A year after her fur baby went missing, a former Mount Pleasant resident thought that her baby girl probably had not survived, but great was her surprise – and joy – when her (now seven-year-old) cat was returned to her almost three years after disappearing.
Tanya Leer was distraught when four-year-old Lexi failed to come back inside the house one night during lockdown in April 2020. They searched everywhere but just could not find her.
“I kept thinking that maybe she got locked in someone’s garage or shed, but none of the neighbours had seen her either. I also posted on two community Facebook groups.
“We had recently moved from Mount Pleasant to Lorraine and wondered if she hadn’t gone back there. I also posted on The Missing Cats group. During lockdown we couldn’t go to Animal Welfare to check, but sent photos of her and kept checking in,” Leer explained.
“We were so heartbroken when we couldn’t find her. The not knowing really eats you up. There was no closure. My husband especially kept praying for her safe return. He is definitely Lexi’s favourite human.”
Leer added that on January 21 this year Petricia Holtzhausen posted on The Missing Cats group that a cat had been coming into her garden all week.
Since she resides in a cat-free townhouse complex, she thought that it might belong to someone in the neighbourhood.
“My phone went absolutely mad with beeps as people were trying to reach me, saying they were sure that it was Lexi. I contacted Petricia and we went straight over to see. It was an absolute answer to our prayers.”
Leer said that they were skeptical at first because they did not want to get their hopes up, in case it was not Lexi – especially since they couldn’t believe that she was still alive after three years.
“When we got to Petricia’s, it was difficult to tell at first. Petricia had managed to get her into her house, but she was very skittish and hiding under the furniture. She came out after a bit and then we could see her markings more clearly. I did have photos of her on my phone but my children had lovely videos of her so there was no doubt that it is her.”
Leer said that Lexi is fat and it is evident that someone has been feeding her. She also didn’t have any fleas. A checkup at the vet revealed an infection in the lining of the eyes, nose and lungs but she has been doing much better after treatment with antibiotics.
“Lexi is not a young cat any more, as we knew her, and has filled out in her face as well. She has a bit of a pouch now but otherwise, she’s the same.
“She is quite feisty and loveable at the same time. She is very playful and loves a plastic fishing lure in the shape of a worm on the end of a fishing rod. She would chase that all day if she could,” Leer explained.
She added that since they had moved during the time Lexi was missing, nothing would be familiar to her so they were keeping her inside for a while and taking her to the garden under supervision.
“We have other pets too, so we are re-introducing her to them slowly. We don’t want to stress her out at all. She must feel that this is her home,” Leer said.
According to animal communicator, Bev Stevenson Sudding, she has approximately 700 cats on file that are missing in the metro.
“Sadly, people take a kitty in, thinking that it’s a stray and it’s not. It has just wandered a bit far from home. They feed it and keep it and don’t post it on the lost-and-found Facebook pages and WhatsApp groups.
“It’s against the law to keep found pets as they don’t belong to you. You need to search for their families. It’s cruel to the moms and kitties to keep them separated.”
She suggests that if someone finds a cat, they should feed it, take a photo and post it on social media lost-and-found groups to find the owner.
“The cat can also be taken to the vet to check for a chip. Most times you will reunite a kitty with an owner,” she said.
