# Lost Cat - Thornton Heath (now found)



## Guineveretoo (Oct 3, 2011)

I am not sure whether anyone on these boards lives in Thornton Heath, but we will try anything to find this cat!

She is actually my daughter's beloved Ella. She is a small, elderly, female tortoiseshell with a white bib and no tail, and she is deaf, and suffers from kidney trouble and arthritis, so is thin and needs special care.  She doesn't have a collar, but still has a bald patch from where she used to have one. She went missing from my daughter's home in Mersham Road.

Anybody?

My daughter is distraught - Ella has been her best friend for more than 16 years.  My daughter stayed up all night last night, in case the cat came back and was distressed.


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## editor (Oct 3, 2011)

Let me move this to the London forum (which can be seen by visitors).


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 3, 2011)

Thanks.


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Somewhat surprisingly, and thanks to my daugther's optimism and persistence, not to mention the kindness of the people of Thornton Heath, the cat has been found, and appears to be well.

My daughter followed up all reported sightings following her leafletting of all the houses in the area, including one which she was sure was too far away, but turned out to be accurate.

This cat could not be loved more than she is. She was a Christmas present from my partner when my daughter was 14, and has been padding around after her ever since, and sleeping on her bed. Now that Ella is elderly, she has a lot of health problems, which costs my daughter a lot of money in medication for thyroid problems, persistent infections, and arthritis, and special food for kidney problems. Because she has arthritis, she can't jump very high. We have no idea how she got out of the garden, because my daughter has tried to close off all gaps in the fence but clearly, once having got out, she couldn't get back.

She is now completely deaf, so my daughter could not find her by calling her, either, which was a worry. I was thinking she might have been caught by a fox, since she wouldn't have heard one, and because she can't run very quickly these days.

But anyway, she is back, and my daughter managed to get through to the veterinary nurse at the vet's practice who know Ella very well, and get some advice as to what to do now. She is very thirsty, apparently, but has not yet eaten anything, which could be a problem, but my daughter will do everything she can to get her well, and to ensure she is comfortable and loved.

Although the cat is clearly elderly, she is a very happy creature (except when my daughter is away and I have to give her the medication - then she scratches like a crazy thing!) with a lovely life.

She responds well to human attention, particularly if it is from my daughter.

Anyway, just wanted to say that she is back, really - hadn't intended to go on about it, but I am so, pleased I could cry!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

ah, that's lovely.  Is the cat microchipped?  (Probably a bit late in the game now but...)


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## Callie (Oct 4, 2011)

Aww really glad Ella turned up safely, best wishes to you and yours  tuna for dinner tonight  (for Ella!)


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## Geri (Oct 4, 2011)

Nice to hear good news for a change!


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> ah, that's lovely. Is the cat microchipped? (Probably a bit late in the game now but...)


No, she is not microchipped. They didn't do that routinely in the 90s when we got her.  As it turned out, she was still wandering the streets, 48 hours later, so microchipping her wouldn't have made any difference this time. I don't think she is going to be let out on her own ever again, actually. She is far too frail for this sort of malarkey.


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Callie said:


> Aww really glad Ella turned up safely, best wishes to you and yours  tuna for dinner tonight  (for Ella!)


Thanks.

Actually, she is only supposed to eat some expensive stuff which my daughter gets from the vet for her, because of her kidney problems, and she has hardly any appetite these days.

But she "licked some tuna" this evening, apparently, after drinking tons of water, because she was seriously dehydrated.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> No, she is not microchipped. They didn't do that routinely in the 90s when we got her. As it turned out, she was still wandering the streets, 48 hours later, so microchipping her wouldn't have made any difference this time. I don't think she is going to be let out on her own ever again, actually. She is far too frail for this sort of malarkey.



If she wants to get out, I'm sure she'll find a way.  They can get into the tiniest of spaces.  I lost my cat once at work.  Had got behind some air vent near to the floor.  Had to go to a cafe and get some tuna to try to coax her out.


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

If this works, you may be able to see a photo of the same cat, taken in April 1996, in our garden in Cambridge.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49115169@N00/6212505490/

Oh, I can't make it work. It was easy in vBulletin!


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> If she wants to get out, I'm sure she'll find a way. They can get into the tiniest of spaces. I lost my cat once at work. Had got behind some air vent near to the floor. Had to go to a cafe and get some tuna to try to coax her out.


Mostly, she doesn't want to, actually. She is old and frail, and spends most of her life sleeping!  Apparently, she was relatively lively on Sunday evening, which was when she was last seen. My daughter went to find her to give her her medication before bed, and couldn't find her.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> If this works, you may be able to see a photo of the same cat, taken in April 1996, in our garden in Cambridge.
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/49115169@N00/6212505490/
> 
> Oh, I can't make it work. It was easy in vBulletin!



It works 

she's weird looking   Certainly not a cat you could miss


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> It works
> 
> she's weird looking  Certainly not a cat you could miss


It didn't work, because I was trying to embed the image, rather than put up a link to flickr!

Yes, she is unique looking, but she is very pretty, and my daughter really, really loves her!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> It didn't work, because I was trying to embed the image, rather than put up a link to flickr!
> 
> Yes, she is unique looking, but she is very pretty, and my daughter really, really loves her!



Ah, I hate this new posting image bollox.  I don't want to have to keep going into Flickr/Photobucket etc.


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

I genuinely can't work out how to do it, whereas I worked it out in vBulletin dead easily.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> I genuinely can't work out how to do it, whereas I worked it out in vBulletin dead easily.



Yeah, all I get is image is too large nonsense 

I have lots of pictures of plants I could be putting up but I can't be arsed   (Everyone else is probably happy though )


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## Puddy_Tat (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> Oh, I can't make it work. It was easy in vBulletin!



kitteh - 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





I think it's Flickr more than U75 - Flickr doesn't like hot-linking much.  You have to go to the "view all sizes" option before you get one you can right-click and copy image location on.

And  





 at kitty coming home safely.


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## weltweit (Oct 4, 2011)

Good news that you get her back - Yay ..


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 4, 2011)

Puddy_Tat said:


> kitteh -
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, but I did that, at least, I thought I did that! It was the same in vBulletin. But perhaps I didn't do it right, because flickr has changed as well.

And thanks for your good wishes.

Do you think she is weird looking, too? 

She has always been a bit dim, and accident prone, and we think she may have lost her tail in some kind of accident when she was a kitten.  Now, she is deaf and even more dim


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 4, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> Do you think she is weird looking, too?



of course she's weird looking but I doubt that makes her any less loveable


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## trabuquera (Oct 4, 2011)

Puddy_Tat said:


> ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



seconded. and urban has a  kitteh smileh now? (or did you nab that one from somewhere else?) why weren't we told earlier? it's an outrage!


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## Puddy_Tat (Oct 5, 2011)

trabuquera said:


> and urban has a kitteh smileh now?



sadly not.  Maybe we should campaign for one.



trabuquera said:


> (or did you nab that one from somewhere else?)



yes - here



Guineveretoo said:


> Do you think she is weird looking, too?



I wouldn't say 'weird' - she's an unusual variety of tortie - verging on calico but by no means weird.  Taillessness is unfortunate, but you ought to claim her as a rare croydon-manx hybrid.

The genetic factors that cause cat colourings must be complicated, like this fellow


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 5, 2011)

I didn't even notice she was tailless 

My cat had her tail amputated by the vet after an accident.  She looked for it for a while before she realised it was gone for good


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 5, 2011)

If you didn't notice that she is tailless, then what did you mean by "weird-looking"? I always thought she was beautiful.

My daughter was attracted to her when we visited Wood Green Animal Shelter, even before she stood up and we spotted she was tailless. Once we were told that no-one wanted her, because of her missing tail, it started to become clear that she was going to be ours! The decider was when they told us that she had to be housed with her sister, who was very shy, and who we only managed to see from a distance, because she was scared of people. I had always wanted us to have two cats, and the sister, Esther, became my favourite (partly because Ella used to follow Becka around, and Esther didn't!). Esther was really good at trying to look after Ella, but, unfortunately, died in Becka's arms rather suddenly a couple of years ago from a blood clot.

Anyway, on more positive news, my daughter texted earlier to say that the cat had eaten lots of food and had slept most of the night, apart from when she was demanding cuddles from my daughter, and that she is purring a lot this morning.

I still can't believe she has been found! It seemed so impossible to find her...


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## Yelkcub (Oct 5, 2011)

Good news! Yay Ella!


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## Pat24 (Oct 5, 2011)

That's great news! I'm glad kitteh is back home safe and sound


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 5, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> If you didn't notice that she is tailless, then what did you mean by "weird-looking"? I always thought she was beautiful.
> ...



I meant the weird markings on her face, not weird as in horrible, but different and unusual

Good to hear she's got her appetite back


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 5, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> If this works, you may be able to see a photo of the same cat, taken in April 1996, in our garden in Cambridge.
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/49115169@N00/6212505490/
> 
> Oh, I can't make it work. It was easy in vBulletin!



I've just found out you can now upload them direct from your computer without getting the "file too big" notice now


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 5, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I meant the weird markings on her face, not weird as in horrible, but different and unusual
> 
> Good to hear she's got her appetite back



She has been to the vet, who said that she is dehydrated, has scratches on her face and a torn claw from fighting (amazing that she still fights back, I reckon!), and yes, weak, but he's not concerned. Sent her off with some more medication, and my daughter has gone to work.


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## Geri (Oct 5, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> My cat had her tail amputated by the vet after an accident.  She looked for it for a while before she realised it was gone for good



Mine too...although I'm not sure she realised it was gone. It was funny to see her stump twitching every now and again!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 5, 2011)

Geri said:


> Mine too...although I'm not sure she realised it was gone. It was funny to see her stump twitching every now and again!





Unfortunately the nerve to her bladder/bowel were also damaged in the accident and I ended up having her put down.  Having to help her pee every day (as she got full up) and having to clear up her shit every day after work got a bit too much in the end.  Always seemed perfectly happy though, despite not being able to wee and dropping poops without realising


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## Puddy_Tat (Oct 5, 2011)

Guineveretoo said:


> (amazing that she still fights back, I reckon!)



I don't think cats accept the ageing process.

My next door neighbours here had a cat who died at age 19 a couple of years back (she died of a heart attack while chasing leaves) but up until then she was still 'chief cat' here, and while not resorting to violence, if anyone walked a dog along the footpath at the end of the communal garden, she would often escort the dog off the premises...

Said neighbours also have an indoor cat who celebrated her 24th birthday a few months back.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 5, 2011)

Puddy_Tat said:


> I don't think cats accept the ageing process.
> 
> My next door neighbours here had a cat who died at age 19 a couple of years back (she died of a heart attack while chasing leaves) but up until then she was still 'chief cat' here, and while not resorting to violence, if anyone walked a dog along the footpath at the end of the communal garden, she would often escort the dog off the premises...
> 
> Said neighbours also have an indoor cat who celebrated her 24th birthday a few months back.


 
24?


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 5, 2011)

My daughter got another cat a year or so ago, partly with the aim of giving Ella company, since she had spent most of her life living with at least one other cat. Anyway, Ella hates the other cat, and they just fought all the time, until Ella hurt her back, and was very ill for a while. We really thought we had lost her then, but she recovered, and, since then, she has not actively fought the other cat, although she still hisses at her occasionally.  Apparently, when she came back the other night, she tolerated the other cat sniffing her all over. I reckon it was because there is a familiarity to the other cat, even if she hates her, which was probably a relief after a couple of days of being lost.


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## gavman (Oct 5, 2011)

love this thread. so happy for your daughter and mogs


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## bblue (Oct 9, 2011)

Daughter here - sorry to say it mum, but Ella _is_ wierd looking. And acting. And that's why we love her! She's not ya conventional beauty


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## Guineveretoo (Oct 9, 2011)

bblue said:


> Daughter here - sorry to say it mum, but Ella _is_ wierd looking. And acting. And that's why we love her! She's not ya conventional beauty


Hello, daughter, and welcome to the boards! 

But she is not weird looking - she is beautiful.

Yes, she is a bit weird acting - I will grant you that.


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