A Lost Cat Tale: How I Found KitKat before Christmas

 

Christmas is a time to relax and bond with family. For many people, our companion cats and dogs are family. So, can you imagine a person’s distress when a beloved cat gets lost? For the past few weeks, I have been seeing a lot of “lost cat” or “lost dog” posters online, with desperate owners offering up to as much as 20,000 pesos for the return of their beloved cat or dog.

I almost became such a desperate person 10 days before Christmas day, when, at  9pm on Dec. 14, a message on my phone informed me that my dear Kitkat was missing.

KITKAT

Kitkat is about 18 years old. I first met her years ago at the College of Mass Communication (CMC) where I fed her and spent a lot of time with her. When I had the weekly radio program KWENTUHANG PETS ATBP on DZUP, I would greet her without fail at the beginning of the program. After the program, she would  wait for me at the entrance steps to Plaridel Hall and rub her body against my legs. The guards said she always listened to the entire one-hour program.

One day, I forgot to greet her on air. When I returned to Plaridel Hall, she did not meet me at the steps. I found her hiding below the guard’s table. I called her but she refused to come out. The guard explained that I had forgotten to greet her at the start of the program.

Every morning, Kitkat would run to the car to greet me when I arrived at CMC. She would walk me to the car when I went home in the afternoon. She took siestas in my office and even gave birth to three kittens in the big drawer of my working table. She is an emotional support cat and it made me happy to see her sleeping on the laps of students.

She kept me company at school during one of the lowest points in my life. I lost my mom at about the same time that Kitkat lost her kitten. She must have sensed my grief. She would wait for me to dismiss my class at 7pm, then walk with me to my office where we would stay till 9 or 10pm. I would lie on my couch and sob myself to sleep while she lay on my chest, staring down at me with sad eyes that revealed her own sorrow.

So, imagine my distress when I learned that she was missing. My friend Angel (not her real name) and her daughter, who live inside the campus, had been fostering her since September. Some of the cats at Balay Kaibigan had gotten sick with feline flu and we had to get Kitkat out fast to save her from getting infected. She is a senior cat and therefore needed special care. I thank my friend and her daughter for offering to foster her.

Angel was not feeling well that morning and had taken Kitkat to her open garage for some sun. Nugget, a cute and chubby cat whom she had adopted from Balay Kaibigan, was with them. After setting the cages down, Angel went back inside the house to get a chair for herself. When she returned to the garage, Kitkat had escaped from her carrier and was gone.

We often take the feelings of our animal companions for granted. Kitkat used to be a community cat. She had enjoyed unlimited access to sun, fresh air, wide spaces and tall trees at CMC. She was fed by the students, staff and faculty. But in December 2021, she had fallen gravely ill due to feline flu. She was confined at the vet clinic for two weeks where I asked the vets to do everything to save her. Her vet said that as a senior cat, Kitkat now needed a home where she could get age-appropriate food and the necessary vitamins. So I took her to Balay Kaibigan where an animal carer could attend to her needs.

As soon as I read Angel’s message, I rushed to UP to search for Kitkat. We combed the construction site right beside her home till midnight. Angel made a nice lost cat poster with Kitkat’s picture for posting online and I offered a 3000 peso reward. For five days, Angel and her daughter searched night and day but Kitkat was nowhere to be found.

It wasn’t the first time that I had had to search for a lost cat or dog. So I began visualizing, praying and affirming that Kitkat would either come home or that we would find her. On the sixth night, I looked for her again in adjacent streets, calling out her name as I passed each house. I also imagined a golden light connecting us at the heart and the navel.

Then just as I was about to end the search, I saw her at the gate of one of the houses along the street where she lives. She was just standing there, as if waiting for me to show up and rescue her.

I had found my Kitkat.

KITKAT and ME

In case you happen to lose your animal companion, here is the powerful visualization technique that I used to find Kitkat:

1.     Imagine or visualize a bright egg-shaped white light surrounding and protecting your cat /dog.

2.     Imagine or visualize a golden cord connecting your heart to your animal’s heart and your navel to his/her navel.

3.     Talk to your animal aloud or in your mind. Reassure him/her that you are searching for her. Even if you are apart, your animal will hear your “psychic voice”. Tell her you love her and that she is the most special cat in the world.

4.     Make promises you can keep. Tell him/her that you will take hm out more often or give him his favorite food.

5.     Visualize her back home with you, eating, sleeping and doing the things she loves to do.

6.     Affirm that all this will come to pass. Pray that you will be led to your animal or that he/she will find her way home to you.

7.     Search during the day, but the best time to go around the neighborhood is at night when it’s more quiet and your animal can hear your voice when you call out to him/her.

8.     Look everywhere that a scared animal could possibly hide. They could be holed up in the most unexpected places.

9.     Bring water and his favorite food, a flashlight and towel to wrap him in. Make sure the he can fit in the bag or carrier that you will bring.

10.Distribute lost cat/dog posters so people can inform you if they have seen them and you could follow a trail.

It’s important to remember that the sooner you do this meditation, the greater the chances of finding your animal companion. Offering a reward would also be good so people would be eager to help in the search. But on the other hand, it could scare off a shy or fearful lost animal.

Note that the stronger the bond between you and your animal, the easier it would be to do this visualization technique. So work on creating that closeness with your animals. It just might save their lives one day.