Safely Home: Thai Thai’s Tale – A Tragedy Averted

Players:

Thai Thai – my two-year-old seal point Siamese cat

Me (Genevieve)

Kind stranger (female)

Vet’s office

Background:

I waited for over a year for the breeder near me to have an available female kitten. I wanted a blue or lilac point but went to look at the seal points anyway and the rest is history. Thai Thai was so cuddly and playful she captured my heart.

The Saturday – November 3rd – before she disappeared, my partner of twelve and a half years let me know that the relationship was over and that there was a third party involved. I was hurt to say the least. Suddenly single – and I do mean sudden – I took some consolation that I at least had my cat.

What happened:

On Wednesday November 7th my landscapers came as usual. Unbeknownst to me, Thai Thai was sitting on the back porch and when they started up their machines she got scared and ran to the glass door. I hurried to open it but she took off and I couldn’t find her. I think that she ran out of the open gate but don’t know for sure. Anyway, I called and called and drove around the neighborhood – you know the drill – until finally I had to drive to work.

I came home hoping to find her again but to no avail. I cannot describe how numbly bereft I felt. Two blows in a week! I notified the neighborhood and drove ALL around it and walked it as well within a half-mile or so in all directions. I live with a nature preserve on two sides of my neighborhood. Coyotes are common and, in fact, they had my sister’s cat for dinner a few years back. After two weeks, I hoped that someone had taken her and hadn’t felt the need to pay attention to her collar. At least she would be loved.

What happened next:

Fast forward two and a half months to January 22nd when I received a call from PetLink and from a local vet saying that they had Thai Thai. A kind stranger found her under bushes about six and a half miles from my home and coaxed her out. The vet said it took about 20 minutes for the woman to get Thai Thai to trust her. As she was on her way to work, she dropped Thai Thai off at her vet and asked them to scan for a chip and said that, if the owner couldn’t be found, she would like the cat. The vet’s office and PetLink both called me two or three times and sent emails from the time Thai Thai was identified to the time I got home from work. Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the service that you do. I felt like PetLink truly cared and went above and beyond to make sure I was aware that my precious girl was found. I didn’t feel like it was “just a job” to the woman who kept leaving messages. I am grateful and I’m so thankful to this honest stranger for turning Thai Thai in and for showing the care she did in trying to have your service reach me.

The happy ending:

When I was reunited with Thai Thai, I got weepy and she started nuzzling and kneading my neck. She hadn’t done that since she was a kitten. She stayed GLUED to me for two days and nights. Now she is back to her loving, if aloof, ways. Before she disappeared, she was a big, thick-haired, healthy cat, always running and full of energy. When I picked her up she was down to four and a half pounds and I could see her hipbones and every nodule of her spinal column. She’s still recovering but I have high hopes that my feisty cat’s spirit will be back within a few months. When she went missing my desire was that a loving family would have adopted her. Instead, I got my fondest hope and she is back in my arms and getting ready to visit her vet in the morning. (Shhh, she doesn’t know that yet…).