Finding A Lost Cat: Nilla’s Miracle
How do you find a lost cat?
When you suddenly become aware that your cat is missing it can strike terror and fear into your heart. If you happen to be in the middle of the Colorado Rockies when it happens where do you even begin looking? If you have ever tried finding a lost cat you can relate to the flood of emotions my friend experienced. This is her story.
Where’s Nilla?
The unthinkable happened. It was Father’s Day evening, and there was a lot of commotion in the house with three 10 month old puppies, two dogs, and three cats. After spending some family time on the deck overlooking the beautiful Colorado scenery Lisa brought all the animals inside. One of her cats, Nilla, a flame-point ragdoll, was given a bath that afternoon and her collar was left off so that she could dry. Being the resident mouser and skilled hunter, she tried to sneak out onto the deck once, was immediately caught and brought back inside.
However, another attempt when no one was watching proved successful. A short time later Lisa found the screen door unlocked and after a quick search realized Nilla was no longer in the house. She found a dead mouse on the doormat, Nilla’s typical gift. Panic set in: she could not find Nilla anywhere inside or out.
For hours Lisa and her husband searched their property, along with the neighboring properties well into the night with no luck. She was devastated but determined to do everything she could to find this beautiful, precious kitty. She and her husband continued the daily searches, posted signs and flyers in all the mailboxes, knocked on neighbors’ doors, put ads in the paper, and contacted vet clinics and animal shelters all over the area.
Animal communication
Two nights after she disappeared I did an animal communication session to see if I could help locate her, and this proved very interesting. Apparently while she was out “mousing” the local fox that hangs around their property spotted her and began to chase her. The word that she showed me was “RUN!!!!!!!!!!!” And so she did. And she kept on running trying to escape the fox, but in doing so her journey took her far away from home.
It was dark outside, but she managed to find a place to hide underneath a culvert of some type. Shaking and scared she crawled up into a hole within the rocks. I saw the fox as it scouted around in search of her. Other images she also showed me included a dark truck, a road sign with a yield sign, and a house off in the distance with a light atop a tall pole. Nilla could hear dogs barking off in the distance, too. She asked me to tell Lisa to bring Mugsey, one of the dogs, with them because she knew he would scare off the fox. Despite their efforts Lisa and her husband searched everywhere looking for these clues to no avail.
Holding on to hope of finding a lost kitty
Every day was agony. Not being able to find your missing cat and the “not knowing” where she could be or what happened to her is probably the worst part of such a gut-wrenching experience. Days turned into weeks with no sign. Missing signs and more flyers in mailboxes were replaced with new ones. With weeks dragging by Lisa would continue to hike around the mountain looking for any signs of Nilla. We never gave up hope that she would turn up. Despite how much time had passed, neither of us had the feeling she had died.
Fast forward to this past Thursday night. Lisa received a voice mail from a wildlife rescue center in the middle of nowhere not far from Glenwood Springs, a town about thirteen miles away. Apparently a lady brought in a cat resembling Nilla’s description the day before. As they were checking their records of lost pets they came across Lisa’s report filed weeks earlier.
The next morning Lisa arrived at the center shortly after they opened and was escorted back to where they were keeping the cat. At first Lisa couldn’t tell if it was Nilla or not because the room was a little dark. However, when she called her name Nilla raised her head, looked at Lisa and let out a hoarse “meow” and began to drag herself to the cage door. She was so weak she could barely raise her head much less walk. Elated and relieved, Lisa sobbed tears of joy as she was miraculously reunited with Nilla. It had been 61 days since she disappeared.
Nilla resting at the wildlife rescue center
Where had she been?
The kind lady who ended up rescuing Nilla reported to the center that she had originally spotted her on her property around the end of June. This lady lives 20 miles away from Lisa! We have no idea how she got there. She would put food and water out for her but Nilla wouldn’t let her get close enough to grab her. Despite never actually seeing Nilla eat the food every morning the bowl was empty. After weeks of trying the lady was finally able to grab her. Nilla was so weak that she could no longer run away. After a couple of days still refusing to eat and extremely weak the lady brought her to the wildlife center for help.
Nilla explores the exam room at the vet
Lucky to be alive!
Nilla’s condition was frightening. She barely weighed 2 pounds (formerly 12); she was covered with sticker burrs and cactus needles; her fur was extremely matted and dirty; her back toenails had been ripped out along with one on her front paws; many of her teeth were broken; the skin around her mouth and ears were cracked and was falling off from severe dehydration.
A visit to the vet the following day revealed surprising results. Her blood work was almost perfect, and with extra meals, proper hydration, and time she would make a full recovery. To help her body heal Nilla is using the power of nature: a flower essence and homeopathy. Oak flower essence is helping her emaciated body rebuild itself, and Aconite 30c is helping her body and organs “reset” themselves. In addition, she’s taking colloidal silver twice a day to rebuild her immune system. Her calm, curious demeanor, however, remains the same, and she is so happy to be reunited with her family.
I am so relieved that Nilla was able to survive in the Colorado mountains on her own for so long. Clearly it wasn’t easy for her. I don’t know how many lost cats are actually reunited with their families, but in her case it was miraculous. Nilla is certainly a very lucky kitty!
