How lucky you were - I was stationed in Libya;-[)
Posted on 03/06/2010 5:14:21 AM PST by JoeProBono
David E. Gregory had given his cat up for dead, or at least lost.
Gregory, a native New Yorker who now lives in Omaha, had found and adopted the small black stray in the summer of 2007. He named the cat Troy for his hometown in New York. The good-natured Troy settled in, snuggling on the couch with Gregory, and getting along fine with the other cat, Jeter.
Then one day in May 2008, while Gregory was showering, Troy pushed open a door screen at Gregory's apartment and padded out of his life. Gregory, 41, scoured his southwest neighborhood. He put up posters. He called the Nebraska Humane Society daily, then every few days, then once a week or so. He went to church and prayed.
Six months passed with no sign of the small black cat. Then a year. Advertising Gregory's hope already was fading before this winter. Then came blizzards and cold not fit for man, let alone a 10-pound beast with short hair and no front claws.
“I wondered if he was alive, or if he froze to death,” Gregory said. “I wondered about him this winter when a lady's dog was found frozen to death.”
Then Thursday evening, Gregory found a note on his door when he returned home from coaching track practice at Concordia Junior-Senior High School. The note was from the Humane Society. It said they had found his cat.
“I was just shocked,” Gregory said. “I read it, and I was like, it kind of startled me, because I didn't know what they were talking about. . . . I couldn't believe it.”
It was too late to call the Humane Society Thursday. Gregory couldn't sleep at all that night.
He dialed first thing in the morning, and left a message. He called again at 8 a.m. He reached the adoptions department at 10 a.m. He arranged to go in and pick up Troy.
Gregory learned the story of how Troy was found. Someone had called the Humane Society Thursday and reported a stray cat near 93rd and Q Streets, within a mile of Gregory's home.
The Humane Society picked up the cat. It was healthy. Chances are, Humane Society spokeswoman Pam Wiese said, some well-meaning person had been taking care of the cat.
Humane Society workers scanned Troy for a microchip. Not all owners have one implanted. But Troy had one. And it said he belonged to David E. Gregory.
His phone number had changed. So an animal control officer went to Gregory's apartment and left a door hanger.
A flat tire Friday postponed the reunion a little longer. But early in the afternoon, he picked up the little stray, again.
“I recognized him,” Gregory said. “I don't know if he recognized me. I picked him up, and he was kind of nervous.”
He took Troy home. He showed him the litter box. Troy and Jeter smelled each other. Gregory left for track practice, still a little flabbergasted.
“I can't believe,” he said, “that he's still alive, after the kind of winter we had.”
How lucky you were - I was stationed in Libya;-[)
A new film was scheduled and the 5th Bomb Wing was chosen since the B52H had fan jets. There were 3 tankers and 3 Bombers. I was in number 3, tail end Charlie. I was not a crew member but the TacComm Officer for the wing. I had been certified and was now sitting in the IP seat guarding the throttles. It was one heck of a ride.
We refueled over Kansas and then flew east an bombed...(psst pentagon was nearby)We flew back to Minot and alas nobody had checked the DEW Point. We had generated mucho black smoke. We did it again and it worked.
Beautiful! I love all cats. Big ones and little ones.
I love a happy ending!
We don’t know that this guy declawed the cat. It says he found and adopted the cat as a stray. It may have already been declawed. I’ve never had a cat declawed, but I’ve had two declawed cats (one stray adoption and one shelter adoption).
To whomever declawed the cat, my sentiment stands.
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