After more than eight weeks missing, Millie was found safe and then reunited with her family, including Pippin (at right). (Photo: Supplied by Amanda Kennedy)
If Millie could talk, she’d likely have a compelling story of survival to tell.
The small black cat, weighing just under seven pounds, quietly slipped out of her family’s Port Credit apartment through an open kitchen window back on Aug. 9.
Upon discovering some 24 hours later her beloved Millie was missing, Amanda Kennedy “was immediately in tears,” devastated at the thought of losing the feline pal she’d had for nearly eight years.
Her worry deepened knowing Millie, in addition to being quite small, was also a lifelong indoor cat who wasn’t used to the potential dangers of busy streets and predator-laden wooded areas in Mississauga’s south end.
“She’s such a tiny cat,” Kennedy, who adopted a four-month-old Millie from the nearby PetSmart adoption centre, told INSAUGA Canada in an interview this week.
By Aug. 11, two days after her treasured pet had disappeared, Kennedy and her partner had visited the library to print out 500 flyers which they quickly posted throughout Lakeshore Road area neighbourhoods east of Hurontario Street.
“We posted them everywhere, we went door-to-door and asked people to look at their home security camera footage,” said Kennedy, adding she also made online posts to a number of Facebook groups in an effort to reach an even wider audience.
The initial response from the community, Kennedy said, was overwhelming in the days and weeks that followed. Dozens of people contacted her online, by phone and other means with either tips that they’d spotted a black cat that could be Millie or simple, heartfelt words of encouragement and inquiries about the small missing cat.
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The Mississauga woman said she followed up in person on some 30 reports from people in August and September — and into early October — that they’d perhaps located Millie.
All of those potential leads ended in disappointment, and Kennedy said she found it difficult at times to stay positive. As more time passed since her beloved pet had gone missing, the calls from people slowed down and “the Facebook posts got buried,” she added.
“It was nerve-racking the whole time just not knowing what might have happened to her,” said Kennedy, adding unpleasant thoughts of coyotes and other predatory critters crept into her mind.
“It was easy to think we wouldn’t find her, but I kept updating (Facebook posts) and kept my hopes up.”
Her diligence and positive thoughts finally paid off when, on Oct. 7, thanks to the combined efforts of a teenage Port Credit girl, a volunteer with Ninth Life Cat Rescue and a Mississauga Animal Services worker, Millie was found safe and in relative good health.
Several weeks earlier, the young teen had spotted Millie in her neighbourhood — near Dellwood Park in the Cawthra Road/Atwater Avenue area — and began to feed her when she could.
She’d also seen one of the “missing” flyers Kennedy had posted and quickly contacted her.
With help then from the volunteer from the Ninth Life Cat Rescue, which operates out of PetSmart, a safe trap was set for Millie and the adventurous feline quickly found her way into the contraption.
A Mississauga Animal Services worker then arrived at the scene and, since Millie had been microchipped, was able to identify her as Kennedy’s missing companion.
The worker immediately called Kennedy, who moments earlier had received an automated message thanks to the microchip program, and delivered the great news.
Some 20 minutes later, the Animal Services worker delivered Millie, only two ounces lighter in weight since she’d gone missing eight weeks earlier, into the loving arms of Kennedy. Her partner and the family’s other cat, “a very large tabby” named Pippin, were also overjoyed to be reunited.
“We were so grateful she was microchipped so she could easily be identified,” said Kennedy, noting because Millie doesn’t have any easily identifiable features — such as a white spot or white paws — it would’ve been hard to be sure if not for the microchip.
Kennedy said she and her family are also grateful to members of the community who helped every step of the way.
“Some people wanted her found as much as I did,” said Kennedy. “So many people, the community were just fantastic in looking for Millie” and helping in other ways.
Aside from picking up some worms during her eight-plus weeks on the road, Millie was in good health when she was found, said Kennedy.
She figures her cat likely crossed Lakeshore Road shortly after leaving through the kitchen window in early August, headed north to the train tracks and then went east through heavily treed areas until winding up near Dellwood Park.
“She went for quite a journey,” Kennedy told INSAUGA Canada, with a chuckle of relief. “She did whatever she needed to do to keep going, keep safe and get back home.”
(Photos supplied by Amanda Kennedy)
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