Find Calam

To Calam:

I pray you’re safe and in someone’s care.  You missed your brother’s birthday in January – Griffith face is bigger than yours and you weren’t there to help him with his birthday pup-cup so it wasn’t as fun.  Milo keeps looking for you in the yard every day – it’s so sad and sweet.  Sometimes I start crying when I’m driving, as I’m always scanning the roads looking for you. Every sighting we get, we hope it’s you. It’s so hard to write this even now. I cooked your favourite food but the good smells didn’t reach you. We’ve almost finished building a catio for you and we’re working on enclosing the patio for you as well – it won’t be the same as the freedom you enjoy but we hope you like it. We’ll build you an Ewok village of treehouses if we can.

To Whomever has Sheltered Calam:

We are forever grateful to you for keeping Calam safe. Please know he has a family who loves him and misses him terribly.  Please call 604-376-5342 so we can pick him up ASAP. We would be happy to reimburse you for food/litter/supplies you may have spent on him. We realize you may have bonded with him during his time away from us but we hope you can say goodbye and return him to us.

To Karen and Halo’s Pet Rescue:

I must’ve looked a wreck the first time we met but you gave me a very tight hug that I really needed. Your words reassured us that together we will find Calam. You are our rock and rockstar in this and we are forever indebted to you for everything you’re doing for us.  As we save money, we are happy to help you in your quest with any supplies you may need.  What you’re doing is remarkable!

To Everyone Sharing Sightings:

We have met incredibly nice people during our search for Calam. Monica, Bill, Joanna, Joe, Sabine, Shirley – thank you for your time and kindness! We also appreciate the callers and apologize we didn’t get your name in the process.  We take your sightings seriously. More times than we can count, we have dropped whatever we’re doing to follow-up. It is comforting to know that our posters (over 100 of them posted all over Maple Ridge) are getting noticed and people are connecting the two when they see a black cat.  Of course, a lot of black cats look similar and the best way to tell is with a microchip reader. So, if you have a sighting, these details help tremendously:

  1. Time and Place – when and at what intersection did you see an all-black cat
  2. Colour – Calam is all-black except for a few white hairs on his neck (not enough to be a “patch” of white)
  3. Name Response – If you remembered his name from the poster you saw, did the cat respond to its name, Calam (pronounced CAL-LUM). Calam is quite talkative so if you manage to talk to him calmly and kindly, he would probably respond.
  4. Collar – the fish on his collar is from an old photo. It is highly likely he no longer has a collar as he kept losing them.  The one that lasted the longest was the orange collar he was wearing on the day he went missing. 
  5. Hunger Level – was the cat hungry and whining for help?
  6. Injuries – was the cat you saw injured in any way?
  7. Neighborhood Cat – is the cat foreign to your neighborhood? Have you only seen this cat recently or has it been around for a long time? Calam has been missing since mid-January so a cat that has been in your neighborhood prior to this may not be him.
  8. Size – Calam is medium-to-large but lean-looking.  He was about 16-18 lbs and his body length is at least 15 inches. Imagine a mini panther 😊
  9. Size – Calam is medium-to-large but lean-looking.  He was about 16-18 lbs and his body length is at least 15 inches.
  10. Ability to Corral – perhaps the all-black cat has been visiting your residence for a while in search of food/water.  Are you able to corral until we arrive and check if it’s microchipped?  If not, are you willing to have Halo’s Pet Rescue set up a trail camera and/or humane trap in a discreet location on your property? The only real way to be sure is to see if the cat matches Calam’s microchip number.

Articles of Hope:

I always want to end on a positive note.  Here are articles that give me hope as we continue to search for Calam. It may help others who are also missing their fur babies…

Calam in his hammock.