Chat Perdu

I am sitting here at midnight, typing this as I am unable to sleep. We are missing a cat, and have been since last Sunday…

Lovely big George slipped out, we know not when, between Saturday night and Sunday morning, possibly when Mr FD was watering the plants in the courtyard, possibly jumping/falling from the balcony during the night. I arrived back from the UK on Monday with mum and so on Monday evening, Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon we were out searching, calling his name and putting up posters arond the village. We contaced the vets and the local refuge, as well as various missing cat sites. Lots of people around have asked us how the search is going. There are 2 small groups of strays in the village, one by the HLM (social housing), just opposite our house, & one by the church.  We have been centring our search around these, putting up lots of posters around here. Later someone told me that a ginger-and-white cat had been seen elsewhere in the village. We spent an hour both Tuesday night & Wednesday morning looking there but all we saw was another ginger-and-white cat, sitting in a house window. Presumably the one that had been sighted. Otherwise, no sign of George.

We’d booked a night away in the Cantal with mum, so were driving that way on Wednesday (after our searching) when we received a phone call from somone Mr FD knows. They told us that someone at the HLM – who had never had a cat before – was seen with a cat which looked  like George. Very like George. This was good news, which helped relax us a bit to enjoy our time away.

We got home today, and went to visit the HLM building where this guy was seen (where there are 16 flats) & we spoke to the man who had seen the cat & whose partner had contacted us. However we couldn’t get any info about the bloke’s name or flat number. It seemed that we had been clocked by a couple of other people who live in the same building though.

A couple of hours after our first visit to the HLM a woman rang on the doorbell, and said that she thought that there was a hole in the wall behind the church, and that’s where she thought our cat would have gone. I asked if she’d seen the cat; she said no, but that’s where she thought it woud have gone. Round the corner, not straight ahead (towards the HLM). This seemed a bit odd to me – yes, it could have been someone being helpful with their thoughts, but coming soon after our visit to the HLM had been noted, it seemed suspicious. Especially as I noted that she headed to the HLM housing after speaking to me. We were starting to believe that George had been “rescued” by someone who, having discovered what a gorgeous soft boy he is, decided that they wanted to keep him. Despite the myriad notices all around the village (including an A3 size one outside the house) with a clear picture of George on it. BUT we still don’t know the name/flat number of these people.

A gorgeous soft boy indeed

Mr FD suggested we made a flyer, saying that we were aware that someone in the block had recently acquired a ginger-and-white cat, and that we wanted to check that it wasn’t our cat. Please could they phone us, and let us check as if it was George we would like to discuss the reward with them. If they had George but were thinking of keeping him, please think again as we would be willing to go the legal route to get him back. We added another photo of George (with his sister) to help.

We took these up to the HLM to put into the letter boxes of all the flats in the building…however the letterboxes were inside, and you needed to know the code to get through the door. While we were loitering wondering what to do some people arrived who were walking their dog. While they didn’t live in the block, they knew someone who did, so they buzzed this person. He opened the door & we explained what we wanted to do – we were not accusing anyone of stealing George (Not yet, anyway) but we thought maybe someone in the block had rescued George and had taken him in, and if this was the case we wanted to discuss the reward with them. The guy who opened the door seemed to know Mr FD and confirmed that he was “a good type” so was happy for us to put the flyers in letterboxes. He wasn’t letting on though, if he knew who might have George…

So we went away, fairly sure that George had been taken in, and kept by these people (who, if we are honest, really copuldn’t have missed the “Chat Perdu” notices), and consoling ourselves that at least George is safe and looked after. We are hoping that consciences will be pricked, and tomorrow someone will phone us. If not, we may be going to the Gendarmerie to discuss options.

You’d think I’d be able to sleep, but now I’ve started wondering if the lady who called at the house had had George, but had then let him go (thinking we might accuse them of stealing him) in the place she was pointing out to me, so that I could go and find him…or maybe we’ll never get him back…or we’ll have to go via the gendarmes, get him back and then they’ll come & steal him from us, or try to get revenge.. All kinds of scenarios are rushing through my brain and I can’t sleep at all. I don’t even feel sleepy. Just uptight and worried about our big ginger boy.

George as a kitten

George & Millie

If you are of a praying nature, please pray for a happy outcome. If not, please send positive vibes. We’d like this to be solved un-acrimoniously and without involving the police. And, of course, while we think that these people have George, we aren’t positive. It may be that after all this George is not with them, and he’s still missing outside.  Which would not be good.