The Return of Fergus The Cat

When pets run away, each day they don’t return can feel like a happy reunion won’t be taking place. So what about a pet that was gone for more than thirty days? Allegheny Mountain Radio has a tale of a black and white tuxedo cat that went missing this year for over a month but showed up alive and well around six miles away! Corena Huffman with the Highland County Humane Society has the feel-good story about “The Return of Fergus The Cat.”

Ms. Huffman says, “So Fergus was a little feral kitten that fostered at my place for almost a year, and we had a lady come out who’s adopted from us before, and Fergus kinda chose her. He’s wrapping around her legs, purring, and she had kind of a soft spot for tuxedo cats, and, so, she takes Fergus home, and on day-two, he got away from her, and she did not want to chase him at her property, and he was acting kinda scared, and he disappeared, and we set traps for Fergus. We took out blankets and things that smelled like the cat house for Fergus to, hopefully, stick around. Um, no luck, and, so, we thought something dreadful had happened to Fergus, and she had checked with her neighbors, and we had all-points bulletin out on Allegheny Mountain Radio and on our website and on Facebook and no one had spotted Fergus, and nearly a month after his disappearance, we thought, you know, he was moved on or something dreadful had happened.

“And I was coming home from a weekend away, and my husband and daughter found a tuxedo cat at our house who was very friendly and hungry and very vocal, and, so, being my husband, he stuck ‘em right back in the cat house with not too much instruction, but when I got home, we discovered that it was Fergus and that he had traveled from Jack Mountain Village, really, the water pump about three miles south of town, back to my home, which we are three miles north of town. He had showed back up. He was in our hayfield and was hungry and had some ticks on him and was ready to be home. In the meantime, the family had adopted another female cat who did not run away and is happily staying at their house, but Fergus is pretty much home with me and would take a special adopter. Otherwise, he can just stay put. I guess he had a pretty good honing sense from bein’ a kitten and staying with me for over a year, but, yeah, that was kind of a fun story. We’re glad he came home unscathed, but we were as surprised to see him as, uh, he was to be there, I think, so, now he’s fat and happy and no more ticks and still very vocal and hasn’t tried to run away from home… his first home,” she says with a laugh.

Ms. Huffman also mentioned another tale of a tuxedo cat that seemed to have travelled from McDowell to Monterey and said she has heard of national news stories about almost unbelievable cross-country cat travelling. Fergus and many other pets and animals are available for adoption at www.highlandcountyhumanesociety.org or by calling 540-908-9152. In addition, lost pets can be reported to Allegheny Mountain Radio to be announced on-air.

In an online addition, here are a few comments from Corena Huffman: