Relentless Inquiry

But I am hopeful.

Today was the annual Holiday Crafts Bazaar in the Main clubhouse. I had to be there as chair of the Emergency Preparedness Committee anyway, to help staff our table. But I made some new flyers, based on the info in yesterday's links, and took them around to the residents who had tables, and to the shoppers.

First fruits: a pair of older ladies positively identified Boo as a cat who ran across Avenida Ricardo, the long road that goes into the back of the park, when they came out of West Clubhouse at around 9:30pm Thursday after the weekly card games there. That would put Boo on the diagonally opposite edge from the yard where the coyote/fox was sighted. We live one door down from the West clubhouse, across Avenida Victoria. Three doors down from us is where Ricardo and Victoria join up.

Second fruits: the nurse who used to chair the emergency committee saw a cat who might have matched Boo's description outside at around 5am on Friday morning when she was getting up and getting ready to leave for her shift. It was foggy, so the cat was a “grey blotchy shadow”. There is a young tomcat who runs around the park who is gray, but he is lean and lanky. She remembers thinking this cat couldn't be a stray because “it clearly had been well-fed”. She lives at the cul-de-sac at the end of Avenida Ricardo, about 10 houses down from the clubhouse.

Mystery: Got a call from someone who lives near the park entrance, on the opposite end of the park, who thinks they saw a grey cat with a white stomach at dusk last night when sitting out on their porch to enjoy the day. That area backs up onto the storage area for RV's. One theory both Mike and I have had is that Boo might find the RV and stay near it, as it was 'home' for 33 months.

Followed links from some of yesterday's info and found even more specific stuff on finding lost pets, including the Pet Club of America Lost Pet page. It has very detailed and specific advice that I would not have thought of, such as postering the local vets and schools. I may take a flyer over to Lakewood School district. The canal separates us from it, but there are places where the water seems very shallow, and there's the overpass bridge. I hope hope hope that Boo has the sense to stay off of Fair Oaks or Tasman, even if it's 3am and there's no or almost no traffic.

Pet Club of America says that they have some important differences, and if I can sign up even though Boo is lost, I will do it:

According to their advice, I made a grievous mistake in not visiting the Silicon Valley Humane Society shelter on Friday and today. It's not that shelters lie to you, it's that the person on the phone doesn't necessarily know all the facts, communication handoffs can be missed (stray in that cage never got scanned, but ends up on death row or adopted, etc). Gulp. I will get down there first thing tomorrow. I am also setting my alarm for 3:30am. All the advice says that pets go out and forage between 1am and 5am/dawn. I thought going out from 11pm to 1am might be quiet enough to be equivalent, but apparently not. I will go out in the pre-dawn and bring an open can of food as well as the treat bag. I need my Booster back. 😦