THE INCREDIBLY LUCKY STORY OF BAMBA

One day, about half a year ago, I spotted little old catty I KNEW wasn't supposed to be on the streets of Tel Aviv. He was tiny, fluffy, skinny, sick, and scared. Clearly not a street cat. It took me about 5 minutes of due diligence to learn that he had appeared in that garden months earlier and was being fed by a building resident. He had originally been wearing a green collar. I named him Foofycat and got him into an amazing temporary home with a friend of mine. She decided to keep him after just a few days (he is THE BEST). Bloodwork revealed that he had only the beginning of kidney and liver disease, meaning that his health would be manageable by diet and care alone. LUCKY!!!!!

Searches for an owner turned up nothing, but I eventually scanned him for a microchip, just in case. He had one!!! Most cats in Israel don't, so that was really lucky. The chip's notes said that the owners had moved abroad, leading me to assume that they had abandoned him before their flight. But, since I try not to assume but to fact-find, I found the owners on Facebook and asked them why, if they were in Costa Rica, their 19-year-old cat was roaming the streets of Tel Aviv.

I was met with shock on the other end of the line. The family, spending a year abroad, had left their cat with a best friend, assuming he would be safe and well until their return. That best friend had allowed Foofycat (real name, Bamba, it turns out) outside, and he promptly disappeared. Best Friend decided that Bamba had gone off to die, since he was ancient and sickly, and thought the best thing to do was to hide it from his very happy family, on a tropical getaway in Costa Rica. Why ruin someone's perfectly good vacation? Well, Bamba wasn't dead. He was very much alive, but wouldn't have lived much longer, and a thorough, honest search would have turned him up a few blocks from where he went missing. The family, which had adopted Bamba as a kitten in Belgium and brought him with them to Israel, was absolutely stunned by the entire situation. They were, and are, also extremely grateful that I found him, got him to safety, and followed through with the search. They'll be back in May, and will come get Bamba from him temporary home, where he is loved to death and kept safe every minute.

Moral of the story? CHIP YOUR PETS, AND KEEP THE INFORMATION CURRENT! NEVER TAKE OFF THEIR COLLARS AND TAGS! BE ALERT TO ANIMALS IN NEED, AND TAKE ACTION WHEN YOU FIND ONE! AND ALWAYS, ALWAYS, BE A RESPONSIBLE HUMAN BEING!

BAMBA IN HIS NEW, TEMPORARY HOME