Lost Cat

[suzanne.patterson@ho]

Lost, small black cat with short tail. Very friendly. Has brown mark in his right eye. Possible sighting in Melbourne Grove which is a long way from where he lives in Danby Street. Please contact me on 07796441559 if you have any information.

Thanks

Suzanne

[Tanza]

Really pleased to report that the cat has been found - thanks to neighbours in Colwell road spotting him. He is back at home with his owner in Danby st - a little thinner but in good health.

[solar]

Gosh. He travelled a long way. Glad you get him back safely.

[Tanza]

I was talking about this to friends last night and they said I should post the full story of this lost-and-found cat - that cat lovers might be interested or have a view about if the outcome was down to coincidence or a cat?s sense of smell. Also the Forum played a part in the story.

On Saturday morning I heard a cat miaowing loudly and repeatedly right outside my house in Melbourne Grove (Colwell rd end). I opened my door and a little black cat shot into my house and started heading upstairs. I didn?t want to keep him or feed him but something felt like he might be lost so i checked the Forum and then put him back outside as there wasn?t anything matching him in Lost and Found.

That night my friend Suzanne came to my house and she mentioned her cat had been missing for four days - he?s always wandered but never been away that long. I asked if she had put it on the forum and mentioned I?d checked it just that morning - and as I described the cat she said ?that sounds like my cat?. Cutting a long story short it turns out it was her cat (small black, mark in eye, tail v short) although I was still doubtful.

That night Suzanne put her post up on the forum and the next morning put posters up round Melbourne Grove and Colwell rd hoping he?d still be in the area. (She lives in Danby st, Peckham). A call came in to say he?d been seen the night before in Colwell and later that day Colwell rd neighbours rang to say ?he?s here now?. I went to get him so a happy outcome. But I?m puzzled. Was it a massive coincidence that out of all East Dulwich and Peckham he turned up at my house - a friend of his owner?

His owner Suzanne hadn?t been to my house in months. I wouldn?t have recognised her cat. But the previous weekend my husband and I had gone for lunch with Suzanne and family in a pub, then walked to her house, spent the day there (didn?t see her cat at all) and then we walked home to our house. Is it possible that somehow the cat picked up the scent in some way?

Suzanne has now got a collar with a tracking device on it so we hope he won?t get lost again.

[ianr]

When/if you've ruled out other possibilities one of you might be interested in filing a report at David Spiegelhalter's Coincidences Collection: https://understandinguncertainty.org/coincidences.

Me, I think the cat's a mindreader. ;-) But then there are those stories, I'm not sure how well validated, of cats finding their way home after being removed very long distances. https://www.google.com/search?q=cats+finding+way+back+home+hundreds+of+miles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b This would be a very interesting variant on that. Has the cat ever been to your home or road before?

[Tanza]

Thanks Ian! No the cat had never been to my house or street as far as we know before. And he was apparently unable to find his way home as he was extremely hungry when found.