Kelly Ladd of New Ipswich met most of her new neighbors when she was knocking on their door, desperately hoping that they had seen her missing cat, an American bobtail-Siamese mix named Gracie.
When Ladd and her family moved to their new house in New Ipswich on Nov. 2, their indoor cat, Gracie, hadn’t enjoyed the car ride, Ladd said in an interview with the Ledger-Transcript Tuesday. In the short trip from the car to the house, Gracie escaped her carrier and took off in fright.
“We thought, maybe she’ll come back in a few hours. And weeks went by,” Ladd said.
Gracie is an indoor cat and didn’t know the area at all, Ladd said. The family searched desperately, posting their missing pet on local Facebook pages and asking for assistance from neighbors.
“People were so nice. They offered to let us look in their sheds, and offered Havahart traps,” Ladd said.
Gracie is a distinctive-looking cat, Ladd said. She’s a tortoiseshell patterned cat, with blue eyes and a bobbed tail. Ladd said one neighbor notified her he’d seen a cat with no tail in the neighborhood, but other than that, there wasn’t any news, despite dozens of people saying they would keep their eyes open for her.
After more than two months missing, Ladd had all but given up. The family had even gotten a new kitten named Lulu.
So Ladd was shocked when she got an early morning text from a resident nearby, saying she had trapped a cat matching Gracie’s description. The resident had put out a safe trap after an animal had gotten into her trashcans multiple times. After catching Gracie, she looked for missing pet posts, and saw Ladd’s seeking information about Gracie.
It should have been the perfect reunion, Ladd said, but when she met the neighbor to collect the cat, Gracie panicked at being taken outside, and again was able to run off.
Ladd said it was indeed disheartening to have gotten so close – but now she had seen Gracie, knew she was alive and healthy, and better yet, knew where to start looking.
And this time, her search bore fruit. Employees at the Romeril Tax and Accounting office told her that they had seen her cat hanging out in their parking lot for the past week. Ladd put out some cat food and one of her hats with her scent on it.
The next morning, after checking once and finding the food tin missing, Ladd tried one more time later in the morning, and there was Gracie.
“I parked the car, got out, shook some dry food, and nothing. I got back in my car, rolled down the window, and shook the food one more time, and I heard her. She’s part Siamese, and she has a very distinctive meow. I shook it again, and she popped her head out,” Ladd said.
Ladd said after the cat had been missing almost two and a half months, it was almost surreal to see her again.
“I started talking to her just like I do at home, and she came up to me,” Ladd said. “Just like that.”
She was able to scoop her up, and put her in the car. Her two children, Olivia, 6, and Drew, 4, were with her at the time, Ladd said.
“Olivia was overcome with emotion. She was sobbing happy tears. It was so sweet,” Ladd said. “It’s like a surreal thing. She’s such a big part of our family. Some pets are like people to you, and that’s how Gracie is. Especially to Olivia. That’s her cat, and they have such a special bond.”
This time, Gracie was brought into their house with no issue, safe and sound.
Ladd said while Gracie going missing on their first day in town was awful, it also showed her exactly what kind of town she and her family had moved to.
The family had just moved from a Boston suburb, and Ladd said it was typical for people to mainly keep to themselves. She said the community welcomed her family so whole heartedly and were eager to help in trying to find Gracie.
“We are so appreciative and grateful,” Ladd said. “Coming to a new town, where you don’t really know anyone, I feel incredibly lucky to have been embraced this way. Olivia especially wants to tell everyone thank you for being so kind, and welcoming, and caring enough to help find our cat. She’s a huge part of our family, and she’s thankful for our cat to be back.”
Gracie was a little thin and had some ticks, but overall seems to be healthy and retained her loving personality, Ladd said. She had a veterinarian appointment scheduled for Wednesday to ensure her health.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.