Cat That Went Missing Over the Summer Finds His Way Home for the Holidays
Guest Contributor
The following story was an entrant in the Tales of Summer Tails Photo and Story contest. The top three finishers received $500 in cash, as well as $2,000 in cash and supplies for their favorite shelter. To read more stories, click here!
Reese is an indoor/outdoor cat that enjoys hanging out at a pool, even stepping onto a wet pool ledge to drink! Reese will walk down to the pool with me and chase flying insects and butterflies, or simply lay around and watch me swim.
PHOTO: DEBORAH LYNCHOne time, Reese started pacing back and forth, meowing, and I thought to myself, "I won't get out of the pool just because he's hungry," so I kept swimming. But he was relentless, so I got out. No sooner had I stepped out of the pool that thunder crashed and it started to rain. He knew it was about to storm and warned me!
In August of 2021, Reese disappeared under suspicious circumstances and was presumed dead. I have two other cats that rely on Reese as "alpha cat" and they missed him very much. The day after Thanksgiving, I received a phone call from a vet's office in Orlando (two hours away) that they had Reese!
PHOTO: DEBORAH LYNCHAs I was to learn, Reese had somehow made his way to a 7-Eleven a few miles away from home in August, and the staff there had fed him for about a week and a half. A woman who raises and sells mules in Christmas, Florida (near Orlando), had stopped at the 7-Eleven en route to delivering animals to their respective new homes and Reese rubbed against her leg. When she came back out, he'd jumped into the front seat of her car and she took him home.
That November day, she took him to the vet to get microchipped, but he already had one! A friend and I drove to the mule farm in Christmas, so incredibly excited that Reese had been found, and brought him home. It was one of the happiest days of my life to find my lost fur baby and bring him back to his siblings.
PHOTO: DEBORAH LYNCHThis story was submitted by Deborah Lynch in support of The Little Cats' Rescue, Inc. To read other stories from the Tales of Summer Tails Photo and Story contest, click here!
