Raccoon in Cat Trap

I had set up a humane cat trap right outside the cat flap on the second floor deck of my house.  I figured that since Chai had left through this cat flap, which I am keeping closed and locked to force all my other cats to be strictly indoor cats, if she decided to return home, she would come back to this area.  So the cat trap has been set for over two month with a small bowl of dry kibbles in it.  I covered it up with a green tarp to disguise the trap as well as to keep the animal calm once it is trapped inside.  I check it almost every day to see if anything has been caught.  For two months, nothing came in.  Absolutely nothing.

Then last night, I was having dinner with Tammy, one of my colleagues and friend from Pennsylvania.  We normally have dinner on Wednesday nights every other week when she is in town.  I got a call from my husband (John) that there is a live raccoon in the trap.  It wasn't dark yet, so I think the raccoon got trapped sometime in the middle of the previous night.  I did not realize there was something in the trap yesterday morning.

John said there was raccoon poop everywhere, and that the raccoon had somehow managed to pull a portion of the tarp inside the trap and shredded it.  John could not get the tarp moved away so that he could open the release door to let the raccoon out.  He had to cut through the tarp, use a long screw driver to keep the raccoon at bay so that it would not bite or scratch him while he opens the release gate.  He finally managed to get the raccoon out.  Since I was not there to witness this event, I could not take a photo to upload to my blog.

When I got home, it was a disaster on the deck.  Poop everywhere!  Worse than the poop is the smell of the raccoon itself.  It smelled a lot like a dirty wet dog that had not been bathed for months, but a lot worse.  It almost made me have a dry heave.  I decided that I will let the poop dry out so that it would be easier to just sweep it up later.  I will need to disinfect the trap.  The smell was still lingering this morning.  The raccoons are very stinky creatures.  I hate them even more now...

I thought I heard Chai meow early this morning, right around dawn.  I went out to the deck to see if she was out there, but there was no sign of her.  I think it may have been my next-door neighbor's cat as my bedroom faces the neighbor's side yard and my windows were open last night.  It was a very warm night.

PAAS Aby was NOT Chai

I went to check out the female Abyssinian at the Palo Alto Animal Services (PAAS) this morning as soon as they opened.  When I saw her in person, she did not look like Chai at all.  Also, she was not microchipped or spayed.  But she was definitely an Abyssinian.  I wonder who lost this cat.  I wonder how long she's been gone until someone brought her into the shelter.  She's been there since June 16.  One week and no one came to claim her.  Poor thing.  While I am trying almost everything I can to find Chai, there is an Aby at a shelter that no one is claiming as their own.  It just does not seem right.

In any case, I filled out a lost-cat form to leave at PAAS.  You never know if Chai got picked up by someone, or Chai might have traveled a long distance.  I heard that recently a HomeAgain microchipped cat lost from California 7 years ago was just found in Florida.  So miracles do happen.  I have to keep my hope alive.

Another Lost Abyssinian?

Today, I received an email from Suzanne who has lost her cat in Menlo Park.  She scours the Craigslist and PetHarbor.com everyday to see if there is any report of her cat being found.  She told me that there is an Abyssinian in Palo Alto Animal Services (PAAS) that looks a lot like Chai.  I went to PetHarbor and saw a picture of the Abyssinian.  A red/ruddy female.  Definitely a ruddy Abyssinian.  Unless Chai lost weight while she has been in the "wild", this cat may not be Chai.  The one at PAAS had a more angular face, and the outer edges of the letter "M" on the forehead looked more vertical where as Chai's M outer edges are slanted with the bottom points farther out to the side than the tips of M pointing more to the center.(Abyssinians are tabbies and all tabbies have an "M" marking on their forehead, right above their eyes).  Also, the PAAS Abyssinian seems to have greener eyes than Chai.  But at this angle, Chai may also have a greenish tinge to her more amber eyes.

PAAS was closed today, so I could not call or visit.  I will call tomorrow and pay a visit.  I have to see in person to know for sure.  Another reason against this cat being my Chai is that I should have got a call if they scanned her for a microchip and found the information.  Either she does not have a microchip, in which case, the case, the cat is not Chai, or she was acting too wild for anyone to scan her safely.  Or, Chai's microchip may have become defective or have moved to another location in her body rather than staying around the shoulder blades.  I never had her microchip tested, so I would never know...

Here is the picture of the cat at PAAS.  See for yourself if she is Chai or not.  I am not going to have my hopes up to have it dashed and have me fight another round of depression.  I am just going to go to PAAS, with a matter-of-fact emotion, and check her out.  Palo Alto is about 20 miles from my house.  Unless Chai was picked up by someone and abandoned in the lower Peninsula, I cannot fathom Chai traveling this distance...

A Ruddy Abyssinian at PAAS

Should I feel Guilty?

I needed to take a break from actively looking for Chai.  I was burning out and feeling really down.  Besides, I really needed to focus on my deadlines at work as a major release is scheduled for end of July and I also need to get all of the test equipment budgeted, reviewed, negotiated with the vendors, and purchased in the next several weeks.  It is a crazy hectic time at work.  I also have a major release coming up.  Weeks leading up to the release is quite a nightmare.

However, that does not mean that I have given up on Chai.  I still call out to her almost every day in the evening, hoping that she is somewhere nearby and hearing my voice.  Hoping that she would eventually come home on her own.  The cat trap has been set but nothing has triggered it for the last couple of weeks, up on the deck, right outside the cat flap that she used to go out and never come home on that fateful March 21 of this year.  I think she is still out there, surviving somehow.  I feel it.

I just need to take some time off from active postering, handing out flyers, setting up feeding stations, etc.  I need to recharge and renew my energy for more active searching to come later on.  Looking at the videos from the feeding stations, not seeing any glimpses of Chai on video was really making me feel depressed.  The pain of losing her somewhere out there, the constant anxiety over not knowing what has become of her, whether she is dead, alive, injured, etc. has taken a toll on me.  Emotionally, I feel battered, bedraggled.  Physically, I am exhausted.  My heart is always racing.

I need to find the balance between actively searching for Chai (and researching ways to promote the awareness in my community that Chai is still missing and that I need their help locating her) and being a responsible mother of two young boys, wife, home maker, gardener, and the breadwinner.  If I let the fact that Chai is missing eat me alive, it will destroy the fabric that holds my life together.  Not just my life, but my entire family's life.  I need to strike that balance without losing hope for Chai's safe return...

Darn Raccoons and More Sighting!

I thought I had the feeding platform raccoon-proof by building walls and a roof over it.  However, a raccoon has found a way to get onto the platform by walking on the tree branch that is touching the right wall:

A fatter raccoon tried that method, but I think he was too heavy to get on the platform.  The tree branch got too low because of his weight for it to have a firm grip on the platform to climb up. However, the smaller one feasted, and afterwards, he used the tree branch to get down as well:

I am really getting sick and tired of these raccoons.  I will need to chop down that tree branch on the right side of the feeding platform.  Hopefully, this minimal cutting would do the trick.  Otherwise, I will have to cut one branch at a time until they find no other means to get onto the platform.

On a different note, I removed the trail camera from Jane's pool side.  For two weeks, only the thinner gray-and-white cat and the usual raccoons came by.  Besides, her grandchildren would be visiting soon, so I was advised to remove the camera.  I am very appreciative of her kindness to let me have the camera at her property for 3 weeks.  Although there was no image of Chai on video, it also meant that Chai is not visiting her property so I can eliminate that area as a possible Chai hang-out.

Calls of Chai sightings have become fewer and farther apart now.  I get maybe one call every other week on average.  On Saturday, KathyH called to let me know that her daughter saw a cat that matches Chai's coloring and wearing a red collar in Burlingame, at the corner of Cabrillo and Carmellita.  I drove there to talk to a neighbor who may also have seen this cat in her property.  When I showed her Chai's pictures, she said the cat that is coming by frequently is fatter and has smaller ears, and does not look like the pictures at all.  I gave her one of my door-hanger flyers since she said she will keep her eye out to see if Chai comes around her area.  It was a bit too far, in my opinion, but at almost 3-months of Chai being out in the "wild", you never know how far she would have traveled.

Deep in my heart, I feel that she is still alive and will return to me on her own.  I try to keep the faith, but it's getting more and more difficult as the days turn into weeks and into months now.  Just in case she returns, I set the humane cat trap by the cat door entrance on the deck.  I covered it with a tarp so that it looks more like a shelter than a cage and put some dry cat food in it.  It's been out there for a week now, but nothing has come inside to set off the trap.  It's a loooooooong waiting game.

More Door-to-Door Lost-Cat Flyers

Since my order for the professionally made door-hanger flyers has arrived, I've been placing them on neighbors' front door knobs/pulls as I walk from door to door.  In Hillsborough, I would say about 20% of the people have their front gates locked, so unless the occupants buzz you in, it would not be possible to walk up to the front door to place these flyers on their door knobs.  This is where the door-hanger flyers come in handy.  I can hook them up on the front gate, so they are visible from anyone looking outside to gate.  It should also be wind-resistant and won't fly away so easily.

I covered several miles on foot doing this:

Lost-Cat Flyer Distribution to Date - Covered Areas in BLUE

I still have many more houses to cover, and will do so one street at a time, every spare daylight hours I get.

As you can see from this map, if she is anywhere near home, Chai is staying out of sight.  Otherwise, one of the neighbors who have received my flyer would have called me.  With Hillsborough properties with large yards that are densely landscaped with trees and shrubs, even if she is near by, unless someone is constantly looking into his/her yard, Chai would be hard to spot.  She also has the coloring of wood bark / redwood mulch, so she would camouflage so well into anyone's landscape.  Or she may be farther out, which means that I will need to distribute the flyers to even more residents in farther places.  With my left foot in pain for over a year now for no obvious reasons (x-ray revealed nothing; next is MRI), limping around distributing flyers from one house to next is not an easy feat.  Having a severe tendonitis (tennis elbow) on my left elbow does not help either.  :(

I got to meet my neighbors this way.  Many with pets of their own were very sympathetic.  Several commented on what a great campaign/marketing I am doing, that they have noticed my flyers on utility poles, post cards, door-hanger flyers, and even seen my car around town with the florescent posters plastered on my car windows.  But no matter how great the campaign to get my lost Chai back is, it has not resulted in getting my Chai back at all.  I am not even sure she is still alive, but I keep hoping and trying to find her.  During the door-to-door searches, I heard stories of coyotes, raccoons, even mountain lions.  A mountain lion that dragged the hind quarters of a deer up a tree.  But that was almost 30 years ago.  I don't think there are mountain lions that are freely roaming around my neighborhood without being spotted in the recent years.  Hillsborough Police would send out an alert, otherwise.

I think Chai is still in the upper/hilly areas of Hillsborough rather than the lower, flatter areas.  However, Chai has been missing for more than 11 weeks.  If she is still alive, and has not been taken in by another family, she could be anywhere in Hillsborough at this point, may have even ventured into Burlingame or San Mateo.  I wish I could narrow down where she is hiding out...

Raccoon-Proofing the Cat Feeding Platform

Ever since Tux had been captured in the humane cat trap, he is no longer visiting the feeding station.  I let the trap be open again.  If he gets hungry enough, he will show up, eventually.  I am hoping that if Chai is hanging out with Tux wherever he stays during the daylight hours, she may one day follow him to the feeding platform.  I wish I could see her again, even for a second, even for a second on my video surveillance, so I know she is alive and safe.  That would keep my hopes alive and energize me in my search.

But to safe-guard the cat food from the raccoons, I have decided to build walls around the shelf so that the walls would deter the raccoons from setting their paws onto the shelf.  I bought two 0.25"x2'x4' boards to place as side walls and one 0.25"x3'x4' as the backdrop to make the back wall go up higher than the fence.  I even bought a buck saw to carve out a 2"x4" slot so that the side boards can slide over the 2"x4" holding the fence on the top side of the fence.  I bought several brackets and screws to hold these boards in place.  It took me a couple of hours to assemble them and put them into place to create walls around the feeding platform shelf

Feeding Platform with Walls

However, the raccoons have discovered that they can still climb down over the back wall!

Raccoons Climbing Down over the Back Wall

Ugh.  So now I bought another 0.25"x3'x4' plywood board to use as the roof over the top, having it longer than the depth of the shelf so that they can't try to climb down onto the platform from the rooftop.  With no one to help me put the roof over the feeding platform, it took me 45 minutes to do this by myself, and it was placed askew, but still OK for a makeshift feeding platform that I want to be raccoon-proof.

First night nothing came by to eat, which made me worry that maybe I made the platform not only raccoon-proof, but also cat-proof.  But then, during the next day, the pregnant/lactating motley female cat came to chow down.  I think she jumped up to the platform, like I was hoping all cats would.  Her initial pose looked liked she had just jumped up and tripped the motion sensor on the camera for it to start recording:

After she was done eating, the cat jumped down from the platform:

Female Cat about to Jump Down

 The roof is not visible on the video or the photo, but it's there and so far so good:  no raccoons.

Operation Tux

I returned the trap that I had borrowed from the Humane Society as the trap that I had ordered arrived a few days ago.  It's a really nice and sturdy trap.  As good as or even better than the ones from the Humane Society.

I decided to bait and set this trap last night.  The one from the Humane Society was cable-tied to stay open.  The brand new one was set to have the cage door come down and lock into place once an animal steps on the trip plate behind the food.  I really wanted to catch Tux, the black-and-white tuxedo cat that has presumably terrorized Java and also may be staying where Chai is during the daylight hours.

I set the kitty buffet inside the trap and set it up around 8:30pm.  Tux usually show up around 9:30pm.  I then waited and went outside with a flashlight to see if Tux or any other animal has been caught in the trap around 10:15pm.  And lo and behold, there was Tux!  Here is Tux checking out the feeding station and then going into the trap:

And here he just trips the trap door to shut:

Poor Tux; he freaked out and tried to claw out of the cage...  When I got to the trap, I saw a little bit of blood on his left paw.  I also saw that he is indeed a male cat, but neutered.  Upon examining his head carefully, I also noticed that his right ear-tip had been clipped meaning that he is a feral cat that had been TNR'ed (trap-neuter-released).  His left eye was oozing a bit with clear liquid.  He did not look like he was well-groomed like a house cat.  That explains why no neighbors knew who the owner is.  He probably is a feral cat.  However, for a feral cat, he let me pet him, which also probably meant that he belonged to someone at one point in his life.  A true feral cat would not let a human handle him/her.  He hissed and growled at first, but he did not try to bite or scratch me when I opened the cage to stick my hand in.  I petted him for a while.  Of course, I was concerned about my safety so I put on a pair or leather work gloves before doing that.

I debated whether to put the GPS device on him.  It was being charged after the firmware was updated.  I then decided that I need to think this over but at least have him in a more comfortable place until I could make up my mind.  Underneath my deck is a storage area which has a door surrounded by lattice and slats for the deck stair railings.  I thought the slats were wide enough for an average sized cat to pass through.  So I spent a couple of hours stapling some leftover wire-grid fence material I had after making a trellis for my vining plants.  I did not have enough to cover all the slats.  So I leaned some potting soil bags against them so that the slats were all covered.

I then proceeded to try to put a collar on Tux.  As I was reaching in to touch his neck, he bolted out of the trap!  He ran like there was no tomorrow.  I've never seen a cat run so fast.  He ran towards the side yard and immediately disappeared from my vision.  Alas, he did not give me a chance to make up my mind about the GPS device or just a note with my phone number on a collar.  But knowing that he is currently a feral cat, I did not think that a collar with a note would be useful.  A GPS device would have been better to identify his location during the day.  But that plan was foiled as I was not careful about the trap door opening...

I wonder if he would come back.  Only my video surveillance would tell.  Oh well.

I am planning to build the raccoon-proof walls around the feeding platform tomorrow.  I bought the boards, metal brackets, and screws.  Tomorrow's video will tell if 1) raccoons come back, and 2) Tux comes back.

Raccoons Have Found Their Way to the Feeding Platform

Ugh, I thought having the feeding station 4' above the ground would prevent the raccoons from getting to the kitty buffet, but they are too smart!

Somehow, they found a way to get on the tiny ledge on the fence and got to the feeding station:

When I was swapping out the SD card in the trail camera this morning, I noticed that the food bowls were thrown about, and all the water from the water bowl had been spilled.  I was afraid that raccoons might have got to the platform.  My fears were correct.

Now I need to put up another board to make the back side higher, and put two more boards on the ends of the platform so that they block these bastards from getting to the food.  Hopefully, cats can still get to the food, but not these nasty raccoons.

Yesterday, I distributed more door-hangers, this time around the end of Darrell Rd and on Terrier Pl cul-de-sacs.  I talked to a few neighbors, but none of them had seen my Chai.  Little by little, I will cover most at least a 1-mile radius around my house with the door-hanger flyers.  I also put up more flyers on the utility poles around Ridgeway, Kennilworth and Marlborough's hilly neighborhood, and Chateau.

I feel more hopeful when I am actively doing something to find Chai.  Just waiting for someone to call me puts me in such a gloom-and-doom mood.  I will do more flyers and door-hangers this weekend as time permits.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Chai!

Happy Birthday, Chai, wherever you are...  If you were home, I would have made you some freshly roasted chicken that you love so much.  I makes me very sad that you are still out there, surviving on birds and mice...  It's very discouraging that all my effort to look for you have not been fruitful; it has not resulted in more sightings of you or actually finding you.  I took an hour this morning to do more door-to-door placing door-hanger flyers on all houses on Avondale.  I called out for you as I was doing this, but no meows to be heard...

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Hillsborough is so hilly, wooded, and houses sit on large lots.  Even if a cat is in someone's yard a lot, it would not be easy to spot it unless you are constantly looking out the yard.  Some days, I just want to give up.  But how can I?  It's the not knowing that is killing me...

I wish you would stop pouting and come back home.  I am your home.  Please come back to me...

New Platform for the Feeding Station and Door Hangers

I thought about what Hilary Renaissance said about Chai's whereabouts and my crazy notion to put the GPS device on "Tux".  I am still debating whether I should move forward with it or not.  Needless to say, I did not start Operation Tux over the Memorial Day weekend.

However, I did rent a humane trap, ordered a motion detector to put on the trap so that any animal that gets caught in the trap does not stay there too long.  Also, in order to avoid catching raccoons and to prevent them from devouring all of the cat food, I've built a shelf into the backyard fence using a 1/2"x2'x4' birch plywood board and three brackets.  Since raccoons or skunks can't jump up, I've built this shelf about 4 feet above the ground where a cat can easily jump up but the other critters can't.

I was disappointed when nothing came by the shelf the first night  I set it up.  However, on the second day, two cats who have come and eaten at the feeding station have come by:  the motley white pregnant or lactating female and the gray-and-white marbled long-haired cat.  But what happened to Tux?  I thought he would be more resourceful, smell the jack mackerel, and be able to come up on the shelf.  I guess he hasn't figured a way yet.

Here is a video with a pregnant cat chowing down at the feeding station perched up on the shelf:

Since I am getting the cats used to the trap without making it a threat, I cable-tied the trap door open so that even when the cat enters and triggers the door to shut, it stays open.  This cat trap was meant for Tux in case I decide to move forward with Operation Tux to get the GPS device on him.  But no Tux thus far.

But no raccoons either, which is great!  Since there is a dense canopy of tree branches above the shelf, the birds don't see the feeding station either.  Otherwise, crows and blue jays would be having a party.

Even with all my effort to try to get Chai back, I am feeling really discouraged and depressed.  Hilary Renaissance said one thing about where she thinks Chai is:  no more than 3-blocks all around.  However, another animal communicator Marta Williams said she is at least 6 blocks away, northeast from here, up on a hillside in open space but near houses.  So who is right?  Or may be both of them are wrong.  That's why I am reluctant to move forward with Operation Tux.  It might just be another wild goose chase.  The only common thread is that 1) Chai is still alive, and 2) Chai is out in the wild and no one is feeding her.  My support at the Missing Cat Assistance Yahoo group said that hardly anyone had much success with animal communicators.  One person said that she had consulted with 4 different animal communicators but all of them were a total waste of her money and time.

I should just go with the tried-and-true method of flyers and door-to-door knocking/handouts.  So I ordered door-hanger flyers to put on houses in 1-mile radius from my house.  Many Hillsborough residents have gates that are locked.  It's hard to place a regular paper flyer in such cases.  Also some people do not have door mats to slide the flyer half-way under so that the wind does not blow it away.  Door-hanger flyer to the rescue!  This will get noticed more than flyers or post cards (people may just chuck them as part of their junk mail).  I will walk around at least once a week to put these door-hanger flyers around the neighborhood.  I will also post more flyers too around utility poles.

Front Side of the Door-Hanger Flyer

Back Side of the Door-Hanger Flyer

GPS Tracker

I decided to get a GPS tracker to first use on "Tux" (the black-and-white cat that comes to the feeding station every night) once I am able to trap him.  And then to put it on Java for peace of mind after I find out where Tux goes during the daylight hours.  Java escaped again today, and Jane called to tell me that she saw the missing cat in her courtyard.  Sigh.

So the plan is:
Thursday:  rent a humane cat trap from the Humane Society
Thursday night:  put the cat food as bait inside the trap and set the trap by the front door where the food disappears over night
Friday morning:  check the trap to see if Tux has been captured or another cat/animal (if another cat animal other than Tux or Chai, set it free)
Friday night:  set the trap by the feeding station in the backyard

Repeat the steps of setting the trap and looking at the trap until Tux is caught in the trap.

If Tux is captured, wear leather gloves, heavy clothing, and put a large towel over the cat, and put the GPS collar on Tux.  Start tracking him.

I am nervous, hoping this works to find where Tux hangs out during the day.  Giving the animal communicator the benefit of doubt, I will see if Tux leads me to Chai.  If not, I will need to follow the GPS tracker, find Tux, and take the GPS device from him.

At Jane's house, no new cats have come by last night.  Just the chubby regular gray-and-white cat, the thinner gray-and-white cat, and the gray-and-white marbled long-haired cat.  "Fuzzy" who came by my backyard a couple of weeks ago showed up here, sprayed the wooden-barrel planter, and left.  Definitely an unneutered male cat.  And of course raccoons came by and ate almost everything.  Jane doesn't want me to attract raccoons anymore, so I will be moving the feeding station to the backyard, closer to the Avondale side.  Chai may not be coming to the front yard since it's the chubby gray-and-white cat's territory.

In my backyard, Tux came along as per usual, and Stripey-Legs showed up just briefly.  And a new cat!  An all-black cat:

The total number of unique cats that have visited my feeding station is 8 now, with Tux being the most regular.

Where Did They Go?

Strange, most of the regulars at the feeding stations have not come by last night at either the one set up in my backyard or at Andersons'.  However, the raccoons came by in numbers to have a feast.  Perhaps the raccoons were keeping the cats away.  I wish there was a way to keep the raccoons out of the kitty buffet, but if I put food out for them, then more and more raccoons show up, and in the end, I create a bigger problem than a small problem that I try to solve...

So at Andersons, only the gray-and-white chubby cat at the feeding station.  I saw another cat, farther out, which looked different from any regulars thus far:  mostly charcoal gray with some white along the shoulder/neck and white paws.  In my yard, "Tux" came by before the feeding station was restocked, and sniffed around and left.  And the fat motley-brown and white cat that came by on May 18 came by again yesterday.  Actually, she wasn't fat; she was pregnant. She must have given birth in the last three days.  Here is her looking rather plump on May 18th:

"Fat" motley-brown and white cat

Yesterday afternoon, she came by again, search for food before any food was set up.  As you can see from this video, her belly seems to hang loosely, and the nipples are enlarged like she is actively nursing her kittens:

It's rather sad that another feral litter is born in the neighborhood.  I wonder where the kittens are, and where she is nursing them.  I should seriously think about joining the TNR (trap-neuter-release) group to help control the feral cat population.

On a different note, since my son attends the West School, I have the West School directory where it lists all of the parents'/guardians' e-mail addresses.  I took a deep breath and decided to send each and everyone in the directory about helping me find Chai.  I did not want to be seen as pestering or spamming everyone's in-box, but Chai is so important to me and the family.  She IS a family member, and I need to do everything in my power to try to find her.  Wouldn't any parent do that if their child goes missing?  So pride and shame aside, I have begged the West School community and Hillsborough Together to help me find Chai.

I have received several e-mails from all over Hillsborough, kind folks offering support and sympathy.  I feel a great sense of community here, much more than I have ever felt living almost two decades in San Mateo.  Some have said that they keep looking (thank you!!!!).  It really warms my heart.

Busy Busy Weekend

The second trail camera has been set up at Jane and Carl Anderson's house across the street for 3 days.  Funny thing is that their house is yellow/beige and also has wine-barrel planters.  Lots of flowering shrubs in the front courtyard, and the backyard is very well-landscaped and immaculate.  Looks a lot like what the animal communicator Hilary has said.  Roshanne who lives next door to Anderson's have twin daughters aged 9, who runs around outside giggling and laughing a lot.  Is Hilary describing this area?  However, Chai is not hearing me calling out to her nightly, and still no signs of Chai here or in my yard.  I checked Roshanne's and Jerry's backyards, but no signs of any cats there, at least during the daytime.  Roshanne has a large German shepherd dog, and because of her, Roshanne does not think that any cats would come into her backyard.  However, when I was going over the grounds, Roshanne and I both saw a pretty fresh cat hairball right next to the pool.  Roshanne swears that she did not see that the day before.  So just because there is a dog in the house does not mean that a cat does not go inside it.

The camera at Jane's house caught 4 different cats on video, including that mysterious black-and-white tuxedo ("Tux") cat whose owner I need to find.  Tux did not show up at my house on the 19th.  But it did show up at Jane's:

Black-and-White "Tux" at Jane and Carl's House

The other cats that were frequent visitors at Anderson's are:

"The Regular" - Chubby Gray & White Stray that Andersons Feed Every Day

Gray-and-Black Marbled Long-Haired with White Chest and Paws that also shows up regularly now in my back yard

Thinner Gray & White at Anderson's

And I have even more black-and-white video footage of these cats noshing at night.

Besides the video surveillance, I went door-to-door handing out missing-cat flyers on Black Mountain, Marlborough, Carlton, Avondale, and Bairn.  To whomever was around, I asked about "Tux".  Many have seen him around, on all of these streets, but no one knows to whom he belongs.  One commented on the fact that he is a vicious cat.  Sounds like a dominant cat, like Hilary said.

With all these flyers out there, no one has called which means that no one has seen Chai.  So I debated the next step.  I will need to give Hilary the animal communicator a benefit of doubt, and find out where Tux hangs out during the day.  This may be where Chai is.  In order to do this, I will need to trap him, put a GPS tracker on him, and determine his daytime location.  Operation "Trap Tux" will start this Memorial Day weekend.  I just ordered the GPS device via Amazon.  I will need to rent the humane cat trap from SPCA at the end of the week.

On a separate note, I have been putting out a small dish of dry cat food outside my front door.  For more than 2 weeks, the food was not touched.  Then yesterday, I noticed that the food had disappeared.  So I put out some more food last night.  This morning, the food was gone.  My front door is set about 8-feet deep from the side walls, so it's pretty secluded and sheltered.  I will move the camera here one day and see what is eating the food.  I hope it's not raccoons or birds...

Animal Communicator

I guess I called for desperate measures as I am desperate about locating Chai.  I contacted Hilary Renaissance who is suppose to be a very good animal communicator, like an animal whisperer who can communicate with animals using feelings and imagery.  I don't know how much to believe, but she said:

• Chai is alive
• She is living outside a "beige" house (beige may mean tan, peach, cream, yellow, light brown, or something similar in that color spectrum)
• She did not travel too far from home (i.e., within 3-blocks in all direction from 1525 Black Mountain Road)
• There are vibrant dangling-flowered bushes/trees planted in the yard (could be something like a bottle-brush, butterfly bush, lantana or anything that has abundant showy bright-colored flowers)
• There are many small birds and hummingbirds
• A black-and-white cat (tuxedo) lives at this house; the cat is black with white chest, muzzle, and paws; it is a dominant cat; could be a male alpha cat
• There is a wooden barrel planter or hot tub in the yard
• Something that looks like a hula-hoop, inner tube, or a coil of hose leaned up against the house, shed, or garage
• The landscape is very well-manicured; showy but discrete to look like a naturalized wooded setting
• There is a skinny girl, about 8 to 11 years old, with long dark hair who lives at this house or in a neighbor's house; she runs around giggling, laughing, and screaming a lot
• Chai is not being fed by humans; she is catching birds and eating them as her food source

One thing that immediately caught my attention was the black-and-white tuxedo cat.  Hilary described exactly this cat that comes into my backyard to eat at the feeding station every night!  Here is one rare daylight video of him a few weeks ago:

Black-and-White Tuxedo Cat

And here are a few night infrared shots of this cat, just from the last couple of nights:

Could this be the cat that Chai is hanging out with?  If so, where does he belong?  I walked around the neighborhood last night asking my neighbors whether they know who owns this cat.  Many said that they have seen the cat but do not know who the owner is.   These are the neighbors on Black Mountain Road and Avondale.  So this cat travels many houses.  Since it's out at all hours of the night, I wonder if he is a stray or a feral.  He definitely hides from me.  I know that for a fact because I hear something when I put the food out, but I cannot see any animals around me, even with a flash light.  As soon as I leave the area, this cat eats.  The timestamps on the video are about one minute after I set out the food.  He doesn't look like he's starving.  There must be other people like me who are feeding this cat.

If anyone in Hillsborough is reading my blog, please help me locate where this cat hangs out during the day.  I may be able to find Chai by finding this cat's home.  I may need to resort to trapping this cat and then put a collar around him with a message for the owner to contact me.

Sleek Cat and Raccoons

It's Day#6 with the second trail camera set up at Grace's.  No new cats have come by.  I will move the camera tomorrow to perhaps Jane's house across the street from me, if she gives me her permission.

The dark sleek cat came by during the daylight hours though.  As I suspected, he is charcoal gray, all one color, like a Russian blue.  I think he is intact (unneutered) as well:

The dark, sleek cat in infrared happens to be this charcoal-gray cat.

 He came by at night again and ate all the food.  Of course, the motley brown cat was seen several times during the day.

The surveillance set up in my backyard is not attracting any more new cats.  The black-and-white tuxedo and the stripey legs came by, and the raccoons.  These raccoons are getting fatter every time.  I think it's because they are eating most of the cat food at the feeding station:

 Raccoons eating all of the cat food at the kitty buffet

I asked the Humane Society whether I can use the humane cat traps to trap raccoons and relocate them.  They said that is illegal.  I cannot do anything with wildlife.  I will be fined.  So, there goes the idea of trapping them and sending them far away from my property.  Why does everything have to be so difficult?

Another Black Cat at Marlborough Road

When I replaced the batteries in my trail camera, I forgot to reset the clock.  All of the date and timestamps got skewed by like 15 months and 11 hours!  Oh well, next time I will remember to reset the clock.

Anyways, the trail cam in my backyard caught the usual black&white (tuxedo) cat that John thinks always bullies and injures Java whenever Java goes outside.  John thinks it's this cat that tore Java's ear last week.  And the stripey-leg cat came by too.  But raccoons, a big-ass papa raccoon and his family came and ate all the food in the kitty buffet.  I really hate them.  One of these days, I will set a trap for the raccoons and relocate every single raccoon I trap to place at least 5 miles away.  John said he would be happy to help with the relocation project.

I am thinking of moving the kitty buffet and the camera to the front yard.  I've never seen Chai go to that area of the backyard, so why have the feeding station there?  I should set them up in Chai's path whenever she used to go out and come back inside.  If I don't see Chai in my own property, then this camera would become a roaming one too.  I am waiting for the steel security box for this camera so that I can feel safe about not having it stolen or vandalized.

The camera set up at Grace's house on Marlborough captured on video another cat, a sleek black cat (or some really dark color).  It's not the bushy-tailed black one caught on camera over the weekend.

short-haired black cat on Marlborough

 

As long as I see new cats at Grace's house, I will keep the camera there.  If I don't see any new ones by the end of the week, I shall move the camera to somewhere else.  Still debating the next location.  Perhaps by Jane's house across the street from my house.

On a separate note, I got a call from a lady that she saw a brown cat with leopard print on Pepper Ave. in Burlingame.  Although that was not Chai as Chai has no spots, I am glad she called.  It is actually better than not getting any calls.  It tells me that people are out there, looking; they care.  Thank goodness for people like this.  It would be a horrible world if everyone is like the 85-year-old next door neighbor who actually said to me that if he sees my cat in his backyard, he would kick it across the yard towards my house.  All because he hates cats coming into his property and pooping on his lawn.  What a despicable human being.  Well, since he is 85-years-old, I probably won't have to deal with his crotchety meanness for too long.

Marlborough Rd

On weekends, I get too depressed if I check the video footage and not see any images of Chai.  So I let the camera in place, but just stocked up on the kitty buffet at my backyard and at this new location, Grace's front yard on Marlborough Rd.  Several callers in the past have told me that they saw a brown cat by Grace's house or between hers and her neighbor's.  I just want to rule out that the cat is that same brown cat that I saw a while back and also captured on Grace's camera.

Over the three-day period, three cats came by her house.  That same brown cat, a blackish cat with a fluffy tail, and a smaller sleek all one dark color (but not black) cat.  I did not have my hopes up, but still, there was some anticipation that I would eventually see Chai. 

Brown Motley Cat at Grace's House

Sleek Dark (One Color) Cat

Black Bushy-Tailed Cat

I will keep the camera at Grace's on Marlborough for another 3 to 4 days before moving it.  Another location closer to Lookout where Chai was seen before, or on Carlton where there are a few outdoor cats?

I am getting pretty discouraged.  I have not received any credible sighting phone calls in almost 2 weeks.  How do I keep hope alive?

Was NOT Chai...

It's been a week since my last chronicle entry.  So much emotional roller coaster rides.  The cat that looked like Chai in the video surveillance about a week ago was not Chai.  I had the camera mounted closer to the food source, and that same cat came back a couple of days later.  But it had dark stripes around the legs and rings around the tail, although it had the dark streak on the top of its head and along the spine and tail and had a white chin.  So very disappointed.

Cat#6 - Stripey Tail (Chai Imposter)

 On May 8th, the camera captured yet a new cat in my backyard, whom I shall call "Fuzzy".  This would be Cat #7.

Cat#7 - Fuzzy

So new cats keep on dropping by, but no Chai.  And of course, tons of raccoons.  I hate them.  I should trap and relocate them far away so that they leave the kitty buffet alone.  They eat up all of the peanut butter sandwiches AND the cat food.  Now families of raccoons are coming by at the same time.

And the second camera that was set up at Joyce and Buckingham have only caught a large tom cat, and a fluffy white (or orange, can't tell from the infrared video clips) cat, and your usual raccoons, possums, and crows during the daylight hours.  I will be moving this camera to Marlborough Rd tomorrow at Grace's front yard.  I got several calls from neighbors around this area reporting a brown cat.  I just want to rule out that we are talking about the same brown cat.  Perhaps there are multiple brown cats around here, one of which is Chai.  Not that I have a lot of hope, but for peace of mind, I need to do this.  Grace was very kind to give me permission to set up the kitty buffet and the camera there.  It's good to know that there are people who care.

As if I am not going through enough emotional stress, on Monday Java got out.  He tore through a window screen.  When I got home, he was waiting for me.  Immediately I saw that he has lost his collar (AGAIN!) and ID tag.  $17 lost.  I got him inside, and that's when Justin screamed, "What happened to his ear!?!"  I then saw that a huge flap of skin was carved off and was rolled up on the backside of his ear.  I dropped everything and rushed him to the emergency veterinary clinic.  3 hours wait.  Finally saw the vet.  They asked me to leave him there so that they could anesthetize him and get the flap sutured back on.  I then had to pick him up at 7am before they close down for the day.  The vet told me that because ears are not fleshy, there is only 75% chance that the flap would fuse to his ear.  He had the e-collar on so that he doesn't do anything to the sutures.  $1000 poorer and with Java back at home, I am giving him antibiotics and pain meds.  He was out of it.  He almost pee'd on my bed.  I took him to his litter box, and he just layed there.  And then he had a diarrhea.  Must be the antibiotics.  He also has a tough time eating because of the e-collar.  I have to take additional time in the morning and night to guide his head to his food bowl so that the collar goes over the bowl.  At least he is eating...

Then he escaped again yesterday when Jayden accidentally let him out by opening the front door to let his piano instructor come in.  The vet said it was important to keep him indoors while his wound is healing and while he had the e-collar on.  He has no defense mechanism with the e-collar.  John tried to get him inside, but Java would not come to him.  Of course not; the cats would only come to those they are bonded to.  When I got home late last night (I had a previous engagement to have dinner with one of the out-of-town colleagues who came to visit), I called out to Java for 10 minutes.  I heard his meow, and he is again safely in the house.  He is still out of it.  Sleeping most of the time.  Poor Java...  As bad as I feel about Chai's whereabouts, I would feel 1000x worse if anything should happen to Java.  He is my love.  He feels my emotions.  He comforts me and lets me sleep with my arms around him whenever I feel really sad.  I need to have the screens replaced to minimize Java attempting escape.  Why did I have John talk me into making him into an indoor-outdoor cat in the first place, especially after Kona and Cocoa were killed by cars???

Trying to Entice Chai to the Kitty Buffet

It was drizzling in Hillsborough this morning.  I decided not to risk getting my trail cameras damaged in the rain by opening them up to take the SC cards swapped out.  So no videos to review today.

Last night, I went to Costo and bought some rotisserie chicken to eat and also to leave some out for Chai.  I also got a box of seasoned roasted seaweed that she loves so much.  I left a bowl full of shredded roast chicken outside and also a container of the seaweed inside the litter box that's been converted as a cat shelter with her blanket in it.  Actually, the blanket belonged to Latte, but I would think Latte's smell would be familiar to her.  I also left a plate of peanut-butter sandwiches so that the raccoons would leave the cat food alone.

I left more cat food (canned and dry) out by Joyce and Buckingham with a bowl of water.  I am anxious to see if this new location would capture more cats on video.  Only time will tell.

Today, I got a photo text from someone in Burlingame with a photo of a brown cat, but with spots and rings around its tail.  The background color is almost like Chai's but this one looked like a brown Ocicat to me.  Chai is a ruddy Abyssinian:  no spots, no stripes/rings.

Brown Ocicat by Summit Drive in Burlingame

 Although yesterday I was feeling more up and hopeful, I feel really deflated today.  I just wish I knew where Chai is.  That would be more than half of the recovery process.  I circled a 0.5 and 1mile circles from my house on a map.  She has got to be within this area.  I will just need to move the cameras around until I get a glimpse of her somewhere.

Cat #5

Last night a new cat (Cat#5) was seen on my video surveillance.  This cat came by much earlier than other cats have (who usually show up after 10pm and through 2am, and then around 3:30am to 5:30am.  Another difference about this cat is that it did not sniff around the feeding station like all of the other cats who visited.  This one also has proportionately larger ears, dark streaks around the back and tail, and small.  It has basically the characteristics that Chai has, but not as sleek.  However, since she has been out in the "wild" for over six weeks, she may have put on a heavier winter coat.  Abyssinians have large ears and darker shading along the back and tail.  I am cautiously optimistic that perhaps Chai has come back to her old territory to check things out.  Chai never liked fish-based cat food anyways, so that's why this cat did not sniff around the feeding station.  The cat came around 9:41pm, which was about 30 minutes prior to my coming out to fill the bowl.  To entice Chai, I should leave some roast chicken and roasted seaweed crackers which she loves so much.

Cat#5 - Could This be Chai?

 On a separate note, I moved the second camera from Carmen's house to under some shrubs at Lucy's house (Joyce/Buckingham).  This is the house where Lucy's daughter saw Chai in her front yard.  I got her permission to leave the camera and feeding station there for a week.  If this does not pan out, then I will move the camera to Marlborough.  At least I have two sites lined up.

Cat Visitors

Chai has been missing for 6 weeks now.  I distributed more flyers by the Vista Park neighborhood along Longview and the cul-de-sacs off of Longview, marked off the houses on my map.  I just left a flyer by the front door at most houses, but if there was someone right inside or outside their houses, I talked to them before leaving them with the flyers.  Another 20 or so flyers.

The camera set up at Carmen's house is not revealing any new cats.  I will move the camera tomorrow to somewhere else.  I am debating where to set it up.  Somewhere closer to Buckingham/Joyce, Marlborough, or yet somewhere else.  I wish there were more credible sightings.

I need to stock up on peanut butter and marshmallow as raccoons prefer to eat sandwiches made of these rather than cat food.  If they leave the cat food alone, I would probably get more cats.

Talking about more cats, a new cat showed up in my backyard last night.  This would be cat#4.  Because these cats come during the middle of the night or early in the morning but before dawn, it's hard to tell their colors from black-and-white videos taken with the infrared trail camera.  But so  far, here are the cats that visited the feeding station in my backyard:

Cat#1 - Black & White (Tuxedo)

Cat#2 - Stripey Legs (gray or brown cat with light bands on hind legs)

Cat#3 - Fat of Pregnant Calico Cat

Cat#4 - Dark Gray or Brown Cat

 At least new cats are coming around every few days...

More Sightings?

The camera surveillance I have at Carmen's house is not capturing any other cat images.  It's just her cat and the black-and-gray tabby.  If I don't see any new cats on video for another day or two, I will move it to the Vista Park area.  A woman called me who lives in that area, who also has a ruddy Abyssinian, telling me that her friend who comes over to her house and is familiar with Abyssinian cats said that she had seen one in her backyard.  She lives on Ridgeway, close to Vista Park.  However, when I called her, she was back-pedaling, telling me that the cat she saw may not have been an Aby, it was a week ago, did not get a good glipmse, etc.  May be she just wanted to be left alone, and she wasn't exactly being helpful.  She did say that the cat ran towards Culebra Rd.  So on Saturday, I did a door-to-door handing out about 20 flyers to the houses around Vista Park, along Ridgeway, Vista, Culebra, and Chiltern.  I talked to a few residents who happened to be at home at the time, and one woman on Culebra said she saw a brown cat when her dog was staring into the backyard and barking at something.  That was a week ago as well. So perhaps, Chai or her look-alike ran from the Ridgeway house to the Culebra house across the street.  At least it's two sightings in that area.  I will need to scope out an area that would be welcoming to a cat somewhere here to set up the camera.

I just printed out a map of the area to hand out more flyers.  There are a few cul-de-sacs in the area and lots of wooded area.  May be she's hanging out there.  If the other sightings were true Chai sightings, she is traveling northeast of home, and she may end up here.  It is a possibility.  It's about a mile from my house.  I will wait for more phone calls after distributing handouts.

In the meantime, I've also made my car into the Lost-Cat Headquarters, not only stocking my car with supplies of cat food, flyers, flashlight, staple gun, duct tape, etc, but also taping florescent posters on both rear passenger windows and the rear window of my Prius.  There is no law against posters on cars, so there.  I don't give up that easily.

The camera set up in my backyard has caught a couple new cats.  One is the same one that hangs around 1585 Black Mountain.  I guess he gets around.  Another one is a calico or tortie, rather bushy looking.  I have never seen this one before.  So new cats are finding the feeding station.  I am hoping that one of these days, Chai also finds food to eat here.

So, as to my plans for the next several weeks, if I don't find Chai during this time, I will distribute more handout flyers to different neighborhoods.  The next surveillance area would be around Vista Park or a street or two to the east of it.  The next spot will be at 1460 Marlborough.  I keep getting calls about a brown cat in this area, and I want to make sure it's the same brown cat which is not Chai.  Maybe there are several brown cats here.

For crying out loud, she's been gone for over 5 weeks, so she better have found a new territory that she is hanging around.  Hopefully, she's staying put in one area so someone sees her on a consistent basis.  Where are you Chai???

Huge Disappointment

Now the trail camera has been set up right outside the open garage door at Carmen's house.  I set this up after I got a call from Carmen on Tuesday night that a small brown cat that she's never seen before came around to eat at her cat's food bowl.  She said this cat came around 3 times that night.  So I set the camera up yesterday morning.

Then last night,as I was driving home, I got another call from Carmen that she has my cat locked up in her garage.  I was cautiously optimistic since most of the sightings happened not to be of Chai.  I drove in the rain, and as fast as possible.  When I got there, the garage light was not working.  Good thing my car has been converted as a missing cat search headquarters so I had a flash light, head light, feeding supplies, leather gloves (in case I need to handle Chai who may have gone quite wild by now), extra flyers, staple gun, duct tape, etc.  I took the flash light and searched in the garage, first under the cat, then under the old beds that were in a spare room off of the garage.  I found a cat, but not it was NOT Chai.  A black (or dark brown) and gray marbled/striped tabby.  A cute cat, but definitely not Chai.

 Brown (or Gray) and Black Marble Tabby

The adult grand daughter thought that was my cat, but Carmen said the cat she was did not have any stripes, and all brown.  I was disappointed, but the fact that Carmen said the cat in the garage is not the cat she saw on Tuesday night gave me renewed hope.  I still thanked them profusely as they are trying to help me the best the can.  They are really nice.

I doubt that Chai would be moving around when it is raining.  She never went outside if it's raining in the past.  I think she was holed up somewhere last night, not moving around.  It's finally sunny again after another round of showers in the morning.  Hopefully, it will be dry tonight so that Chai would come around.  I hope it is Chai that Carmen saw the other night.

Municipal Code Violation

Not such a great day for me.  No new cats have been caught on the trail cam at either of the locations.  Now the raccoons found their way to the feeding station.  They are everywhere!

Hillsborough Police called me and told me that my lost-cat posters are against the municipal code.  They are taking them down wherever they see them.  If they are going to take them down, I am not going to tell them where I posted them all.  Let them find them themselves.  My tax dollars at work.  So heartless.  Now I can't even post any new posters here.  I guess the only thing is to post it at my house fence since this is MY PROPERTY.  So discouraged and depressed now.

The Cat at Tina's Side Yard

So it looks like the cat Tina saw at her house on 1585 Black Mountain is not Chai.  I captured a small cat eating at the feeding station that I had set up with my trail cam pointing at it.  This cat came by in the afternoon and several times during the night to feed.  She is petite, has exotic looking face, and has brownish fur but more like a dilute tortie with some tabby stripes on her legs and face.  She also has some white on her face and legs.  Chai has no white fur anywhere.

I sent the video to Tina to confirm.  She thinks this is the cat she saw but not 100% sure...  She mentioned how the eyes were slanting upwards, and this cat definitely has that look.  Chai has more roundish eyes.  Anyways, Tina said she would keep her eyes open for Chai.

 Cat that Tina Saw (NOT Chai)

I will leave my camera there for another week.  Then I will move it down to Joyce/Wedgewood/Buckingham area.  Probably either inside or right outside her garage where cats are seen eating.  Carmen, the elderly lady who has 4 min-pin dogs inside her house and a really old cat living in her garage, gave me permission to do so.  After this does not pan out, I have no idea where to set up the second camera.  The first camera is still in the secluded area in my backyard.  The same black-and-white cat comes to visit every night.  Since John fixed the broken fence, I see no more raccoons or dogs (yay)!

A Promising Lead

Very promising lead came in early in the evening yesterday.  Tina who lives at 1585 Black Mountain, the same location where I had the trail camera set up right outside the fence a couple of weeks ago and took videos of the same three cats of which none were Chai, called to tell me that she thought she saw Chai lounging underneath a chair right outside the door to her side yard.  Before this call, when I got her permission to set up the camera outside the fence, she was insistent that none of the cats that hang around her property was Chai.  She vaguely implied that one kind of looks like her, but Chai has cuter face.  When the camera was set up there before, she was right; there was a cat that in black-and-white, had similar coloring as Chai, but larger with shorter stripey legs and small ears.  Not Chai.

This time she said the cat she was was petite, triangular face and eyes that go upwards, just like in the picture of Chai that's posted.  She said that this cat did not look like an ordinary cat, but rather looked like an expensive cat.  She was gracious to let me set up the trail camera about 10 feet from the chair, under an awning and protected by three walls and concrete floor about 3'x4'.  Her side yard looked very secluded, serene, with shrubs around.  I think if I were a cat, it would be a good place to hang out.  I also put some dry cat food and a can of wet cat food in two separate paper bowls, and used a bowl lying around there for water.

I went back at 8:30pm tonight.  The food was gone!  I set out some jack mackerel, some leftover shredded roast chicken, and more water.  I am a bit nervous that the camera is set up a little too high.  Tomorrow morning, I will adjust it so that it is about 1' to 1.5' from the ground.  Hopefully it captured cats eating during daylight as well as night time.  This is the most promising lead to date.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Chai is captured on video within a week.

I also got a call from Grace who lives at 1460 Marlborough.  She first sent me a pic of a cat she saw.  I think it was the same cat that I saw outside her property a couple of weeks ago.  It is so nice that people care.  I thanked her profusely for her effort and to keep on looking, that Chai is still missing.

Just as there are really nice people, there are heartless people who tear down my posters.  Jerks!!!

 Grace's photo of a brown cat in her yard

Possum

Getting pretty discouraged here, and also feel pretty exhausted.  Yesterday, I got a call that a woman saw a cat that looks like the cat on my lost-cat poster right behind a gate at this ginormous chateau on Ralston (3250 Ralston).  I met her at West School, and I followed her in my car to the mansion.  The mansion was large and the grounds looked infinite.  I called out to Chai, but again, per usual no signs of Chai or any other cat for that matter.  This site was 1.7 miles from home, so I doubt that she would have traveled this distance.  But you never know...  Based on one account, an Aby rescuer trapped an Aby that belonged to someone 5 miles away.  The owner said the cat had been gone for a year!

The trail cam in the park captured a possum devouring all of the food that I had set out last night.  Not enough for that blond lab to eat at 6:30am.  Poor doggy :)

A Possum

I went to Joyce/Buckingham/Wedgewood area again this morning. I talked to an elderly lady (Carmen) who has a cat that lives in her garage and 4 min-pins inside.  She said she had 3 cats and now down to 1.  2 just disappeared one day and never came back.  I hope that's not Chai's fate...  She leaves the door to the detached garage open so that her cat can go in and out.  I checked out the garage.  It looks like a haven for a cat.  Perhaps Chai come around here?  I got Carmen's permission to set up the trail camera in her garage.  She was super kind and sympathetic.  I will leave the camera at the Crossroads Park for one more night and then move the camera to her garage area.  Still trying my darnedest to locate Chai's new territory.

No Luck at the Crossroads Park

Well, the trail camera that I had set up at the Crossroads Park captured a yellow lab and a fluffly white/cream (or orange, as orange shows up as white in infrared videos) cat eating at the feeding station over the last two days.  Nothing else thus far.

Fluffy White (or Orange) Cat

The feeding station in my backyard is frequented by that black-and-white fluffy cat, and sometimes raccoons.  No other cats except when Justin let out Java, he was sniffing around the feeding station (empty during the day).

I went to talk to a few neighbors at Joyce/Buckingham last night.  The 11-yo girl, Lucy's daughter, was positive the cat that sat for a moment at the mound in front of her house was Chai.  I showed her additional pictures of Chai, and she was sure.  The girl saw the cat twice last week, on Wed and Fri.  Lucy has two big dogs, so I doubt that Chai would be hanging around her house.  I will rule this house out as a potential site for my next trail camera and feeding station setting.  Lucy also told me that there is an old house at the corner of Joyce and Wedgewood where the people feed stray cats.  I will go talk to them as well.

Alcy, another neighbor across the street from Lucy said she saw a brown cat on Monday run across 1370 Buckingham when a small dog barked.  She did not get a great view of her, but she said the cat was definitely NOT fluffy, but long.  Well, Abyssinian cats are known for their tubular body shape.

Funny 1370 Buckingham is also the address where a woman named Audrey called me when she got my postcard to check out the cat sitting on her backyard fence.  When I got there, the cat was still there, but not Chai.  It was dusk so she could not tell exactly the color of the cat, but when it moved, I could tell that it was more charcoal gray with marbling going on on the side of the body.  Not Chai.  It seems that she loves cats and want to help me.  I knocked on Audrey's house, but this time her mother answered the door.  Very sweet lady.  They are keeping their eyes open for Chai.  I asked her to talk to Audry to set up the cat trap she has.  I may go back there to talk to Audrey tonight to see if we can set the trail camera somewhere there.

I hope the girl is right about Chai sightings.  I called for Chai walking around that neighborhood around 8pm, and again around 11:30pm.  No signs of Chai or any other cat.  I sprinkled cat food around the curbside around where I posted the flyers.  May be she will come out of hiding and get some of the food today.

On a sour note, I noticed that about 3 of my flyers have been taken down by someone.  How could they be so heartless???

Double-Take

I spent another hour last night creating more florescent posters.  I posted them around this little Crossroads park and talked to a few neighbors in that area. The park, although tiny like the size of a backyard, is pretty secluded with shrubs and trees surrounding it. It also abuts a house that seem to be vacant. The neighbor next door said she has not seen a single soul going in or out of that house in 3 months. Hmm, do cats like to be hiding around a deserted house?

Also two houses up from there is a new house construction. Tons of wood and building material piled up outside, and the windows and doors open with lots of nooks to shelter a cat. I talked to a construction worker there too, but he did not see any cat around. Maybe by the time the workers arrive, Chai would be gone during the day.

So, it looks like this area is a prime spot for a cat looking for a comfortable shelter.  I scouted an area in the park that would be ideal for setting up a feeding station.  Probably on top of a tree stump or next to the fence that borders the empty house.  There is also a tree near by that would be great for mounting a trail camera.  I should also scout out the construction site to see if there is evidence of a cat living there.

As if I am not frustrated enough, Justin kept the door open to the deck and let out Java, my other Abyssinian cat.  Ugh!!!  Double ugh!!!!!!  I did not have enough time to get him inside this morning, so he's happily roaming the neighborhood.  I am sure he will come back, but just as I feared, I got two calls this morning from neighbors that they spotted an Abyssinian cat.  Doh!!!  That's Java...  I hate wasting other people's time too.  They are trying to be helpful but because of the neglectful way Justin was acting, they may not call once they see Chai and I have to deal with false reports.  Doh, doh, doh!!!!!!

The trail camera from my backyard revealed the same black-and-white cat feeding from the feeding station, and now two raccoons!  John better get that fence repaired soon so that I don't get wild critters eating all the kitty food...