I was missing my 10-year-old cat, Oliver, for about three months.
His picture had been posted everywhere across Facebook and I called the SPCA.
We had all but completely given up and lost hope that he was alive when we got a private message on Facebook from an employee at St Germain Cafe. Mercedes and her co-workers were notified of a cat living between two buildings in the alley behind their shop. After a short time of feeding him and seeing him every day Mercedes took to Facebook. She went to Okanagan Lost and Found Pets and started scrolling, finding a picture I posted two years ago when he got out and was actually hiding under our deck. She matched the markings in the photo to the cat between the walls and realized he was definitely a well-loved and sorely missed kitty. She contacted me and when I didn’t answer right away, because Facebook messenger had hidden the message, she contacted my brother-in-law who told me right away. I went straight out the door cat carrier in hand to go see if he was still there.
As soon as I got to where he was seen, I walked up, let my eyes adjust and saw him right away. I crouched down to get closer and he turned to run away in fear but then I started talking to him and he instantly started purring and meowing at me as if to show his relief that it was me. After a few minutes he came to me and curled up in my arms purring and not wanting me to let go.
He is home, happy and warm with a full belly for the first time in a long time. He weighs only about five pounds when he weighed close to 20 before he went missing.
My family and myself want to thank the staff at St. Germaine Cafe for caring enough about a sickly looking stray to look into whether someone was missing him. It meant the world to us. With this letter to give hope to many other families with missing pets.
Frank and Echo Lyons
Penticton