Crazy story. Happy ending! This indoor cat slipped out the door of a Brooklyn townhouse. She was found after 3 weeks and a lot of hard work, owner dedication and guidance from Kim, the Lost Cat Finder.
This naughty little cat slipped out during the New York lockdown, rode a mile under a SUV, then jumped just before the RAV4 got on the highway.
She was found after 3 weeks with a ton of hard work, owner dedication and guidance from Kim, the Lost Cat Finder.
Here’s the amazing true story of Onion and how we found her.
This may be the most unbelievable lost & found cat case I’ve ever had. I suspect this kitty would never have been found without my help--especially with the challenges of searching during the coronavirus lockdown.
Yes, this cat was far from home in a scary area, at the edge of the city. Yet, despite the odds, we found her.
Note: Before I tell this miracle story, KUDOS to the OWNER! It’s rare to have cat parents follow up on every bit of my advice and steps, but this couple did. To the letter.
It started with a simple accident: bringing home groceries to prep for the quarantine. One of their cats, Onion, slipped out and went dashing into the street. Not knowing any better, the husband chased Onion down the block, through traffic, around the corner into a drugstore parking lot.
He said she was "running like hell" and he lost sight of her when she darted under a car. He ran to the end of the parking lot, dropped to the asphalt to scan under the row of parked vehicles and POOF … she was gone.
There was a chain link fence along the lot with holes in it, so he thought she slipped though it and into the overgrown vacant lot.
After searching for two weeks with no leads, they found and went through my Lost Cat Search Guides. and went though both the video and booklet.
Despite putting up dozens of lost cat posters with huge rewards, there were no sightings. People were telling them to give up. Rather than listen, they realized they needed custom advice and signed up for a consult with me using Zoom and Google Earth.
Here’s Lauren, Onion’s owner to tell the rest of the story:
“During our consult, Kim pinpointed specific search areas and places Onion might be hiding. We had assumed Onion slipped under the fence into a vacant lot. Kim told us not to assume -- to check for evidence on the fence: even one single Onion hair to verify. We did find one hair, but with Onion’s huge fluffy tail, it could have been a raccoon hair, so the next step was trying to get the drug store to release their security footage of the parking lot. They refused.
After ruling out each possibility, Kim confirmed what I was dreading – Onion had left the premises. According to Kim, she was most likely transported out of the area by car.
There were eight cars parked in that drug store lot. Kim told us on how to systematically search each one, then find out where they went after leaving the drugstore.
We were working against all odds. Onion could be anywhere in the city. NYC declared a state of emergency over the Coronavirus pandemic. People were told to shelter in place. There was no chance of us talking to people or going door to door.
Still, Kim had a plan. She’d had similar cases before and taught us how to deduce where Onion would be. We examined each vehicle in the parking lot, and using Kim’s expertise, we narrowed it down to the five highest probability vehicles.
With that key info, I left a note asking what turns they made on their routes home. Again, refusals across the board. No one would even return my call or reply to the windshield notes.
Since the drivers wouldn’t share their routes home, we had to go to stealth mode: following each of the 5 as they got off work. Kim told us to mark each turn and stop sign, then return and put up posters with a huge pic of Onion (highlighting her big tail) at each stop.
At day 20 we were feeling really down. But then, out of the blue, a random text:
“Hey - I think I saw your cat. Or maybe it was a possum.”
A possum? No. Onion has a huge bushy tail. The sighting was a mile away. Still…if she had been transported like Kim said, it was worth checking out.
I went to the sighting address. It was one turn away from the highway on-ramp, under the elevated train. Next to it was an abandoned construction site, grim, dirty and desolate.
I looked around and called for Onion. Nothing.
Kim had told us to follow-up any sighting, no matter how unlikely, with night vision cameras, hidden so they wouldn’t get stolen.
We had already placed hidden cameras in 42 locations across Brooklyn and captured thousands of images of animals that were NOT Onion. I dared not get my hopes up. At 21 days, my husband and I were at our lowest point of the whole exhausting saga.
The next morning, we pulled the cameras and watched the footage.
We saw blowing trash, a possum, then a one-eyed cat, another possum, and then, about 4 minutes later, nearly blocking the entire view -- was a huge bushy tail!
In the next image, we saw tabby stripes. And then, like a dream, there was her face, sitting in profile.
We were in shock. IT WAS ONION! A mile away. At last! We couldn’t believe it.
I raced back to the area and spent hours searching and calling. Kim told me she would would be more likely come out later in the day, so I set up another camera and waited until 5 pm to check it.
Unbelievably, when I got there and wriggled under the fence, I saw her! Right out in the open PLAYING! It was really her! She meowed at me BUT THEN RAN AWAY. I tried for an hour to get her to come to me with Kim texting me tips to lure her, but Onion was not having it. Kim reminded me not to take it personally, that after 21 days, Onion was in survival mode, so we were going to have to set up a humane trap to catch her.
With the help of a local TNR friend we set up 3 traps. Onion ignored them all, acting like her silly naughty self, running around, chasing other cats, evading the traps. It was so frustrating to see her go near the traps and around them but NOT inside!
Finally, around 8pm, she noticed the trap. We held our breath as she started to enter, careful and tentative…then backed out.
The scent of the tuna must have gotten to her because she went back and tried again... one hesitant paw at a time. Then moments later, JUST LIKE THAT, the door shut and WE HAD HER!
After getting her back home, we let her out. She was a dirty mess but purring up a storm and SO HAPPY to see us!
For us, it was a total mix of shock and joy.
Thanks to the last chapter in Kim’s book, we knew to beware of refeeding after 3 weeks of starvation and what to do once she was found: what tests and exam to request from the vet, how to clean her fur and re-introduce her to our other cats.
Guess which car Onion picked for her escape?
It was the grey RAV4. Throughout the entire ordeal, I sensed Onion was out there alive. Kim gave us the guidance, steps and tools to find her. It truly does take a lot of work, good sound guidance and the right search methods.
Days later, we still can’t believe, against all odds, we actually found our Onion.
Thank you Kim. Thank you for helping us accomplish the impossible! Thank you for teaching us the ways of the Lost Cat Finder!”
She’s HOME!
story. Happy ending. Almost unbelievable lost and found cat case against all odds!
This escaped indoor cat might never have been found without my professional lost cat finder help--especially during the New York coronavirus lockdown.
It started with a simple accident: the cat's owners were bringing home supplies to prep for the quarantine in late March 2020. Once of her cats, Onion slipped out between her legs and went dashing into the street. Not knowing any better, the husband chased Onion down the black, through traffic and around the corner into a drugstore parking lot.
He said she was "running like hell"... he lost sight of her when she darted under a car. He ran to the end of the parking lot, dropped to the asphalt to scan under the row of parked vehicles and POOF ...she was gone.
After searching for two weeks with no leads, they found my Lost Cat Finder Search Guides and downloaded and together, went though both he video and booklet.
Despite putting up dozens of lost cat posters with huge rewards, there were no sightings. People were telling them to give up.
Rather then listen and cave into grief avoidance, they realized they needed a more in-depth look at at their case and signed up for my custom lost cat consult using Zoom, Google Earth and map markups.
Here’s Lauren, Onion’s owner to tell the rest of the story:
“During our consult, Kim walked us though targeted search areas and places Onion might be hiding unseen. After ruling out each possibility, Kim confirmed what I was dreading – Onion was gone. According to Kim, she was most likely transported out of the area by car."
There were eight cars parked in that Drug store lot. Kim walked us through how to systematically search each one, then find out where the ones with a skid plate went after they left the drugstore.
When Onion escaped, she ran ½ a block to a parking lot. Based on the geography, assumed she slipped through a hole in the fence to access a vacant lot. Kim told us to check for evidence on the fence to see if we could find even one Onion hair to verify. We did find one hair, but with Onion’s huge fluffy tail, it could have been a raccoon hair, so next step was trying to get the drug store to release their security footage of the parking lot.
They refused. We were working against all odds. Onion could be anywhere. New York City had just declared a state of emergency over the Corona Virus pandemic. People were told to shelter in place. There was no chance of us talking to people or going door to door.
Still, Kim had a plan. She had seen these cases before and outlines the key to track down where she might be. what happened to Onion. First, we examined each vehicle in the parking lot. Using Kim’s expertise, we narrowed down which vehicle she might of hidden in or climbed up on the splash shield or axle.
Once we had that info, I left a note on each car asking what turns they made on their routes home. Again, refusals across the board. No one would even return my call or reply to the windshield notes. I must have seemed like a stalker.
Since the drivers wouldn’t share their routes home, we had to go to stealth mode: following each of the “high probability” vehicles as they got off work.
Kim told us to mark each turn and stop sign, then return and put up posters with a huge pic of Onion (highlighting her big tail) at each stop.
At day 20 we were feeling really down. Then, out of the blue, I got a random text: “I think I saw your cat, or maybe it was a possum.”
A possum? No. Onion has a huge bushy tail. The sighting was a mile away. Still…if she had been transported like Kim said, it was worth checking out.
I went to the sighting address, which was next to the entrance to the highway, under the elevated train. It was a creepy area of abandoned construction with a gate. Grim and dirty and desolate.
I looked around and called for Onion in my best calm voice. Nothing.
Kim had told us that any sighting no matter how unlikely should be followed up with a night vision camera, hidden so it would not get stolen.
By then, we had already placed hidden cameras in 42 locations across Brooklyn and had thousands of images of animals that were not Onion.
I dared not get my hopes up. Now it was day 21. My husband and I were at our lowest point in this whole exhausting saga.
The next morning, we pulled the camera sat down to look at the footage.
Trash, a one -eyed cat, a possum, and then, about four minutes later, nearly blocking the entire view was a huge bushy tail!
In the next image, we see tabby stripes. And then, like a dream, we saw her face, sitting in profile.
We were in shock. IT WAS ONION! A mile away. We couldn’t believe it!
I raced back to the area and spent hours searching and calling. Kim had told me she would be more likely come out later in the day, so I set up another camera and went back to check it that evening.
Unbelievably, when I got there and wriggled under the fence, there she was! Right out in the open PLAYING! It was really my little Onion!
She meowed at me BUT THEN RAN AWAY. I tried for an hour to get her to come to me with Kim texting me tips to lure her to me, but Onion was not having it. Kim reminded me not to take it personally, that after 21 days, Onion was in survival mode so we were going to have to set up a humane trap to catch her. With the help of a local TNR friend we set up 3 traps. Onion was ignoring them, acting like her silly naughty self, running around, chasing other cats, and basically, evading the traps.
She didn’t seem hungry, So frustrating to see her go near the traps and around them but NOT inside!
Finally, around 8pm, she noticed the trap. We held our breath as she started to enter, careful and tentative…then backed out.
The scent of the tuna must have gotten to her because she went back and tried again, one hesitant paw at a time, and moments later, JUST LIKE THAT, the door shut and WE HAD HER!
It was surreal, a total mix of shock and joy.After getting her back home, we uncovered the trap and let her out. She was dirty but purring up a storm and so happy to see us!
Thanks to the last chapter in Kim’s lost cat finder book, we knew to beware of refeeding after 3 weeks of starvation and what to do once she was found: what to request form the vet, which parasite test to get, how to avoid re-feeding syndrome, fur wipes and how to best re-introduce Onion with her new smell to our other cats.
Throughout the entire ordeal, we felt sure Onion was out there and alive. Kim gave us the guidance, steps and tools to find her. It truly does take a lot of work, a crash course in lost cat psychology, and the right search methods.
Days later and still can’t believe, against all odds, we actually found our Onion.
Thank you Kim. Thank you for teaching us the ways of the Lost Cat Finder!
Just in front of the line of parked cars was a chain link fence with gaps and holes in it leading to a vacant lot of overgorwn weeds and a parked
bulldozer.