Caturday felid trifecta: Cat chain reaction; cat missing for a decade found 1200 miles from home; cat living at Home Depot becomes a media star; and lagniappe

I have at least three Caturday felid posts in statu nascendi, though whether this feature will continue is still in question (most people who wrote in want it continued, but of course I won’t hear from those people who don’t like it or don’t read it).

First, a cat chain reaction:

****************

Here, from Wichita (Kansas) 12 news, we have the story of a cat that went missing from Wichita, and was found a decade later in North Carolina, of all places. It’s now on its way home thanks to a GoFundMe campaign. Click to read:

 Update: A Wichita woman says a cat whom she lost 10 years ago will be heading home next month.

Carol Holmes said she got an email on her father’s birthday, that his namesake, Bob the cat, had been found in North Carolina.

Holmes said a group was committed to bringing Bob home, but she needed to raise nearly $1,000 to do that.

As of Tuesday morning, a GoFundMe set up to cover the costs of transporting Bob nearly halfway across the country has exceeded its goal.

A Wichita cat owner got quite a shock when she received an email about her missing cat – which had been gone for 10 years. Even more surprising – it was found in North Carolina.

Carol Holmes spent August 19 thinking of her father, Bob. That day would have been his 94th birthday – and that day she got an email about another Bob she was missing.

“It was surreal. It really is. I was just so stunned,” said Carol.

You see, “Bob” was also the name of Carol’s missing cat. She’d named it after her beloved father. Bob the cat disappeared from Wichita ten years ago. Now, he’s resurfaced in North Carolina and Carol has no idea how he ended up there.

“I wish that Bob could talk and tell us the story of what happened these 10 years,” said Carol.

Someone in Fuquay-Verina, North Carolina, found Bob, took him to a local vet and had him scanned. That’s when Carol was notified – all the way in Wichita.

“It’s very unusual to find a cat when they have been gone nearly a decade,” said Carol.

She said she’s thrilled Bob has been found, and now, she’s working with a volunteer group to get him back to Kansas because, of course, there is no place like home.

The GoFund me raised $2,275—more than ample to bring Bob home.

Here’s the errant moggie, and there’s a video at the link above, though it was made before Bob came home. He traveled a distance of 1200 miles. If we only knew how he traversed that distance!

***************

Finally, we have an “influencer” cat?

Meet Leo, a ginger puss living at a Home Depot in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.  He enjoys wearing a tee-shirt (!) and has become a TikTok celebrity. From yahoo! news:

A cat living at a Home Depot store in New Jersey has become a full-fledged social media celebrity — and has even been drawing new customers to the business.

Jeffrey Simpkins, whose TikTok videos of Leo the cat went viral, said he wanted to document the feline after first encountering him at the Mount Laurel store last month.

“The very first one I did, the first day it hit 4.5 million [views],” Simpkins told WTFX-TV. “I’m happy if I get 1,000 views on a video before this.”

Simpkins told WPVI-TV that Leo’s devoted fans admire “his unique personality, like he’s friendly, he wears clothing unlike other cats, and he has several places he sleeps at.”

Store employees said Leo was a former barn cat brought to the store about a year ago to help solve a mouse problem. The employees take care of Leo and make sure he gets regular vet check-ups and has a place to sleep when the store is closed on holidays.

Some customers said they came to the store just to see Leo.

“It is the last week of summer, so we figured let’s go see the cat and make the most of it and see if we can be part of his fan club,” Cherry Hill resident Michelle Lythberg said.

Here’s a Channel 6 news report on Leo and his doings. Note that the reporter’s name is Katie Katro.

You can see more of Leo’s Tik Tok videos tiktok videos here.   Here’s two more short ones.

The store employees clearly love him!

@cat_dad_2020

Leo’s nightly routine 🐱@The Home Depot #catdad2020 #catsoftiktok #homedepot

♬ original sound – 🐱❤️Jeff (cat_dad_2020)❤️

@cat_dad_2020

We love visiting Leo at Home Depot #catdad2020 #catsoftiktok

♬ original sound – 🐱❤️Jeff (cat_dad_2020)❤️

****************

Lagniappe: A spider that looks like a cat:

The cat-faced (or cat face) spider (Araneus gemmoides) is a common outdoor orb-weaver spider. The spider gets its name from the shape of its abdomen which looks similar to the face of a mountain lion.

These spiders are considered beneficial garden residents as they will consume many types of pests. The female cat-faced spider dies soon after laying eggs.

The abdomen of the spider contains a pair of conical humps at the top of the abdomen that form the “ears” of the cat-face pattern. Other markings on the abdomen contribute to the face-like features on this spider.

h/t: Philip, Randy, Debra, Michael