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| Name: |
Mussi
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Age: |
Fourteen years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
American Shorthair
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| Home: |
Zurich, Switzerland
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Mussi, my beloved tabby from South Chicago, did not return from his nightly outing! At first, I thought he was just extending his trip outside for a few hours, but Mussi remained gone until after midnight. I searched the neighborhood over and over, calling his name. Early in the morning, I extended the search area to neighboring homes, streets, I kept calling his name Muuussssiiii. Nothing! I had to go to work. I was totally distraught. Where could he be? A few weeks ago, I moved to this neighborhood, and Mussi had been outside here and there, but never ventured more than about 20 yards away from the house. That was our agreement. He had got acquainted with the area and felt comfortable. So, what happened all of a sudden? My mind played out the worst horror scenarios. Was he locked in somewhere? Kidnapped? Run over? Chased away by other cats, or worse, dogs? I felt so desperate that I could not think straight, get input from my sixth sense or intuition. I was way too confused and anxious
I alarmed my family and friends, who were at a loss for words. Everyone loved Mussi and knew him as the most intuitive, smart, gentle tiger from Chicago. After many more searches, I decided to get help. I asked my sister on Feb 12, to contact a woman she calls "witch", her intuitive friend, healer and animal communicator for advice. This woman tuned in and felt that Mussi was slightly injured and hiding in a basement somewhere. She did not feel that he was locked in, but simply hiding out. She said that she would send him energy and try to guide him home.
No cat appeared. I checked the basements I could get access to and informed the neighbors to do the same. My frustration grew with every passing hour now. I scanned the entire neighborhood, again and again. Where could this cat be? A neighbor and I scanned two buildings' ground floors and garages for a cat sign, unsuccessfully. Instead, she introduced me to her cats, who I greeted suspiciously, as they looked guilty and may have been involved in chasing Mussi away. Everyone was a suspect at this point. Even the other two black cats from the neighbor straight across seemed to paw around shiftily.
I then starting printing "Desperately seeking Mussi" posters to tag the neighborhood. The initial batch I put up two days after Mussi's disappearance, covering two blocks. The densely populated area did not make the choices for flyer placement and neighbor conversations any easier. Nevertheless, I put flyers on buildings, doors, lamp posts, garage doors, garbage bins, you name it. Within days, everyone in the area knew my cat was missing and talking about it. People got really active and started looking.
As the desperation increased further, I decided to talk to one of my friends in LA who had used the services of an animal communicator from Seattle when her cat went missing a few years ago. She could not remember her name, so I googled on my own. I found her and sent an emergency request. I guess the animal psychic grasped the severity of the situation and called me back the same day. The session cost me about a hundred dollars. The information she apparently obtained from Mussi was that he went down an alley way, across a field and then crawled into a hole. He seemed to find the inside of the new territory interesting and decided to hang out for a while. This was totally unlike Mussi, but she claimed that he wasn't locked in and could potentially get out on his own. She further mentioned that the building was near my house and that we would be reunited one day.
I put more posters up in the neighborhood and asked around. Then a person called from a few blocks away, claiming he saw Mussi in his yard. I drove down there immediately, but the cat, of course was gone. I checked the area, but to no avail.
I expanded the poster and search area a few more blocks. I tagged the post office, the outside of stores, pretty much all lamp posts in the area, bus and train stations.
I received a call from three people on the same day, claiming they spotted Mussi in the cemetery, close to a bus station and another claimed he was seen sitting on the bike path. However, none was able to either snap a picture or catch the cat. As I was at work, it was impossible for me to immediately drop everything and follow vague leads.
Then, one Saturday, I got a call from a French lady who found a grey tabby. She snapped a picture and held the cat captive. At that time, I was an hour away, but drove back in a hurry as the somewhat blurry picture could have been Mussi. I found the French lady in the described area, with four children and a cat gathered around her. Deeply impressed that she remained in one spot for an hour with the cat, I thanked her for the amazing perseverance. Unfortunately, the captured cat was not Mussi and got released.
It had been a week now and still no cat. He was my precious baby, who moved with me from Chicago to Zurich, three and a half years ago. He loved Switzerland as he could venture outside, which was not feasible downtown Chicago. All my life I've had cats, but none as special as Mussi. I was deeply connected to him and loved him from the bottom of my heart. Mussi possesses the soul of a cat saint. I knew he was alive, but I simply was unable to fathom where. I missed his cuddling up to me every night and his comfort when I was not feeling well. So much love exuded from this animal and I missed him so much!
But where was he? I was too frustrated to tune into my intuition and communicate with him. I knew he would never just leave on his own. Increasingly, I started to suspect he was abducted. Or did he attempt to go back to his old house and got lost on the way? I had already alerted the ex-neighbors and skimmed the area. Nobody had seen him there though. The old neighbors, who used to watch Mussi, were on constant lookout for him. I knew they'd do a great job, but I tagged the entire area with Mussi flyers.
I got a call from an energy healer who lived near my old house. She said that she read my poster and just a few minutes after saw a cat that looked like Mussi. She swore it was him. Her intuition, she said, never lied. So, I went down there to see if I could still see traces of my cat, but there was nothing.
Despite all the Mussi search activities that by now had been ongoing for nearly two weeks, I went snowboarding two weekends after the loss. I needed to get away. I was going insane. On my way home Sunday night, I got a call from my cosmetologist who lived near my old house. Her voice was frantic and she screeched that she had captured my cat and that I should show up right away to check him out. I drove down to her house, still dressed in snowboard pants, like a crazy person. Indeed, she was sitting in front of a tabby, but it wasn't Mussi. However, that cat was clearly lost and confused and looking for his home. A nice cat he was and I felt sorry for him. Adrienne said, "Just take him instead!" I could have never done this. But it broke my heart to see this cat whom hysterically searched for his home, in despair. So, I told Adrienne that if nobody else takes him in the coming days, I would! Luckily, a neighbor was kind enough to give him shelter a few days later.
I had also reported Mussi missing with all the vets in the area and online on "missing pets" sites. I received emails from people who identified with my pain and tried to give advice. Some mentioned to intensify the search after midnight, others insisted I should not give up hope as they had lost their cats for up to a year and then got reunited. One person even offered to come help search at night. I accepted, but somehow it never happened.
A lady from about five blocks away called saying "Don't tell anyone, but I feed the foxes at night." I said that I would not utter a word and that she should continue. It seems that the past few nights, a cat had shared the fox's chicken leg. In fact, the cat was faster than the fox and got its share early on. The lady insisted that was my cat. I agreed to check up on it. So, she promised to call me the same night right after dropping the chicken outside. She did. I immediately left my house to see the scene for myself. And really, a cat showed up just five minutes after the chicken was out, for a feast. But it wasn't my cat – again! But I was now an insider of the fox feeding conspiracy!
I contacted another animal communicator somewhere in Nevada. She tuned in and dowsed the map of my surrounding area. She claimed a neighbor was holding Mussi hostage and that I should launch an attack on that house. She was sure. I got binoculars, sat myself in a bush at night and ogled the area. No cat. I even put fliers in all these people's mailboxes, rang a few doorbells, but nothing. They confirmed they'd check their basements.
I had also reported Mussi missing with petlink.com, the chip company, hoping that a finder would take him to a vet or hospital where he would get scanned and reported to me.
More calls were coming my way. A clerk who worked in a nearby company reported "Oh, your tomcat has been visiting us here for weeks. I will send you a picture." I did receive the photo. A nice, totally happy tabby tomcat stretched out on his desk, while similar, it was not Mussi. I thanked him and felt he was glad that it wasn't my cat. He loved this tabby visiting him in the afternoon for playtime. He would have been sad to see him go.
I decided to push my luck and contacted Joseph McMoneagle, a super famous remote viewer, who had worked for the US Army for twenty years, remote viewing and finding top secret military buildings, equipment and people. After his stint in the Army, he became famous remote viewing for corporations or live on Japanese TV. Joe had written several books on the topic and was the rock star in the field of remote viewing. I had met Joe a few times in Virginia and decided to ask for help. A regular session with him usually cost thousands of dollars, but he was kind enough to supply a drawing with indications about the cat's whereabouts. I surveyed the specified area, but could not find anything that looked like Mussi. I put up further flyers in the pointed out area, which led to a few calls of cat sightings, but nothing serious.
The cat who stretched out on the clerk's desk got reported to me again by a local football club member. He called and said "I found your cat and am holding him in our clubhouse." I ran down there and saw the same tabby stretched out on the floor, watching football with the dudes. What a funny sight it was. This cat seriously got around. I thanked them for the effort and left, totally dejected. It had been almost four weeks now and I started to lose hope.
Where in the world was my cat?
I got a call from many blocks away in the middle of the night one Friday. A couple had captured a tabby, sent a blurry picture that left too much room for interpretation. So, again, I drove down there to check and of course, it wasn't Mussi. But I had to follow these leads just to make sure.
Another neighbor, an old lady, called me twice to pledge allegiance and promised to turn over every rock in the neighborhood. She had spotted tabbies and just needed a color picture to confirm which one was mine. I happily supplied her with a picture. The lady was retired and had all day to skim the vicinity. Unfortunately, she never reported the "right" tabby.
By now, the entire neighborhood was involved in the search and people really got talking. The community became a real community again because of Mussi. Everyone was on a mission to recover the sweet little furry creature.
I hired another highly recommended animal communicator. What did I have to lose? His results left me unimpressed. He pointed out a tree-covered park-like area and insisted the cat was hiding there. The homes right behind that area appeared to be another target for him. Long ago, I had tagged flyers all over that area. However, I ventured down there again to check and found Mussi-like fur on a field. It looked like a cat-fox fight had taken place. My heart sank to the ground. I thought, of course, the fox took him and I shall never find any traces. My mom affirmed the same suspicion. But who really knew?
Another "pet detective" from Los Angeles, who works on a donation basis, suggested Mussi to be near that area. As she combines her common cat search sense with psychic intuition, she recommended to sit near that area with a book, as cats supposedly come out when one is quiet and reading. While this may work for other cats, I knew Mussi would come immediately if he did spot me. She further recommended to put out "fish trails" from various directions to my house. Supposedly, a few of her clients got their cats back with this tactic. As I did not leave anything untried, I mixed up cat food with fish sauce and trailed it from numerous directions to my deck. After a while, I spotted many confused cats sitting on or near the trail and enjoyed quite a few cat visitors on my deck. The puzzled cats stared at me in disbelief. They seemed to ask, "Are you insane?" Well, was I? I started to believe myself that I'd gone over the edge.
A young woman contacted me and insisted she'd help me in my search. So, one Sunday she came to my house and we once again, scanned the entire area. Again, we came back empty-handed. She volunteered to print colored Mussi pictures and hand them out in the neighborhood (my flyers were black and white). I really appreciated the help and got more and more amazed about the community and the remarkable people in it.
Mussi had been missing for a month and a half now and my hope for successful recovery sank to rock-bottom levels. Which cat would survive for this long out there in the cold or locked in somewhere?
While I was still getting calls from people who spotted tigers under cars, crossing the road or invading their balconies (the football cat again), I knew none of these were Mussi. He was elsewhere. Perhaps, he was far away, locked in a prison or dead. I had a bleak picture in front of my eyes. Yet, somehow, I knew he was still alive, but barely.
Then, exactly, two months after he'd gone missing, before midnight on April 11, 2013, I received an email from petlink.com, reporting that Mussi had been found. I thought it was a joke. I contacted them immediately and got information where and who to contact for further data. He got scanned by the animal hospital in Zurich! I was amazed at this outstanding service. At the same time, I got a call from a neighbor, very early on that infamous Friday morning, telling me about a half-dead cat she found that night.
The nice young woman, named Nathalie, told me she had found a cat, unable to move, totally starved, placed in the garage of her building, right next to their stall. Someone must have dropped him there and put some milk in a bowl for him to drink. She said, as she's not a cat person, she did not know what to do, but immediately googled for options on cat rescue services. She called one of the numbers she found and within an hour, they showed up to take the seriously emaciated cat to the animal hospital. Nathalie remembered my flyer, walked up to one to get Mussi's name and went back to call him by his name. He responded. She had never seen an animal, starved like him, unable to coordinate his limbs, yet still alive. She stayed and talked to him for over an hour until the rescuers showed up.
After my conversation with her, I frantically made my way to the hospital. The description of my cat's condition left me with little hope to find him alive. Tears rolled down my cheeks, I was unable to control any of it. I called my family to share the news. They could not grasp that Mussi was alive. They were in shock. At the hospital, Mussi was reported as a "homeless cat", but not for long. I dreaded and yearned to see him at the same time. I was expecting the worst. Then they brought him in. He had spent the night at the ICU and just got released. Here he was. Just a bag of bones, unable to coordinate movements, totally emaciated, still panicked – a heartwrenching sight. My heart ached. I cried relentlessly. But Mussi recognized me. He meowed. The fact that he was released from the ICU meant that he would most likely live! The vets, however, were careful in giving me reassurance, but mentioned that currently, he was stable.
Thanks to petlink.com and flyers covering the area – Mussi and I were reunited.
But what would his future look like? And where had he been? According to Nathalie, who found Mussi, a locked in, meowing cat would have been detected in her building. People passed the storage areas in the basement on their way up to the apartments. Frightened meows would have been heard. Was Mussi locked inside another building? Did he crawl to this garage with his last strength after finally having been released? Perhaps, we will never know.
Nevertheless, he must have got water from somewhere, as otherwise, survival would have not been possible. Perhaps, he licked dew or rainwater was able to enter his prison? For certain, he'd had no food in two months. Two months!!
His legs were bandaged up, an IV fed fluids and much needed vitamins into his veins. The vets and staff of the university animal hospital in Zurich gave Mussi their best care! They were just fantastic! And Mussi wanted to live, the will was there. Everyone could see that. Mussi even ate cat food. This was a fantastic sign.
I sat there stunned, staring at not even half the cat Mussi used to be. I still could not have confidence in the fact he was back and alive. It took me a few days to grasp that. The strange situation made me feel both heart-broken and overjoyed at the same time.
The worst problem was his severe deficiency in Thiamine, an essential B vitamin for cats. Depletion of such will cause ataxia (loss or coordination), seizures, inability to raise the head and twitching. Mussi suffered from all the above. B1 or Thiamine is not stored in the body and is quickly depleted. Two months of starvation led to severe B1 deficiency here. The drip would help – eventually!
I visited the American patient every day in the hospital. For four days, he was too apathetic and exhausted to notice much around him. He just slept. Any efforts on his part to try to move largely resulted in seizure-like attacks, which left him frustrated.
Many, many friends, healers, hobby healers, Reiki masters sent Mussi their healing energy and in doing so sped up his recovery. These amazing people had helped in the search for Mussi all along. Perhaps, the remote healings helped Mussi survive for two months in a dark basement? May be the Pranic energy kept him alive? I am grateful to each and everyone who helped and supported the search, in spirit, mentally, physically or energetically.
After one week, Mussi's lethargy lifted a bit, and so did his head. He was able to bend the head from side to side and his eyes followed me slowly but curiously. Another day after, Mussi got up on his shaven (to insert the IV), skinny legs and pressed his behind against my scratching hand. Wow! I cried out in amazement. Mussi was back!!!!!!
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