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A Boxford, MA cat was reunited with her family last month after she’d been missing for a month spent lost and on her own.
Crosby was an indoor cat occasionally allowed to sit on the lawn for a while on nice days. She was enjoying the sunshine one day in October when her guardian Kimberly Mack had to leave to take an exam at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Very uncharacteristically, Crosby didn’t come when called, so Kimberly’s mother Pamela Camillieri was left to keep an eye out and bring her back inside. Kimberly was disturbed to learn later that Crosby never came back that night. She searched the house and the yard to no avail, then she and her mother knocked on doors and left out treats.
The key to Crosby’s disappearance came when a friend called to say the cat had climbed into his landscaping trailer and then jumped out at a job site in town. Kimberly then knew how her cat had gotten lost, but was unable to find her again.
A month later, a good Samaritan who wanted to adopt a stray cat hanging around her house brought the kitty to Muddy Creek Animal Care Center in Rowley, where a microchip scan helped bring Crosby and Kimberly back together again.
Muddy Creek Animal Care Center told the story in brief on their Facebook page: .
“On Monday 11/19/12 a woman called to say she found a cat and that she is very sweet. I told her the 1st thing she should do is to bring the cat in to get scanned and see if there is a microchip. If it is not chipped then we can go from there.
“Later that evening, the woman brought in the cat to get her scanned. Sure enough, she was chipped w/ an Avid chip. I looked up the # on the Home Again and called and left a voice mail for the owner. No sooner had I hung up when the phone rang & it was her. I told her that we think we have her cat Crosby here at MC and she started SCREAMING!!!!
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“Oh my god! Oh my god!! They found Crosby” She then started to scream to someone in the back ground that she was found (I couldn’t get a word in edgewise) and she screamed “I’ll be right there”.
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“The woman that found the cat & brought her in stayed for the reunion. Five minutes later a young woman & her Mom came into Muddy Creek to pick up Crosby…it was recognition at first sight. There were tears, plenty of hugs & squishes for Crosby.
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“Kim (Crosby’s guardian) said she was just thinking of her this morning thinking that she was gone forever, either living with someone else or a victim of the environment. Kim told us that although she is an indoor cat, she lets Crosby sit on the front lawn on nice days. On this particular day Crosby didn’t want to come in & Kim needed to get somewhere so Crosby was in the yard. Kim’s friend (a landscaper) had his truck out front & unbeknownst to anyone, Crosby snuck in the trailer & hid. The landscaper closed the trailer & went off to his next job which was approx. 3 miles away. When he got to the job, he opened the trailer & Crosby took off like a shot…that was a little over a month ago. Kim was devastated & scoured the yards of Boxford trying to find her.
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“Aside from being a little hungry, Crosby was in very good health & was very happy to be spending Thanksgiving with her family.”
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According to a story in Wicked Local, Middleton, the veterinary hospital went the extra mile tracing Kimberly Mack after the microchip scan, because the chip was not currently registered. The call to Avid led to Kimberly’s old address in Manchester, New Hampshire, but her cell phone number on file was still active. Kimberly told the paper,that Crosby was thinner after her ordeal, was eating more, and had become clingy but was less skittish than before.
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She said, “I really honestly thought I had seen the last of her. It’s just been so good to have her home and it’s a miracle to me.”
