I work for Cats Protection and in the early part of 2011, I came into the cattery to work when a lovely old boy was brought into the shelter. We soon realised that he was very withdrawn and would not eat by himself. He was very dirty and suffered from very bad mouth infections and an ulcerated tongue. He was also not neutered. He was really a very sad boy. I fell in love with him straight away and nursed him back to a little happiness by hand feeding him, brushing him. Eventually he would purr and slowly he started to eat by himself. When he was well enough within himself to go to a new home I adopted him. We had a very happy few months together at my home. One sunny day in September 2011 the bedroom window was open and he became spooked as I was decorating the living room. I had moved his bed from the living room and put it into the kitchen whilst I was decorating. He is such a sensitive cat that I should have realised that he took umbrage to his bed being moved and decided to sit on the window sill. I suppose he saw his chance of freedom, and within a short time had disappeared. I went down stairs and saw him hanging around in the front garden. However I was unable to coax him back inside. This is where the story ends for the next sixteen months.
I put up posters around different areas of Ryde and went looking for my beloved Arthur tirelessly for months, trawling the streets at night, sometimes when I couldn't sleep with worry I would go out at 3am with cat food trying to find him. This continued without any sightings of seeing him and the slow realisation that he may never return home. As time went by I could only hope that someone out there had taken him in and was feeding this stray and timid cat.
As September 2012 approached, I decided to put out a new campaign to find Arthur. Many posters were still around and I was often getting calls of sightings from various areas of Ryde. Some proved not to be Arthur, and often I would look but he wasn't to be seen. I had started to put an appeal out on Lost Pets IOW (face book). There was a lot of support and interest. Eventually as Christmas 2012 approached I decided to put one last appeal out for Arthur with photographs of how he looked before he disappeared.
Then a miracle started to unfold. During the past week a lady called Lily telephoned the shelter wanting to borrow a cat trap, as she had been feeding a very emaciated cat that was rummaging through rubbish bags in her garden. Other calls started to come in to the shelter very quickly, reports of a cat roaming around in the area of George Street. The Adoption Centre phoned me and I was very quickly able to link up with the people who had reported sightings within the past 24 hours.
Having spoken to Lily last Saturday morning, I was then able to start searching in the direction from her home being the starting point. I set off shortly after speaking to her by phone, with a cat blanket and some cat food. No sooner had I walked out of my house and literally a few yards from my door step who should I see looking straight at me? I very calmly and without speaking crossed the road and knelt down on the pavement where Arthur was sitting. He was eating a few cold noodles left behind in an old takeaway carton. I quickly emptied the pouch of cat food that I had with me onto the pavement. At first he moved to a parked car nearby, and then his taste buds couldn't resist and he slowly approached the food emptied out on to the pavement by his side. As Arthur started to lick at the food I seized the moment almost in slow motion to pick him up. Wrapping him in a cat blanket that I had brought with me, I was able to wrap him up like a baby. I just walked the few steps back home to where Arthur belongs, safe and sound.
Once he was home he simply spent the whole afternoon grazing slowly on lovely cat food. Later that day Mel (Adoption Centre Manager) came over and helped to clip off some matted fur and bathe the dry mud from his legs and face.
He walked around my home as if he had never left. My other cats remarkably welcomed him albeit with some curiosity, because of the scruffy state he was in. He slept on the bed that night with my other four cats.
On the Monday morning I was able to get him to the vets for a check up. My fingers were crossed because looking at him I wasn't sure if he was going to make it or not. To add to the miracle of events. Arthur was given a good bill of health. He is being treated with medication for a mouth infection. He has been de-flead, de-wormed, bathed, brushed and the prognosis looks good. Despite the scruffy state of affairs, Arthur is doing very well. He is eating regular meals four times daily, with tasty treats in between.
On Monday at the vets he weighed in at a tiny 2kg. However, the way he is eating he will get back to his beautiful old self in no time.
I think that I am in a silent state of shock, more because of the terrible state of him. However I feel my broken heart is mending with the sight of my beautiful soul mate Arthur once more reunited with his mum, and his cat family. My miracle cat Arthur is 15 years old.
