Is Chatting Up Cats in the Neighborhood a Productive Means of Locating One That Has Gone AWOL? Some Individuals in Japan Swear That It Is.

"My cat escaped two days ago and didn't return, but somebody on Twitter said, 'Talking to cats in the neighborhood and saying to them if you see my cat please tell it to come home is an effective technique'."
-- Twitter user Charlie0816

For true lovers of the species, there is not anything more distressing than to have a cat disappear. That already terrifying situation is compounded by the glaring lack of any foolproof method of finding it.

Now comes word from the Land of the Rising Sun that a possible solution to that vexing dilemma could be as close at hand as soliciting the help of cats that reside in the neighborhood. At least that is what one Japanese man reportedly found out earlier this year when he turned to Twitter for help in locating his missing moggy.

"My cat escaped two days ago and didn't return, but somebody on Twitter said, 'Talking to cats in the neighborhood and saying to them if you see my cat please tell it to come home is an effective technique'," the owner, identified only by his Twitter handle as Charlie0816, related to Sora News 24 of Tokyo on May 11th. (See "How to Find a Lost Cat: Unique Method from Japan Proves to Be Surprisingly Effective.")

Whereas most individuals would have scoffed at such an outlandish suggestion, the man instead took it to heart. "So last night, I went to the local convenience store and gave it a try by speaking to the stray cats there, and then this morning our cat returned to the front of our house."

Of course, the world only has his word that he is being truthful and did not in fact concoct the entire story out of thin air. Once he had gone on Twitter in order to share his good fortune with the public he was even more amazed to discover that his newfound insight into locating lost cats was not nearly quite as novel as he had first imagined.

"My mother did the same thing for a child who lost their (sic) cat after just two days of having it," one respondent chimed in to Sora News 24. "She told the stray the story and the cat returned the next day!"

Not about to rely solely upon the beneficence of cats in the neighborhood, another worried owner added a bit of baksheesh to the mix and in return received an even speedier response. "I went looking for my cat with a tin of cat food and when a stray crossed my path, I fed and spoke to it and my cat returned within the hour," that unidentified individual testified to Sora News 24.

At least one cat was so forthcoming that it was willing to lead a distraught owner to that person's missing moggy. "When I lost my cat, one of the strays passed our house so I asked it if it knew where my cat was," another convert related to Sora News 24. "It meowed and then walked slowly toward the storehouse and meowed in front of it. Then I heard my cat meowing back from inside!"

Yet still another hero cat not only located one that was lost but also took it home to boot. "Our cat disappeared on the day we moved into our new place and was missing for a week," another owner divulged. "I asked a stray for its help and the next day the stray came back with my cat. I was dumbfounded!"

Perhaps most amazing of all, enlisting the assistance of cats also reportedly has led to the return of lost dogs. "Our dog disappeared so I asked a pet cat to help find it, and then a few minutes later it came back with our dog," another believer swore to Sora News 24. "I was freaked out and impressed at the same time!"

The most likely explanation for all of these fantastic stories is that they are mere fabrications. A second possibility could be that the events depicted were all coincidence.

For its part, Sora News 24 has floated the idea that the cats were motivated by the green eye of jealousy. That is to say, they returned home out of a fear that they were about to forfeit their meal tickets to other cats in the neighborhood.

Besides failing to explain why that an errant cat would be worried about losing what it had freely chosen to leave behind, such a theory does not even begin to unravel the altruism of the hero cats. Moreover, with the notable exception of intact toms vying for the services of ovulating females, cats are not generally known to be either possessive or envious.

Perhaps most importantly of all, for the testimonials catalogued by Sora News 24 to have any validity at all they presuppose the existence of a special type of neighborhood. Specifically, it would need to be a small and compact one where cats are allowed to roam and thus to get to know each other.

Secondly, the writer of the article uses the labels "stray" and "pet cat" interchangeably and that is problematic. Most notably, stray or homeless cats generally speaking tend not to be around quite as long as those that have owners and they are considerably more standoffish than domesticated ones and that would tend to lessen their willingness to engage with perfect strangers.

Thirdly, there is the seemingly insuperable problem of how that the hero cats ascertained the fate of those that had gone missing. In that light, it is interesting to note that none of the respondents to Sora News 24 were the owners of cats that had been either killed or spirited out of their neighborhoods.

The sad and troubling fact of the matter is that most cats that go missing have met with some sort of foul play. For instance, motorists are their biggest nemeses. Depending upon where they live, they also are subject to predation by dogs, coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons, fishers, birds of prey, and a host of other animals.

Humans, most prominently Animal Control officers, shelters, cops, vivisectors, ornithologists, and wildlife biologists, kill them with impunity. Cats additionally succumb to poisons, such an antifreeze and rodent pesticides, die unexpectedly from seizures, are catnapped, and become trapped inside motor vehicles, shipping containers, and even the mail and thus sometimes end up on the other side of the world.

In many of those cases neighborhood cats would not possess any firsthand knowledge of their fates. Whereas it is entirely possible that cats gossip, the only plausible explanation for the amazing success stories catalogued by Sora News 24 is that they are psychic.

Even so, the methodology outlined by Sora News 24 would be of limited utility to owners desperately seeking to learn the whereabouts of their missing cats. For instance, even if a neighborhood cat knew that a certain member of its species had become trapped inside a motor vehicle it would not have any obvious means of communicating that knowledge to its distraught owner if the conveyance had left the neighborhood. Even if that hurdle could somehow be surmounted the knowledge obtained still would be of limited utility to an owner unless that individual could somehow track down the driver of the vehicle.

Although every bit as far-fetched as talking to strange cats, retaining the services of an animal communicator might possibly be another tool in the toolboxes of owners searching for lost cats. "Wenn man von einem Weltbild ausgeht, in dem neben dem Materiellen auch Feinstoffliches existiert, so bezeichnet die Tierkommunikation die Wahrehmung des tierischen Energiefeldes mit den verschiedenen Hellsinnen wie hellsehen, hellfühlen und hellreichen," professional animal communicator Tanja Bärtschiger explained to the Aargauer Zeitung on April 6th. (See "Sie Kommuniziert mit vermissten Katzen: 'Ich bekomme oft verblüffende Rückmeldungen von Kunden'.")

According to her, aborigines and farmers have been communicating with nature and the animals for a very long time. "Sie (the former) spüren zum Beispiel, wo under der Erde Wasser fliesst," she pointed out to the Aargauer Zeitung. "Auch Landwirte haben oft ein intuitives Verständnis däfur, was ihren Tieren fehlt."

She also lumps the American espionage community's research into Fernwahrnehmung (remote viewing) into the same category. "Für mich ist auch das ein Argument," she vouched to the Aargauer Zeitung. "Denn wenn die Amerikaner nicht überzeugt von dieser Art Fähigkeit gewesen wären, dann hätten sie das Geld bestimmt nicht däfur verwendet."

Tanja Bärtschiger Talks Long Distance to Cats and Other Animals

That, quite obviously, is the weakest link in her chain of arguments and as such demonstrates conclusively that she little understands how that the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington think and operate. Why, those no-good, rotten assholes piss away trillions of dollars each year on practically every harebrained, moronic, and immoral scheme imaginable while cats and American citizens are cruelly left to sleep in the street and to go without food and veterinary-medical assistance. (See Die Presse of Wien, September 14, 2019, "CIA bildete Katzen, Delfine und Raben zu Spionen aus.")

All of that is in addition to their lavish salaries, million-dollar health care, and what that they blow daily on booze, drugs, whores, and high living. Furthermore, if they ever were able to get their sticky fingers on the keys to Fort Knox they would make short shrift of the country's gold reserves in a fortnight and not even think twice about doing so.

As founder of the Bundesverband Tierkommunikation Schweiz in Zeihen, twenty-five kilometers northwest of Aargau, Bärtschiger relies upon a combination of photographs and mental telepathy in order to communicate with cats, dogs, and horses. Although critics have dismissed her efforts as amounting to little more than a combination of empathy and imagination, she is unperturbed by such criticism.

"Ich erlebe täglich die positiven Auswirkungen eines Tiergesprächs und bekomme oft verblüffende Rückmeldungen von Kunden -- wäre das bloss Einbildung, würde es ja keine Veränderungen herbeiführen," she argued to the Aargauer Zeitung.

As proof of her abilities, she claims to have located a cat named Bella from Luzern, eighty-five kilometers south of Zeihen, who had been missing for a week. "Ich trat mit Bella in Kontakt und fragte sie, wo sie denn jetzt ist und wo sie durchgelaufen ist," she disclosed to the Aargauer Zeitung. "Sie vermittelte mir anhand von Bildern und Gefühlen, dass sie in einer Garage eingesperrt ist und beschrieb mir die Umgebung."

Using Google maps, Bärtschiger then was able to pinpoint the exact neighborhood wherein Bella was being held and she then immediately relayed that information to her distraught owner. "Die Besitzerin teilte mir keine halbe Stunde später ganz aus dem Häuschen mit, dass sie Bella genau dort, etwa zwanzig Meter vom beschriebenen Haus, in einer Garagebox gefunden habe," she added to the Aargauer Zeitung.

It should be pointed out, however, that neither she nor the Aargauer Zeitung have offered up any proof as to the veracity of her claims regarding Bella. Moreover, no mention of either that or any other miraculous rescues are to be found on Bärtschiger's web site.

Rather, it would appear that she is more involved in the business of offering classes on communicating with animals as opposed to locating lost cats. Even so, her business makes at least one pretense to operating on the level. "Wer diese Tätigkeit seriös ausübt, bietet zum Beispiel eine Geld-züruck-Garantie an, falls er das Tier komplett falsch wahrgenommen hat," she averred to the Aargauer Zeitung.

In spite of her stunning success with Bella she has, like homeowners all over the United States and parts of Europe, had considerably less luck in communicating her wishes to a somewhat pesky animal who has taken up residence at her house. "Wir haben einen Marder in unserem Dach," she disclosed to the Aargauer Zeitung. "Er findet es das so toll, das ich ihn mit keinem Argument der Welt dazu bewegen kann, sein Zuhause verlassen."j

That glaring failure should not perhaps be used against her in that members of the Mustelidae family always have been a hard sell. The years may come and go but once Waschbären and their cousins have found either a snug place to live or a regular supply of food they are harder to get rid of than the seven-year itch.

On second thought, perhaps it is better that they remained where they are, especially considering how horribly that they are being abused by vivisectors at the United States Department of Agriculture. (See The Washington Post, August 22, 2019, "Caged Raccoons Drooled in One-Hundred-Degree Heat. But Federal Enforcement Has Faded.")

In the final analysis, however, employing an animal communicator in order to locate a lost cat remains pretty much a last-ditch effort. First of all, there simply are not all that many of them available and, secondly, their methodologies are too speculative in order to inspire much confidence.

Enlisting the assistance of neighborhood cats in order to locate one that has gone missing also appears to be a real long shot. Such an undertaking does however afford owners with an opportunity to get to know some new cats and it additionally temporarily takes their minds off of their own worries.

Also, those that are homeless will sans doute much appreciate the food and milk. Who knows but such an exercise just might prove to be successful once in a blue moon. After all, some individuals who were on the brink of death claim to have warded off the arrival of the Grim Reaper by resorting to such outlandish expedients as eating dirt and drinking piss.

In spite of the severe limitations of both methodologies, it is undeniable that something exists beyond the mere physical and that cats always have been associated with it. What exactly it is no one seems to be able to say with any degree of authority.

Such thinking even has its adherents within the scientific community. "Everything science has taught me -- and continues to teach me -- strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death," Wernher von Braun once said. "Nothing disappears without a trace."

Although he may have known a great deal about rockets and jet propulsion, he never quite obviously searched for a lost cat.

Be that as it may, for the time being aggrieved owners are going to be dependent upon all the usual, albeit not very effective, methods of yesterday when it comes to tracking down cats that have gone AWOL. Chiefly among them are, inter alia, scouring their neighborhoods from top to bottom, printing and erecting a gazillion Lost Cat posters, and contacting shelters and veterinarians. More recently, social media and the hiring of private dicks have become popular alternatives.

Even so, the chances of success are anything but encouraging. "It's wonderful when you read about these reunions, but unfortunately for ninety per cent of lost cats, there is no returning home," is how that Lorie Chortyk of the British Columbia SPCA summed up the grim reality to The Province of Vancouver on January 2, 2011. (See "Cats Rarely Come Back.") "When you hear in the media about cats returning home after several months or years, it's usually because a Good Samaritan or an animal shelter traced a tattoo or a microchip back to the original guardians." (See Cat Defender post of March 31, 2010 entitled "A Winnipeg Family Is Astounded by Tiger Lily's Miraculous Return after Having Been Believed Dead for Fourteen Years.")

In even saying that much she has drastically underestimated the odds against cats in that tattoos and microchips, like the more conventional collars and tags and the experimental methodologies advanced by Sora News 24 and Bärtschiger, afford cats absolutely no protection whatsoever against those individuals and animals intent upon doing them harm. (See Cat Defender post of May 25, 2006 entitled "Plato's Misadventures Expose the Pitfalls of RFID Technology as Applied to Cats.")

Although confining cats either indoors or to fenced-in gardens has its merits, doing so also has its share of drawbacks. First of all, doing so cruelly deprives them of access to the great outdoors as well as their freedom and the society of other cats.

Secondly, exclusively indoor environments can be detrimental to their health. (See Cat Defender posts of August 22, 2007 and October 19, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Indoor Cats Are Dying from Diabetes, Hyperthyroidism, and Various Toxins in the Home" and "Smokers Are Killing Their Cats, Dogs, Birds, and Infants by Continuing to Light Up in Their Presence.")

Thirdly, such cats also are at the mercy of, inter alia, fires, gas leaks, attacks by dogs, and the unexpected deaths of their guardians. (See Cat Defender posts of July 13, 2019 and September 22, 2019 entitled, respectively, "Susi Is Knowingly Left All Alone in an Empty Apartment to Slowly Die of Starvation and Untreated Hyperthyroidism after Her Owner Is Confined to an Old Folks' Home" and "Sparkle Is Killed on the Front Stoop of Her House by an Unleashed Dog in the Latest of Centuries-Old Attacks That Bear the Unmistakable Imprimatur of the House of Commons.")

In so far as any answer to this age-old conundrum exists, it surely lies in never letting a beloved cat out of one's sight but, realistically speaking, very few individuals are willing to make a sacrifice of that magnitude.

Photo: Karin Pfister of the Aargauer Zeitung.