Phoenix, AZ Lost Female Cat, Namira Is Missing

Sterling M.

4 years ago

Three weeks and nothing. People are telling me to give up, just get a new kitten, or that if she wanted to come home she would so she is happy wherever she is or even that she has to be dead by now. No. That isn't how adopting an animal works. I don't give up on them just because it gets hard. I don't forget, or replace them. Yes it has been three weeks, and I have done everything I can think of but that doesn't mean give up. I have ideas about where she may be, I just haven't been able to find her. She's going to be hiding in a backyard and only coming out well after dark to find food. There are people who feed in the area she is probably hiding so there is not survival stress for her to try and find home. I also haven't been able to talk to one of the people to see if they would allow a trail cam in their backyard since that is where they feed and her hiding back there would make a lot of sense. I've investigated every possible sighting. Crawled under houses, stuck my head in storm drains, did every tip, hint and trick listed online or given to me (yes, even that one) and now it is a matter of FINDING her. Luring her home isn't going to work. She probably doesn't know where she is or how to get back. So I am going to have to get a sighting and then check every nook and cranny of that area to figure out where she is hiding. I may need to trap her, but I am not going to put a trap out with so many random cats to trigger it. Namira is super skittish so if she is near it and it goes off, it will scare her and she won't ever get close to it. There are other bolder cats who will hit it first and there are at least a dozen I can imagine off the top of my head. I'm willing to trap IF I can monitor the trap from nearby all night to let out anyone who isn't her, and I have a very strong belief that she is in that immediate area. I'm still looking. I'm not giving up.

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Sterling M.

4 years ago

I have had a very busy couple of days here with mandatory overtime at work and I ended up hiring the services of a search dog. It wasn't something I had originally even knew was an option but once I found out about it I knew it was what I was going to have to do to figure out where she might be so that I can best focus my resources on finding her, bringing her home, and making sure that she is safe. As of right now, the search dog indicated that Namira has not traveled more than a block and a half from home. We searched extensively for any sign of her beyond that range and there was absolutely nothing. The area in which the dog tracked her was between North Randolph and 15th Street, and then that area on East Osborn and East Mulberry to include the little alley between East Mulberry and East Flower. My goal now is to focus all my efforts on trying to get permission to search those areas, particularly the houses that border that alley on Mulberry as well as try and lay down some scent trails to lead her home. This is the closest I've gotten to bringing her home safe and if you or anyone you know lives on that section of East Mulberry please have them call me if they are okay with me having a look around their yard. Thank you so much everyone for all of your prayers and well wishes, I want nothing more than to be able to come here and tell you all that she is home safe.

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Sterling M.

4 years ago

Two weeks not knowing if she is safe. Two weeks of crying, sweating, crawling, walking, more walking, fliers, begging people to let me search their yard. Two weeks of the soaring rise of hope every time my phone rings or dings to have it crushed when it isn't her. I'm autistic and don't make friends easily. People are hard, they scare me and make me nervous. Namira loves me exactly as I am. She doesn't care that I'm wierd or I talk to her in the funny voice, or that I fold little birds out of paper for her to play with. She just wanted to be near me. I always felt bad having to set her to the side of me instead of on my chest when I had to work, but gotta make that money. I've stayed in the last two nights to let things be quiet and dark outside and I feel so horrible. Like I NEED to be doing more. More doors, more fliers, more miles, more bleeding, more crying, more money, more whatever it takes to bring her home. All the experienced animal rescues I've talked to say that she won't have gone far. Please, talk to your neighbors. If you are near a flier take a picture and send it to them or I can bring some. If they live near me, ask if I can come check their yard. I've left fliers in and on doors, and I've gone door to door but I may have thought I got someone but missed them and not everyone wants to deal with a person right now when Covid is scary. But all I can think about is how scared she must be right now. Small and alone for the first time since I adopted her as a kitten. I want to find her so SHE NEVER FEELS THAT WAY AGAIN...and so I never feel like this. Please help me. I have some extra fliers. I can get them to you if you think that might help convince people to let me look. I'll never forget the first time she let me touch her over two years ago. I had been sleeping on the floor next to her food and water and the chair she was hiding under and she started playing with my finger with her tiny, tiny paws. She's all grown up now and still sleeps under the chair but always comes out when she hears me. I keep going into the bedroom expecting to see her, and my heart somehow breaks a little more every time she isn't there. I miss her so incredibly much.

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Sterling M.

4 years ago

Namira is my cat, my best friend, and the only family I have left in this world. She is an inside cat with no history of running out but on the 10th she did. I haven't been able to find her and she hasn't come home. Most of you are familiar with my other posts, but to summarize: black (impossible to see white belly spot between her hind legs), short-hair, female, spayed, ~10lbs, MICROCHIPPED. No collar as she has hurt herself fighting out of them. Cross streets are 14th Place (16th St) and East Osborn Rd. I live across from Osborn Place apts. I promise you, that in the time that she has been missing, I have done every single thing anyone has suggested to find her or help her find her way home. Many people have been so amazingly kind that I have cried. So many incredible people have sent me texts, called me, helped me and let me search their property, and I am so exceedingly grateful. As of now, I have zero sightings and no real clues as to where to look. I love Namira like nothing else in this world and I will never give up looking for her, but a confirmed sighting will let me know where to bring my energy, expend my resources, and focus my considerable determination to find her. So many people have wanted to help that I thought today, I could tell you what would be the best way to do so. If you see a cat you think might be her, set your camera to HD (if you have it) and zoom in on the head and ears. Her ears are very distinctive to me, and if they aren't the right size or shape, and/or don't have her distinctive ear tufts, I can tell it isn't her. However, Black cats look so similar that a description or regular photo makes it hard for me to tell if it is her or not. Or by the time I can get to the spot, the cat is almost always long gone. A confirmed sighting is going to be the most valuable help you can give me. Thank you all so much for your time, your attention, your care and your consideration. Please help me bring my best friend home.

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Sterling M.

4 years ago

I've slept outside the last two nights in a hammock hoping that maybe she would smell me or hear me snore or something. I still hit the streets for looking around for eye shine but I don't really think that's how I'm going to find her. A few people have been kind enough to report potential sightings and I try to get there as soon as I can. Sometimes a cat is there and sometimes it is already gone. The ones I have seen aren't her. HARRT has recommended I try a different approach tonight and put out multiple scent items and feeding stations but stay home and keep everything dark and quiet. Maybe my coming and going so much has kept her nervous? I'm willing to try it, despite feeling like if I am not ACTIVELY looking, I'm failing her. I'm not good at waiting. I will say Phoenix at 3am is beautiful, but I said I would do anything to try and get her to come home so that may mean waiting. So, I will try this thing. I will let the experts guide me. The second part of this is the Namira IS microchipped. It is up to date. So out of the dozens or hundreds of people who have seen my posts and fliers, and spoken with me and gotten handbills....it just takes one person to find her and get her chip scanned. Any one of you could be her and my savior. Don't discount a roaming cat as a stray or feral because it doesn't have a collar. She has injured herself trying to get them off before so for her mental well-being, I didn't force the issue as she had never tried to run before. If someone found her and thought I was a bad Fur Parent for letting her get out and she is better off with them, please no. I promise you, we adore each other, we take care of each other, I have a 2 step action plan in place to prevent this from ever happening again. When I first got her as a rescue kitten, she was so tiny and so scared she hid under the recliner. I slept on the floor and worked from the floor, so she wouldn't be so afraid of me, have time to get used to me and it worked. Our bond grew and strengthened to where she trusts me totally and follows me from room to room. I need to find her. I need her to come home. I need to have her safe with me. Please get any cat you find scanned as soon as you can. There may be someone as heartbroken as me desperately waiting for that call to end their suffering. This is us during movie night. I thought she might like Black Panther. She was just in it to lick the popcorn and smoosh my face.