How to Find a Lost Cat

I hate to think of what I would do if one of my two beloved cats went out and didn't return. It's safe to say it would involve plenty of sobbing, no eating, and a net loss of five or six pounds. Chances are those actions would not do the job and get the cat back. So it was with great awe that I heard how a dear friend found her wayward cat, Dillon, lost in the hills above Phoenix. 

Carol has always been fiercely devoted to her animals, including a dog, two horses and of course, the cat. When the latter went missing last month she sprang into action, and I don't mean just nailing one of those sad "Missing Kitty, Answers to Fluffy" signs to every telephone pole within a two-mile radius of her home and emailing the entire community in her Homeowner's Association. (She did that too.) No, she went the extra mile. Here's how she explained her ingenuous technique to me in an email:

" A search and rescue dog had followed his scent to a culvert and then lost it, but we never found any remains so I kept hoping, setting traps for him every night. I never gave up hope. Finally, after 20 days surviving in the wild, Dillon was spotted one evening by my neighbor and his dog near Hole 4 of a nearby golf course . They came to get me and I set up another trap under a bush with his favorite food, a towel with my scent on it and a tuna oil trail leading from the culvert he was hiding in directly to the trap. He was in it the next morning! We were thrilled and he was so happy to be home.  Success -- Dillon is back!"

I am now even more impressed by Carol than I already was, and that was a lot. Some people just don't take things lying down. Perhaps I'll come back as one of those in my next life.