A missing cat has stunned and relieved its owners by strolling in at 4am one day – more than a month after going walkabout.
Alyssia Mclaren and her partner Jeremy were astonished when their beloved cat, Bear, walked into their bedroom and meowed after having been missing for five weeks and three days.
“We thought we were dreaming,” Mclaren says. “We both jumped out of bed and hoped it wasn’t someone else’s cat.”
Bear has been a much-loved pet of for nine years. He’s night-black, has a distinguished missing left ear tip and a majestic coat of fur. He is quite afraid of humans but loves to hang around the kids Crafty Club on Baird Street.
When he went missing on May 21, Alyssia posted to social media in the hopes of him being spotted.
“My sweet but stupid boy Bear is missing again,” she says. “He hasn’t done a runner in three years so we are thinking he may be either hurt of locked somewhere.”
Three years previously they’d moved into a new house. Alyssia says he must’ve gotten himself lost. Luck was on their side however as 11 days later she found him two streets away while doing a missing cat flyer drop.
This time they noticed Bear went MIA instantly. “When he didn’t come in for morning cuddles I knew something was wrong,” Alyssia says.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his GPS collar.
They dropped more than 1000 flyers locally, visited his usual hang-out spots, walked the streets at night, and drove round the neighbourhood calling out to him. “He is chipped so we would’ve known if he turned up dead anywhere,” she says.
Eventually they offered a $500 reward for any information that lead to the return of Bear.
Fortunately, on June 6, Bear appeared as if nothing had happened. He was in perfect health, very clean and dry and appeared to be well-fed. It is assumed he was cared for by someone else for a few weeks.
“He was very happy to be home and was very cuddly,” Alyssia says. He’s been glued to their house since his reappearance.
When they told their friends and family he’d returned, a number of them cried with joy for the overwhelmed couple. “They knew how much I love my cat,” Alyssia says.
“The GPS collar is back on.”
