Mysterious disappearance of cats leave owners tormented

Families all over the Roodepoort area have reported tragic circumstances befalling their feline friends. Is this just a coincidence, or is something nefarious brewing?

Cat owners have gone to extreme lengths to find their missing pets, from lowering cameras into drains, canvassing the area surrounding their house and even calling in help from search and rescue teams to help locate their cats. Their investigations have unfortunately not been fruitful.

Carol Lenzi, a Helderkruin resident, shined a light on the abundance of missing felines when her cat, Gigi, went missing.

“We have searched everywhere, exhausted every resource. Even finding their bodies would be a form of closure, how is it possible to have so many cats go missing without anyone seeing anything?” Carol asked, whose ginger and white-haired tabby went missing in April.

“During the evening on April 25, I started getting concerned as Gigi always comes home. She’s only two, chipped, sterilised, wears a collar and only knows our home as her home, although she loves to play around our complex,” elaborated Carol.

Since Gigi went missing Carol got into contact with various other residents in her neighbourhood who have also had their cats ‘vanish into thin air’ or poisoned.

Claudine Bennett another resident of Helderkruin has had her beloved Bengal cat, Leo, missing for almost six months.

“Leo went missing on January 27, we thought he had wandered off a little too far and was coming back as he usually does, but after three days panic started to set in,” explained Claudine.

“We knew something was wrong as Leo is a cat that returns home every night to eat and he used to sleep on our bed. He was extremely loving and he used to visit numerous people in the complex and many people adored him.”

Claudine continued by stating that they looked for Leo everywhere, in Kloofendal Nature Reserve, inside their complex and surrounding areas, but there was no sign of him.

“He is still missing and my daughter is distraught, she has not been herself since Leo has gone missing, she asks me about him all the time and what I think happened. We even hiked the Koppies with security and searched the abandoned houses for any sign of Leo or the other missing cats and there was nothing. We feel completely helpless and heartbroken because he is a Bengal, theft was the first thing that came to mind but after a while, you start to consider other scenarios. Cats do wander but they come home and with the number of cats going missing, it’s hard to miss that something is off,” she exclaimed.

Lientjie Coetzee, who stays in Helderkruin, adopted two tiny kittens after moving into her new home. Then, nine months later, Lientjie realised her long-haired ginger cat, Peter, was missing.

“Katrien and Peter grew up together, they played together and always came home. Now Peter has been gone since last September and I can see Katrien is distraught without him around,” explained Lientjie.

Alex van Wyk, a resident of Ouklip Road, Wilro Park shared his horrific experience with the Roodepoort Record.

“I moved here with my girlfriend last December, not only for the scenery and relaxed atmosphere but also for the fact that the choices of pet-friendly homes were quite abundant. This was a crucial requirement for us as we had three cats, a large dog and a snake,” explained Alex.

He went on to say that they have never had any issues. “Our neighbours on all sides all have animals of their own, dogs and cats alike, and we felt very comfortable having our animals in a space surrounded by fellow animal lovers. From the end of May to the beginning of June we had a stranger cat who would come and visit our garden from time to time. He got on perfectly with our cats and he was very friendly, so we were happy for him to jump into the garden now and then. A week went by where our cats didn’t get a visit from their friend which I thought nothing of, I had assumed he just stayed home,” continued Alex.

On June 2, Alex saw on a community Facebook page that the friendly stranger cat was found poisoned on the side of the road, adding to the plethora of similar posts flooding the page.

“I was shocked to see how many cats were going missing and how close to home it was.”

He went on to say, “One of our cats, Oreo, has always been an outside cat for the six years we had him, and this night was no different to any other, so we thought nothing of it. At around 21:30, my girlfriend and I had just finished eating dinner and noticed some commotion between two of our cats, Loki and Oreo. They often played with each other and got rough as male cats do, and again we thought nothing out of the ordinary. Our complacency was our downfall.”

Alex elaborated that Oreo tended to catch birds and bring them into the house so they decided to investigate to see if this was the case.

“What we found was Oreo convulsing and vomiting inside one of our shoe cupboards. We acted immediately and took him to the West Rand Emergency Vet Clinic. Oreo was always an extremely affectionate and friendly cat, the effect that this poison had on him turned him incredibly violent and in a state of severe panic. While we were still in the car he was in severe pain and convulsed. We got to the animal hospital at around 21:40 and as we arrived at the vet, they immediately took Oreo to their operating room and got to work on him, at this point his mouth was now foaming.

“In those 10 minutes on our way to the vet, we had to watch our cat die horrifically,” Alex added as emotion filled his voice.

Dread filled Alex’s voice as he continued, “We were in the waiting room for not even one minute when the vet came and told us that he didn’t make it. I asked what could have happened and the vet told me that Oreo was showing signs of being poisoned. I then asked about the possibilities of accidental poisoning perhaps via rat poison or something to that effect, however, the vet quickly confirmed that Oreo was not showing any signs of ingesting rat poison, but instead showed signs he was given dog tick medication, which he then explained is extremely toxic to cats and as we experienced, can kill them within minutes.”

With all the Facebook posts Alex saw, the other cat that would come visit his cats and Oreo’s fate, he felt in his gut that something was going on.

“I spoke to my landlord who had mentioned that our next-door neighbour had three cats go missing this year alone. So now not only is this problem happening, but it’s happening here, in our home and the homes surrounding them.”

After many social media posts, interactions and investigations, Alex has estimated that over 20 cats have gone missing this year alone, ‘and those are just what I know about’.

Alex concluded with an ever-resounding phrase, uttered by almost all those interviewed by the Record, “We received no closure, no justice and no answers.”

The Record is appealing on behalf of all the cat owners in our community to our readers. If you have seen something suspicious, or share these owners’ experiences, email journalist Nicola at nicola@caxton.co.za.