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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2015 15 By Teri DiMarino-Davidson The Case of the Disappearing Skittle Last month, Jeff and I experienced one of the most fearful moments in a pet owners life. One of our dear cats found her way out of the house and was missing. It was a hot morning and was gearing up to be a typical sizzling Beaumont day. We cracked our laundry room door open a tiny bit and opened our garage door about 10 inches in an effort to ventilate the garage a bit. While we have done this numerous times in the past, this day it proved to be a mistake. Our seven year old red girl, Skittle, managed to wiggle her way out and proceeded on a full day adventure. Skittle was a stray who adopted Jeff at the ATM of the Banning branch of Bank of America. A pathetic mess, we brought her home, got her healthy and she settled in nicely with the other kids in the household. It was obvious that she was a semi-wild cat, as she lacked some human interaction social skills, but we didn't care. She was a good girl and was welcome to spend the rest of her life with us. But wild skills never leave. While both of our cats are indoor pets, we sometimes let them out in the back yard with us under strict supervision. Skittle demonstrated that she could scale the wall in one easy leap, making us even more mindful of her whereabouts. Cats who have lived outdoors never forget these feral talents. While she doesn't try to scoot past us when she senses an open door, she does try to take advantage of an unsupervised opening, like the slightly cracked laundry room door. Shame on me! I should have known better, but I never thought she could maneuver the heavy door and slip through the tiny opening, but she did. Knowing her routine told us she had escaped. The door had been opened at 6:30 am and when she didn't show up for 7 am breakfast call we began searching her "secret hideaways." Nothing. We knew she was gone. We began searching outside, calling her name and shaking cans of her favorite treats. We were nervous wrecks. Jeff and I both knew this day was going to come and we dreaded that this was the day. We immediately went into lost pet mode. Fears that she would enter someone's open garage and become trapped crossed our minds. Thoughts of her not surviving in our desert habitat with the native predators went unspoken between us. But it all had a happy ending. About 8:30 that evening, Jeff went out in front of the house and called her, as he had dozens of times throughout the day, and heard the bell on her collar. She immediately came running to him. Of course! She was hungry and had missed breakfast and dinner! We were elated just to have her back. Skittle's adventure really made us think about our emergency lost pet procedures. How many people are prepared to step into action when a dog or cat slips out and runs off? In a neighborhood like Four Seasons, cats rarely wander more than a 10 house radius. But that is enough to get them in trouble. Dogs will go further. Fear will make a dog or cat run away from well- meaning strangers, causing them to bolt and run farther away from their homes. What can we do to help if we lose one? First and foremost, have a good, current picture of your pet. Not just a cute face shot, but full body, both sides, standing. This is very important if you are going to make up a lost pet flyer. Make notes of any distinctive markings, scars or colorings. If your pet is prone to slip out does he wear a collar with a current ID tag? Put your cell phone number on the tag and carry your cell with you on your search. Your home number doesn't do you a lot of good if you are out searching for your escapee. Is your pet microchipped? If not, get it done. If they manage to show up at a shelter, they will check for a chip and you stand a good chance of being reunited. If your pet is chipped, is the information current? We have many new residents here at Four Seasons and changing your pet's chip information is usually not high on the priority list… until you lose them. While newspaper lost and found ads were once the norm, there are better, more effective, methods available now. There are services you can find on line that will send out internet or fax alerts to the shelters and veterinary clinics in your immediate area. Some of these basic services are free, but for additional charges they will actually put out a telephone alert to homes within a particular radius of where the pet was lost. Tracking devices that are GPS capable or interact with your Bluetooth are available and we will surely be looking into one of these for Skittle. If you find a pet that appears to be lost, assess the situation quickly. A frightened pet will run away from a stranger, so approach slowly and cautiously. I have a small bag of treats and a slip lead in both of my cars in the event I find a lost pet. Also, consider what you are going to do with them if you manage to catch them. If they are frightened and running away, sometimes the best thing to do is scour the neighborhood looking for someone who appears to be looking for their lost pet. I have been very successful with this tactic, as you can alert the owner on the last known whereabouts of the pet. While our story had a happy ending, some do not and we have known of a number of wonderful pets who never made it back home. It's a wild world out there and we have to keep track of our fur-kids for their own good. And if you do manage to have a Houdini in your household, anticipate their every move and be prepared to spring into action should the need arise.

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