This handsome orange cat Wally was napping in his owners vehicle when she left to run an errand.
She had no idea he was up in there until she saw this video...
To her shock, her rearview camera showed an orange blur drop out of the car, tumble in the road and scramble to safety on a nearby street.
Wally was found with the help of the Lost Cat Finder guidance from afar plus help from Austin locals like Shawna who picked dup a lot of my methods when she lost her cat years ago.
Happy ending for all and Wally is home. He did break a leg, and his claws were shredded but he's alive and safely back home!
Here's a note from the cat's owner a month later:
"Wally is doing well. Slowly gaining back the weight he lost. He did break a back leg pretty badly. We think it was when he fell out of the truck based on how much it had healed by the time I found him 45 days later. I will try to attach a pic of the x-ray here. All of his nails were really worn down too. I think he must have used them a lot getting out of the sewer drains and worn them down on the concrete.
The vet did talk about having to amputate his broken leg, given how awkwardly it healed while he was lost. BUT in the last six weeks he has managed very well with his gimpy leg and we think he just might be able to keep it! Yay!
Please tell anyone who loses their cat to not give up! Contact the Lost Cat Finder! I was close to giving up every week, but I just kept thinking of Wally out there wondering why I hadn't come to pick him up yet, so I had to keep trying.
It still amazes me that I got him back after 45 days!!!
When people ask why I became a lost cat finder, I tell them about my own missing cat who disappeared when I lived in Canyon Lake in 2008.
There are a lot of myths out there about missing kitties and I had heard them all.
But I also got met with very disappointing indifference and plenty of comments like "a coyote killed your cat" which seems to be the go-to assumption in Texas.
Despite no support or help from friends and family, I DID find my (neutered and microchipped) lost cat, and he was NOT injured by a coyote, not looking for a girlfriend, and not able to "come home when he gets hungry: My missing cat was trapped in a metal shipping container on a ranch next door.
My missing cat would have died if I had not begged to mean, unfriendly neighbors, to let me search. Even the ones who said no saw my emotional state and said they would "check around" so as hard as it was to approach people when I was in such despair, I leaned it is ABSOLUTELY KEY, especially with a lost outdoor i.e., allowed outside access cat.
I also learned to never assume ANYTHING or give up too soon when there's a chance your cat's life is hanging n the balance of your efforts.
So THIS is why I am a pet finder for lost kitties, AKA a pet detective for lost cats.
I remember how it feels.
I remember the lame advice.
I remember how alone it feels when friends tell you to move on.
But I ALSO remember the joy when my cat, Mister Purr was found ALIVE.
After helping Erica Brennes (the traffic reporter on the local news) find her missing cat Skittles, KEYE contacted me to do a feature on the morning news.
Here's the "Lost Cat Finder" interview, held onsite at 6am on a rainy Austin morning. Apparently, I am now dubbed, "the Cat Detective."
I'm a pet detective trained in lost cat search and rescue, animal tracking and the science of lost cat behavior.I'm also he only certified Missing Pet Partnership "Pet Detective" in Austin Texas. I'm available 24/7 to help people find lost cats, from in-person "cat detective" searches to phone and email pet finder advice, shelter searches--even making and distributing lost cat posters and flyers. My goal is to provide lost cat owners with the right information, tools and techniques to track down a missing cat no matter what the situation. I even wrote a search guide "How to Find a Lost Cat" for people outside the Austin area. This e-book has helped people all over the world recover their missing cats!
Texas Pet Detective Services If you book me to handle an entire Lost Cat Search campaign, the charge from start to finish is $500. This includes everything: poster + flyer creation/distribution, interviewing neighbors, searching crawlspaces under houses and sheds using tools and gear, visiting animal shelters and local vets--a complete and detailed, physical search for your lost cat.
If you're able to create and hang your own giant posters, visit area vets and shelters, and distribute hand flyers to neighbors while getting their permission for me to bring equipment and search their yards and sheds, the rate for a two hour search is $250.
You obviously care a lot about your cat if you're here seeking professional advice based on the science of lost cat behavior. I've studied thousands of cases of lost cats: what missing cats do, how they travel, and what works to get them found.
This is not something the general understands how to do. It only makes sense to hire a professional or, at the very least, watch my tutorial video,How to Find a Lost Cat.
Kim Freeman / Texas Pet Detective based in Austin TX
Lost Cat Search Strategy Coaching Get an email consultation and Profile analysis with your copy of the petfinder e-book "How to Find Your Lost Cat" for custom search tips based on your completed Lost Cat Profile. Combining your cat's Profile results + probability theory, I coach you on where to put your efforts at each integral stage of the search for your lost cat.
Full Search and Rescue$500 This is the full campaign and includes everything from the "How to Find Your Lost Cat" Search Guide booklet, a custom Lost Cat Profile Analysis and coming in person to your house to examine all areas for clues and key hiding places you may have overlooked using my special heat sensitive technology and cat recovery equipment.
This includes a 4 hour plan together, starting with a one-hour consult analysis, plus 3 hours searching your neighborhood: interviewing neighbors and getting permission to examine under houses, decks, and sheds using my "pet detective" equipment searching yards, garages and sheds where your cat could be trapped. No stone left unturned using high-tech equipment and every resource available to find your cat while you're at work or traveling.
Austin pet detective, Kim Freeman, website at www.LostCatFinder.com To request a consultation contact her via her website at Lost Cat Finder.
"Help me find my cat" Before assuming your cat is lost, check around your house with a flashlight--every corner, crevice and crawlspace imaginable. If your cat has definitely escaped, read the booklet "How to Find your Lost Cat"to maximize your precious search time.
Take note of the list of crucial steps in the first 24 hours of a missing cat search and follow advice on the differences in how to find a lost indoor-only cat vs outdoor cat.
Check the shelters in
person Take a color photo of your lost cat. Don't rely on lost and found pet websites, recordings or even a person on the phone. These folks are busy and make mistakes. Do it in person--or hire me to make the rounds. Check Craigslist for "Lost & Found cat" listings. Here is a template from "Get My Cat" to make a lost cat flyer: http://www.getmycat.com/lost-cat-flyer-template
http://www.austinpetfinder.org/ NORTH
AUSTIN: Emergency Animal Clinic of Northwest Austin 12034 Research Boulevard,
#8. 512- 331-6121 6:30 p.m. - 7:00 A.M. Monday - through Saturday morning at
7:00 a.m. Saturday open at 8 a.m. re-open at 1:00 p.m. and open until Monday at
7:00 a.m. SOUTH AUSTIN: Emergency Animal Clinic 4434 Frontier Trail 512 899
- 0955 Fax 512 892-7811
Monday - Friday open at 6:30 p.m. until 7:00 a.m.
the following morning. Saturday open at 1:00 p.m. and stay open until 7:am
Monday morning.
Pictures of injured animals or animals in the Rabies Observation Area are not
available to the public. There is a paper posted with a description of the
animals inside Rabies Observation. Descriptions of the same animal vary wildly
from person to person. Don't rely on a piece of paper! Be persistent and you
will get into Rabies Observation. Town Lake Animal
Center Pictures Online: http://malford.ci.austin.tx.us/tlac/default.cfm Stray, impounded and
owner surrendered animals can be found in the stray building(Lost and Found) at
TLAC).
Austin Humane Society -SPCA Austin & Travis
County 124 w. Anderson Lane 512 837-7985 http://www.austinspca.com
LOST CAT SHELTER COMAL COUNTY (W of San Marcos, NW of New Braunfels) There are two
shelters in Comal County: Humane Society of New Braunfels and the City of New Braunfels Contact: Director Cheryl
Krueger; Phone: (830) 629-5287
HAYS COUNTY Thundering Paws Cat Sanctuary http://www.thunderingpaws.org/ San
Marcos Animal Control (this is a Kill Facility--go daily) Hays county pound/animal shelter: check for lost cats from Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Kyle, Buda, and Driftwood.
*(Wimberley animals go to PAWS in Kyle, as do animals in Buda, also some from San Marcos
county (non-annexed), some lost cats from Dripping Springs, and Driftwood. Hays County is about 700
square miles and there is no government-provided shelter.
LAGO VISTA (No-Kill Facility)
Lago Vista PAWS www.lvpaws.org Andrea Phillips President
As a service to our community, the Humane Society of Williamson County offers a variety of low cost clinic services, which include: spay & neuter clinics, vaccination, and micro-chipping. HSWC also accepts animals from local kill shelters and from owners who are unable to care for their pets as space allows.
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter (WCRAS) is located on approximately five acres on the Inner Loop in Georgetown just to the east of the entrance to the county's Juvenile Services building. The shelter is a collaborative effort between the county and participating cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Hutto.
Please-- do not give up on your search for your lost cat! Too many cats end up at shelters because people give up too soon or don't understand the right way to search as outlined in my ebook here.
Many of these lost and never found cats end up in cages, forlorn and confused because the lost cat got brave or desperate enough to approach a stranger who then assumed it was a stray and took to AAC. Below is Esa, a sweet, obviously former pet who was found in Bastrop and brought in as an assumed stray.
