#lostandfoundcat

• No Collar

• No Flyers

• No Neighbor help

• 1 Year old kitten

• Completly black cat

• Complete Indoor cat / Never been outside

• Just moved into a completly new area 14 hours away from home

What happened:

Momo fell out of my bedroom window 11pm chasing a moth. After noticing 30 minutes later he was gone, My S.O and I went outside to look for him and accidentally chased him across the street and into a thick forest of thorns. We yelled for him for a good hour then soon went back home.

Here's what we did the next 2 mornings:

1. We made a trail of wet food across the street and back home. Not enough food for him to eat, but to smell.

2. Shirts, dresses, blankets, anything with our scent he would recognize we put out all over our yard to the window he fell out of. /// IN THE YARD

3. we set his cat litter outside, with his shit and all. ( The cat littler box we had was brand new one too) This cat litter box had a roof and door flap. We glued popsicles sticks to the inside so he could get IN but not OUT // IN THE YARD

Note: - You can make a harmless trap out of anything. A cardboard box even ( Take the box and completly tape it shut, grab a knife and cut a door into it that can open and close by pushing it in and out. Make sure it's easily openable. Glue popsicle sticks to the inside and test the door. The door should be able to open inward and let a cat IN but the door in blocked by the popsicle sticks and the cat can't get OUT + tip: add something to look in so you're not left wondering.

4. We left food out next to the window he escaped. Food and water. Websites always said not to - but that's what brought him back home. /// IN THE YARD

5. We bought baby monitors to listen outside the room. We couldn't have the window open so this helped us keep an extra ear out. /// YARD

6. daily walks, car riders, changing the clothing every other day to newly scented.

7. Wore multiple layers of clothing, hats, gloves and crawled in small places filled with spiders and bugs just to look for him

8. Opened house entrances between 12 am to 5 am and kept watched.

9. Microwaved cat food every couple hours and mixed it to get scent super strong and out.

10. Sat in the forest for a couple hours talking and sat in the yard for a couple hours talking

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CATS:

- Cats will recognize their humans voice but will still act scared and run from you in a new environment

- No sad voice, no cheerful voice, use your NORMAL VOICE. Talk OUTSIDE and CALMLY in the DARK and wait. Do not move if it finally approaches you

- Keep lights OFF! Your house- the entrance - everywhere. I know it's hard to see but you'll adjust.

- STAY. UP. AND . WATCH. PATIENCE !!! I didn't sleep for 3 nights. It was worth it.

- DO NOT TRY TO CATCH YOUR CAT AS SOON AS YOU SEE IT !!!!! If it doesn't fall for a trap or doesn't go back in- WATCH QUIETLY . Learn its new routine even if it's been a couple hours since it left. Find ways to lure it in. It's ok if it takes a couple nights

- If you scare it too much from your yard, your cat will avoid it instead.

- Fire works , Gun shots, parties, bands all roared in my neighborhood- and I still found my baby that same night, rained twice . Don't worry.

- Cats like to sneak in. Leave as many sneaking openings as possible

What I think truly helped my cat find his way home :

• My clothing and scent

• The cat food left in front of the window

• Opening my entrances at 3 am

• My calm voice when I saw him

• My steady and slow movement

I snatched my baby up whole while leaning over the window and swore I would never let him out of my sight again. This happened in 3 nights and two days. A lot happened these days - I got attacked by a dog, Job interviews, family leaving, calling animal control, etc...

This book is about a single mother of five children and a pet cat named Kunkush. In 2015 the city of Mosul in Iraq had become very dangerous due to war, and after losing their father the mother Sura decided they needed to flee their home. Sura had paid a smuggler to help get her family out of the city, they packed some food and water and hid Kunkush in a small carrier and they left in the night. The family began their journey. They traveled for days on foot through forests and mountains and slept in the woods all while keeping Kunkush a secret. After crossing the sea into Greece, through all the chaos of landing at the beach Kunkush, frightened ran out of his carrier and into the forest. Heartbroken the family had to continue without their beloved cat and days later volunteers found him. They took him in and tried to help reunite this cat with his family. They turned to social media which helped them find his family and after months, the family was finally reunited with their cherished pet.

According to the Lost and Found Cat homepage, this book is recommended for young readers between the ages of 4-8 and was published by Crown Books in January 2017. This true story was written by authors Doug Kuntz and Amy Shrodes, both had a direct impact on this family and both helped reunite Kunkush with his family. Shrodes found Kunkush and fostered him and had friends help create a Facebook page for the cat and Kuntz physically flew Kunkush from Germany to Norway. With the help of these two people and many others that directly helped or donated Kunkush was able to see his family again after traveling hundreds of miles in order to find a safe place to live. This link is for the Lost and Found Cat webpage.

https://www.lostandfoundcat.com/

Throughout all their hardships this family never gave up hope. “After four months and thousands of miles, Kunkush and his family were finally together in their new home. “We are all safe now,” said Sura” (Kuntz and Shrodes 36). This is a beautiful story about love and family and has many things to offer readers, like Kuntz mentioned in his author’s note, “We all have something valuable to share and the ability to reach out and help. This story is about making that choice. It is only because of all the people who got involved that Kunkush found his family. His story helps us remember that we all need each other” (37). This is a great message to pass on to children, to help them realize that we all need help at times and the right thing to do is offer that helping hand no matter where we are from or what we look like.

Below I added the link to the video “The epic journey of a refugee cat to find its family” from The Guardian website. This is real footage from Kunkush and his family.