In June 2007 we adopted two cats through this very forum, from Binty and Sparklygem. We renamed Garfield to Beefy, and Casper to Zappa, so that they would identify a new meal-time-calling name with a new home. As we have a very long garden backing onto woods and are both experienced cat owners (I'm also a dog lover but still haven't got over the theft of my last two dogs several years ago) we felt we could give them a good home. Our cat Barney had just died aged 17, and 13 year old Towser was started to look very frail.

I posted a thread about adopting Beefy and Zappa on my White Rose of Yorkshire blog here, where you can see photos of them when we adopted them.

We've adopted two cats through Sheffield Forum! (http://thewhiteroseofyorkshire.blogspot.com/2007/06/weve-adopted-two-cats-through-sheffield.html)

However on the 31st August, Beefy disappeared during the night. I advertised his disappearance widely and we searched and searched the woods and garden, as did some of our immediate neighbours, but nothing was found. The blog article and more photos about his disappearance is below.

Beefy's Gone Missing (http://thewhiteroseofyorkshire.blogspot.com/2007/09/beefys-gone-missing.html)

Sadly, yesterday, 16 months after Beefy's disappearance, my neighbour found Beefy's intact and fastened collar at the bottom of his garden, very near the woods, where foxes are common. The collar had some of Beefy's fur still on it and some kind of matter which could be long ago dried blood. So now we know almost certainly that the foxes got him and humans weren't involved, which in a way is a relief as at least he may have gone on to feed some hungry fox cubs, which, though it all seems very cruel, is the way nature intended.

In fact half an hour before our neighbour found Beefy's collar, one of our other cats, Little Girl Lizzie, brought in a half-dead mouse whose front paws were still scrabbling, and I found it hard to reconcile my little furry baby as a mouse murderer, but that's the way it is.

Very, very sad, though. We lost 3 cats in one year as Towser died in December 2007. You can see Brian/Yog Sothoth reading an obituary for Towser a few hours after his death at Words Aloud at Runaway Girl here on YouTube. (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pz6ahYo8Ajg)

I'll post a picture of the tombstone Brian will be now carving for Beefy when it is finished.

It was actually just my cat, sorry! :) Both of them.

Bless the little one, he was beautiful :(

RIP Beefy x

It was actually just my cat, sorry! :) Both of them.

Sorry, Binty!

Bless the little one, he was beautiful :(

RIP Beefy x

Yes, very, very sad :(

At least you know what happened now.

It's awful when cats just go off, my cat of 21 years, Nicki, did this. :(

At least you know what happened now.

It's awful when cats just go off, my cat of 21 years, Nicki, did this. :(

OMG 21 years! That is awful Edna :(

I have started a thread on the main forum about the viability of hiring sniffer dogs to find missing cats, here (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=436716).

And here's a post and my reply from the thread. Could this be a seriously viable idea for finding our lost pets?

I would have said "No", but then again:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/23/local-residents-hire-pet-detectives-find-missing-a/

Wow, thanks for that, cgksheff. So the idea is already in use in the USA! I'm going to quote a section from the site...Surely this is a business opportunity just waiting to be set up for people used to working with sniffer dogs.

The use of sniffer dogs to track lost dogs is a relatively new phenomenon. It was started by a retired police officer in Central California.

Kat Albrecht, who had trained search and rescue dogs to hunt for humans, saw a gap in the market for using the same techniques to look for missing pets. Albrecht, who lives in Clovis, near Fresno, founded the Missing Pet Partnership, a national nonprofit organization, and trains and certifies missing animal response technicians at her pet detective academy.

Jolene Hoffman, shelter director for the Humane Society of Ventura County, admits that she’s never heard of using dogs to search for dogs, but wasn’t surprised at the lengths that people will go to in order to find their missing pets.

“So many people opt not to have children now and have pets instead,” she said. “And they’re prepared to do whatever it takes to protect them.”

There are 20 certified missing animal response technicians working in the U.S., according to Berns. She and Coldiron have been working together since 2005 and say demand for their services is growing. They’ve been called out more than 200 times in the past year, and they receive an average of two to three requests for help a month from pet owners in Ventura County.

The services of a pet detective are not cheap. Chad Atkins and Diaz, who own four other dogs besides Pixel, paid $2,000 for two searches.

aww rest in peace beefy ,
I am sad for you but at least you know whats happend to him.
xxx

aww rest in peace beefy ,
I am sad for you but at least you know whats happend to him.
xxx

Thanks teeny. It does ease the pain of his loss, knowing that he is in cat heaven and not confined in a high rise flat somewhere, being neglected.