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...