country Veterinary Hospital is an excellent clinic, and all of the doctors and staff are, in my opinion, the best to be found.   Because “Odie” was a stray they did a microchip scan, and to everyone’s surprise he had an active chip from a vet’s office in another county in Maryland. The data on the chip was used to locate the owner, who lived about five miles away from my neighborhood, where the lost cat had been trying to survive for the past two years.

Jake being weighed and examined at vet’s clinic

The owner, Matt, was in the vet’s office in a half hour to claim his cat, who he had originally named Jake. Jake’s history was that he was a stray when found by Matt and his family when they lived in another Maryland county. Jake was approximately two at the time, and his age was now estimated from between 15-17 years old. Apparently, Jake got out of the house one night two years ago, got lost, and ended up in my community.

The couple who befriended Odie/Jake are wonderful people who have taken in strays before, and they say that Jake will not be the last.  I wish more people were as kind and compassionate as Mike and his wife, the couple who saved the beautiful orange cat who roamed our neighborhood streets for two years.  They did the right thing, and so did Jake’s owners by having him microchipped.  By having Jake microchipped and registered, and by Mike and his wife taking him to the vet’s clinic, Jake was alive and was able to be back with his family once again.

I love happy endings (don’t you?), and although Mike and his wife had a difficult time seeing Jake go, they knew that he would have a good home with his owners.  Mike’s thought was, if I had a cat that was missing for two years, I would want the person who found him to try to get my cat back to me.

Mike’s advice is this: “When you see a lost animal please be kind. If you cannot approach it, see if a neighbor can befriend it. Then take it to a local vet or animal shelter that will not euthanize.”

Great advice, Mike, and thank you for your kindness to animals.   There should be more people in this world like you and your wife.

Jake says thank you and goodbye to his rescuers, and hello to his owner

Please see my article on Microchipping Your Dog or Cat (dated March 7) to learn more about the importance of using the microchip process to keep your pets safe and healthy.