Sugar Tabby
Two months before Sugar was lost, I had moved to Indiana from another state and had had a cat fence installed in my back yard where I assumed my cats would be safe. I had not foreseen that although my cats could not climb out, it was possible for a neighbor cat to climb up and get inside by jumping from the top of the fence to a nearby windowsill within the enclosure. This had happened during my absence, followed by a fight between one of my cats and the intruder, which scared all my other cats who ran inside the house, with the exception of Sugar, who was trapped on the other side of the fight, away from the door into the house. Not realizing that any of my cats were still outside in the enclosure, my mother opened an exterior gate into the outer yard beyond the enclosure, to try to shoo the neighbor cat out. Unfortunately, Sugar, in the confusion, got outside through this gate, which my mother later locked, thinking all my cats were safely inside the house. It took her over a day to realize Sugar was gone, because he's very shy and hides, and also looks a lot like one of my other cats. At any rate, Sugar, a neutered 5 year old black and tan tabby was, for the first time in his adult life, outside and totally on his own.
As soon as I returned home and learned he was outside, I took a flashlight and searched the many wooded areas in my yard - no sign of him. The next day I searched my lot again, as well as the neighborhood, knocking on doors, showing his picture to neighbors, but inside feeling desperate since I knew his shyness and fear of strangers made it extremely unlikely that he'd come out of hiding. I began working on a poster (although I suspected it would do little good) while I continued to search and call for him, putting out food in different places, and walking throughout the neighborhood day and night for five days. As I wrestled with the inconsistency of believing him to be close by, and yet being unable to detect any sign of him, I decided to consult a psychic. I found out about Annette by googling "psychic" and searching for someone who worked with animals. Once on her website I read quickly through the testimonials - many of which brought tears to my eyes - I thought, "if she has been able to help find all these other animals, surely she'll be able to help me find my Sugar".
It was truly my lucky day.
When I reached Annette by telephone, she was so receptive and helpful - I immediately felt hopeful in the midst of my panic. She asked for a few details and told me she'd start communicating with him right away and that she and I would talk more later, after she returned from another commitment she had. A few hours later she was able to tell me that Sugar was very high up, surrounded by greenery, and that when he looked down, he saw lots of fences. After she told me this, I described my yard, which is at least half covered by tall trees and forest-like undergrowth; beyond my house the yard is bounded by a chain-link fence, and my special 7 foot high cat fence enclosure is located within this chain-link fence. What Sugar had communicated to Annette seemed to indicate that he was high up in a tree very close to home. Then Annette asked me if I had a deck - I responded "yes - a large deck with a railing around it" - she said that Sugar saw the deck as another fence. Amazingly, Annette was able to help me look at Sugar's current surroundings through his eyes - she could also tell that he was getting enough food (by backing down from the tall trees at night and hunting), but perhaps wasn't getting enough water.
After I told Annette that I often went out in the woodsy areas at night and looked for him with a bright flashlight, she told me she'd tell him not to be frightened when he saw this bright light at night, and suggested he go towards it, and also make sounds so I'd be able to find him. She told him this on Saturday, (I'd called her Sat. morning), but warned me that it might take him a day to back down out of one of the tall trees. Late Sunday night I had come in from searching and calling for him and was in an upstairs bedroom in my house (with the light on) when I heard a meow at the window - to my total amazement Sugar was pushing his little face against the lighted up window and meowing! He had followed Annette's directions and come towards the light and was meowing - normally, my very, very shy Sugar would never have done such a thing. I moved towards the window, (which he had gotten to by jumping on my garage's adjacent roof), which scared him, so he backed away. I ran outside with my flashlight and was able to confirm that it was him, because he was still on the garage roof. I started talking to him, but he was still so scared that he ran back into the woods, meowing as he zig-zagged back and forth to former hiding spots. Then I realized that he couldn't figure out how to get back in - so I turned on lights all around the cat enclosure and its now open gate in my back yard, and went outside trying to call him towards me as calmly as possible. Every now and then he would meow to me from the darkness, but would come no closer.
Desperately, I went inside the house with the plan to open the upper bedroom window so he could come in that way, and happened to think to turn on the light on my front porch balcony (on the opposite side of the house from the cat enclosure). Right after I had done this and closed the door, I heard something outside - I opened the door and he ran up the steps and literally threw himself inside through the open screen door. Following Annette's instructions, he had again come towards the light, this time on the front porch, and although he had never been down off of this porch, once he was up on the porch itself, he had recognized the front door, from the smells of his cat brothers and sisters that were on it. Eureka! My Sugar was back home and it was clear that he had been wanting to come home for sometime (gone a total of 9 days) but had been very afraid and couldn't figure out how to get in. Without Annette's assistance to guide both he and I (in ways we might never have come up with by ourselves), I cannot imagine his recovery happening as it did, or as quickly as it did. Later, Annette told me he'd communicated that he'd come to the bedroom window Saturday night, but no one had seen him!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Annette, for helping us to recover our lost Sugar Tabby; words cannot express the gratitude we feel ...
Sincerely, Robin, Sugar Tabby, and eight brother and sister cats
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