C0 - Sunday, May 27, 1984 - North Shore News craved | Se | FOR ANIMAL LOVERS ONLY Cat story masquerades as travel HIS ITEM is a cat story mas- querading as a travel tidbit. On May 8 a little black and white cat went missing from his home. His frantic owners scoured the neighborhood but a lot of confusion resulted from a large population of black and white kittycats, particularly one nasty stray — a mean tempered, garbage-hounding reprobate with a reputation for back-fence yodeling and a scoring record that Errol Flynn would have admired. The missing cat, a chubby, timid little fellow. could well have been the target of a rock or dog unleashed by any of the strays’ regular victims. Don’t all black and white cats loak alike? travel- wise er S i oo Yi. Nill iy by Barbara McCreadie The next-door neighbors reported that they’d been awakened the previous night by a commouton in their base ment and caught a glimpse of a cat that went into hiding in the workroom. They opened several windows and _ were convinced their visitor had teft. A thorough search of the house Ieft no doubt. A day tater they locked up the house and left on vacation Meanwhile, the cat lovers of the neighborhood watched for black and whites, calling the grieving family who trudged miles checking every lead. Beachie’s owners adver tised in The News and hand defivered posters offering a reward and fcaturing a pi ture of little **Beachic’’ They hounded the SPCA, even to regular checks of dead animals found. Mcanwhilc, everyone had a story to tcll about coyotes and raccoons doimg away with pet dogs and cats. Twelve days later, the ncighbors’ son came around to check the house in has parents’ absence. He found a blind torn, a lamp broken and other unmistakable signs that some animal was in the house. Another neighbor, returning the same day from holidays spotted a black and white cat in the window. Was tt the stray? Or ...? A little while later, Beachie — a shadow of his former chubby self was coaxed out of the basement wall studs in- to the arms of his happy family. And I can tell you first- hand how happy that family was. Beachie was ours. There’s a couple of good lessons to be learned from Beachie’s ordeal. First, if you’re planning a holiday, don’t spend the previous day with all your doors and win- dows open. Almost every house on our street has at least one cat. lf you have none, your house is even more accep- table to a curious cat. Even a timid, home loving little guy like Beachie isn’t above checking out a door inviting- ly open, especially when it’s only a few feet from his home base. If you’re going away, have someone check your house on a daily basis. If our neighbors had someone going room to room every day, the lamp or blind would have been noticed — not to men- tion the droppings. If you are checking a house for a friend and suspect that there may be a furry intruder, iw is essential to put down food and water if you can’t coax the animal out of hiding. Some cats, like our Beachie, are such timid creatures that they won't come to anyone but thew owners. If you can’t find the owners, there are perfectly safe animal traps that can be rented on a daily or weekly basis. Release the animal out. side -- nine chances in ten it’s a neighborhood pet who'll hotfoot for home. You aren't doing anyone a favor by tur ning the animal over to the SPCA there’s a limit on how long they will keep the cat. bt's very possible that the cat's owners are also away and have arranged to have them pets cared for by a frend Would it be claimed in tame? We assumc that Beachic survived because he had ac- cess to water in the toilets And, because he was a fat hit tle fellow to start with) Why do you think we called him **Beachball'’? Hic is a shadow of hus former sclf now | had described him to cveryone as having short: icgs Wrong! Blas legs are anormal length If you think fitness is PIANTGPACTION lowe erent en ewer) Cie Ge Gone! Heneme it was just that his tummy rode about knee-high. He had a fat little posterior and a chunky tail. Now, even his tail is thin! His best friend, my little Siamese ‘‘Emily’’ had griev- ed and searched for him for twelve days. What did she do when she got him back? Practically licked the fur off his ears while holding his head still with a firm paw. She follows him wherever he goes, probably as suspicious as any wife when her hus- BCAA Travel band has returned after an unscheduled departure. And Beachie! He’s the same comical littl cat — Sleepy yellow eyes over a Charlie Chaplin moustache. He’s mighty partial toslices of sirloin steak and bits of chicken. He purrs a lot more than he used to — grateful, } guess, to anyone who’ll scratch his back. He _ has always been a quiet cat — on- ly a faint ‘*Mewww”’ on rare occasions. Now he greets us in the morning with a full VANCOUVER TO ONE WAY OR ROUND TRIP JUNE 1-14 DEPARTURES $299 | JUNE 15-30 DEPARTURES $349 NIGHTSAVERS ARE APPLICABLE FOR JUNE DEPARTURES (FORONTO ONLY). SAVINGS OF $50.00 PER PERSON, ROUND TRIP, FOR PASSENGERS TRAVELLING ON DESIGNATED NICHT FLIGHTS rendition of the ‘*Triumphal March’’ from the ‘‘Lonely Cat Symphony’’. Not all of our cats were pleased to see Beachie return. Our old lady, Misty, took a healthy swipe at him but Emily settled her hash, jumped on her tail and chas- ed her out the back door and right across the back yard. But, our oldest daughter has her favorite little pillow- hog back in her water bed. Last | saw, they were both purring. > DISPLAY 980-0511 Holidays by SWardair VANCOUVER TO ONE WAY OR ROUND TRIP JUNE 1-14 DEPARTURES $299 JUNE 15-30 DEPARTURES ‘279 e Fly non-stop wide bodied jet e@ Enjoy Wardair Class Service @ Travel one way or Round Trip © Book up to day of departure for just $1.00 more BCAA NORTH VANCOUVER 1605 Hamilton Ave at Marine VANCOUVER Telephone 986 1941 4999 West Broadway at Oak Telephone 732 3977 ‘Wardair. Were listening. 4 . r Bae CURRAN Gm GBI ny ame fT) Gem eh) EO RRA GE BL RRR ee MEIN fm ATES ene Oo we .