Plato
Philadelphia, PA, United States
In September 2019, my big tuxedo boy, Plato, escaped through an untended, open back door into an alley outside our home in Philadelphia. He escaped at night, and we didn’t even know he was missing until the next morning. I immediately panicked, with zero clue about how to get him back. My wife, Amy, had lost her cat (Hooper X) about 10 years previously and used Jenne to get him back. She gave me Jenne’s number and I immediately called.
Plato is chipped, so I also went through everything I needed to do to report him missing and alert the local SPCA and rescue groups to be on the lookout for him. He’s a BIG boy with distinct markings, so he’s easy to spot. When Jenne called me back, she asked me a lot of questions about Plato’s personality, what motivates him, if he’d ever escaped before, what kind of environment my neighborhood is, and where he might be hiding.
First, she made sure that we took care of his basic needs like food and water and told me what to look for so I could be reasonably assured that it was Plato who was visiting. The best recommendation she gave me, in addition to all of the practical, reasonable cat-related advice, was to buy a wireless security camera and set it up with a view of where he was probably hiding. Within just a few days I sighted my boy on camera! He was exactly where Jenne and I thought he would be, in a small grove of trees and overgrowth across the alley from my house. I could see that he was out there, he was nearby, and he was okay.
Once we knew that, Jenne walked me through the best kind of trap to use and the best ways to try to entice him inside it. After eight long, distraught days—during which Jenne helpfully talked me through all of my panic and despair—we saw Plato on the video about to go into the trap. Somehow he triggered it without ending up inside it, but that was okay. He was nearby and we were able to get him into the house with his favorite treats. As far as he was concerned, it was like nothing had even happened. He wasn’t even dirty!
I could not have been more relieved or more grateful to Jenne for helping get Plato home safely. Without her help, who knows how long he might have been out there and what might have happened to him. Jenne gave me the confidence and support to see the process through, and she did it all over the phone! It was like she’d known Plato from the time he was a kitten, even though she had never met him. I recommend Jenne to everyone who needs help with a lost cat or with a difficult cat behavior. She has helped us over and over again, and our cat kingdom is much better for it.
