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Dec 10, 2002 This is a true story that every pet lover must read. It is about a cat named WYSIWYG. If you are an old time computer user from the days of DOS, you will understand the name. What you see is what you get. Cute! It suited him and his attitude. We got him as a kitten. Beautiful long orange hair with white tips. I think he was part Prussian with his pushed in nose. Very cute and loveable kitten. One small fault, he loved to go for car rides. My son was in kindergarten at the time about 5 years old. My wife and son were going on a trip to Disneyland about the first day of spring. A few days before they left WYSIWYG vanished. We have a cat door and fenced in back yard. Somehow he climbed out while we were at work. Yes he is a cat and climbs but he had never left the yard before. WYSIWYG was about 1 and a half years old. One important fact, he had the tip broken off of a permanent tooth. One day that would be an important fact. Over the summer we mounted a massive search for him. Every night I would walk down the green belt calling his name. We printed flyers and went door to door for blocks. Put up pictures at the local small store. My wife would check the animal shelter every 3 days. By fall we gave up looking. It had been over 4 months and no sign of WYSIWYG. The only good news was that he had not been found dead somewhere. We hoped he had found a home! 6 YEARS LATER! It is almost the first day of spring. My wife once again is flying to Disneyland in California. We still live at the same address and the cat door is still there. We now have several new cats. My son comes home for lunch. Phones us at work that WYSIWYG is sitting in the kitchen waiting to be fed. This is impossible. It must just be a hungry longhaired orange cat. It has been 6 years since he disappeared. We arrived home very skeptical of what we would find. It was a huge longhaired orange cat with a white tipped tail. Sort of looked like him but he was just a big kitten when he had disappeared. He was very friendly. There was only one way to know for sure. Open his mouth and there is a tooth with a broken tip. After all this time the cat came back. It was WYSIWYG. My wife leaves for her trip. Now I dread that someone is looking for a missing cat. But he is also my cat and he did come back here to our house. He was well groomed and fed. Someone had taken good care of him during the last 6 years. I am sitting at home and hear the mail flap open. I can see the flyer on the floor. I know what it says. I debate what I will say when I call. A very nice elderly woman answers the call. Later she told me that I shocked her with my opening statement but under the brazier circumstances she now understands. “I understand you are looking for a missing cat. How did you first get my cat? WYSIWYG is my cat!” She lived a block away and was on her way over. Judith was very happy the cat was OK. She was very confused that I might be keeping him. I got out pictures and explained that this was my lost cat. And the cat came Back!!! She explained that her daughter worked for a pet store and was looking at lost pets. The pet shelter was about 30 miles from our house. She saw WYSIWYG and fell in love. Judith had owned a cat and he had gotten sick and died recently. So she took WYSIWYG home for her mother. Judith lived a block away from us. She took good care of him and he lived indoors all the time. Then spring came and she let him outside in the yard. It was fenced in. She got distracted for a few minutes and he was gone. 5 minutes later and he found his way to our house. One more twist to the story. Judith had only gotten WYSIWYG a year ago. There are still 5 years of mystery where he lived. Then he gets adopted and lives one block away from his original home. During Judith’s visit, WYSIWYG never once came to her. He would not answer to his name when Judith called and just stayed beside me. Judith decided that he was happy here and that he would be well taken care of. She was sad that he ignored her but she visited WYSIWYG a few more times. He always was a Snoot! I still always wonder how many other homes he had before coming back. This is a true story and not just some urban legend story. If only WYSIWYG could talk and tell his story. He should have at least taken some pictures of his adventures! Edwin Richter runs the website BestFreeTraffic.com ------------ Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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