Jasper's Mom, What an ordeal! I am so glad you got him back. I can relate to what you went through, there is nothing like the feeling that your much loved pet has gotten out into what can be a very dangerous outside world.

Two years ago I gave my boyfriend two kittens, a brother and sister, to keep him company since he lived alone. (I have 5 cat children). He was never a cat person but living with "Jessy" & "Ally" changed his life. These kitties are about two years old now are are his "babies". I've never seen a man love cats so much!

About six months ago, when his cats were about a year old, he called me one morning CRYING on the phone (he's 40 years old) because the wind had blown his front door open during the night of a snowstorm and Jessy had gotten out. His cats are strictly indoors. I jumped out of bed, threw on a bathrobe, no shoes, grabbed my keys and drove over to his apartment to help him find Jess.


It was freezing cold outside and snow on the ground. Every once in a while we would see Jessy running in the distance but we couldn't get near him or he would take off. He was either reveling in this new found freedom or scared to death, it was hard to tell. He would disappear for hours and we would just walk and look for him under every bush and doorstep, calling him and knocking on people's doors to ask if they had seen him. The scariest part was that my boyfriend's apartment is on a very busy 4 lane highway and we were terrified that Jessy would be killed by a car before we could catch him.

Later, we spotted Jessy running under a wooden fence over to the next neighborhood and off I went, fence jumping from one back yard to another, looking under woodpiles, being chased by dogs, cutting my legs and arms on the fences but I didn't care, I had to find Jess. After a while I started to give up hope and began making my way back to the apartment grounds. I came to the last chain link fence I had to climb over and I looked down to see where I could put my foot in for a boost and there, right exactly on the OTHER SIDE of the fence was Jessy, crouched in some snow and leaves. My heart pounded in my chest because he was so close but I knew he could bolt at any minute. I slowly squatted down and was able to touch him with the tips of my fingers through the fence. He seemed comforted that I was there but I could not reach him to get hold of him. I wasn't about to let him get away so I twisted my bare arm through the chain link fencing as hard as I could and I was able to get my hand far enough to grab a tight hold of the scruff of his neck (he's a very big strong boy). When I knew I had him, I called out to my boyfriend who was about 75 feet away, still looking for Jess. "I GOT HIM!!!!!"

Thank God my boyfriend was on Jessy's side of the fence and he came up and took him from my hand. I was a mess from all the fences, clothes ripped, scratched, bleeding and bruised - but I GOT JESSY BACK! I climbed over that last fence and my boyfriend and I took Jessy and walked back to his apartment. We went in, shut the door behind us and just hugged each other and cried with Jessy between us in our arms.

It was a NINE HOUR ordeal and a day we will never forget. Luckily, Jessy's sister Ally was smart enough not to go out that night when the door blew open. My boyfriend loves Jessy and Ally almost as much as he loves is own children. He thanks me daily for bringing those two into his life and for getting his boy Jessy back that horrible day he escaped.

[ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: Meowzalot ]

[ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: Meowzalot ]