"Shelby", Ragdoll, Saratoga

Shelby is a three year old brown and white DLH with blue eyes Ragdoll. She typically an indoor cat with limited outdoor access to the large backyard and front yard. She had been missing for a few days when I was called.

The last time Shelby was seen was on that Saturday morning when the landscapers came to the house and Shelby was inside. She has to be let in and out, so one of the doors must have be left open and she got out and was scared by the landscaping machines. Her people had scoured their yard and the immediate neighborhood backwards and forth, up and down and side to side since they were convinced that Shelby was hiding out or injured nearby. There were no sightings of Shelby.

The track we found led down the street and then made a left and crossed a very busy street. From here the track led around Saratoga and San Jose streets for a couple of hours and then it went right back to their neighborhood and passed directly in front of their home and kept going down the street. There was a deviation behind a house to a creek, but then it came back up and continued down the street.

From here it crossed into the high school, which was about a block away. The track went through the school and then out to the main street where the front of the school it.

From here the track went straight up the street for many, many blocks without any side deviation. I mentioned this to Shelby's person that this may be Shelby being carried, but I wasn't 100%. The track then turned to the right and then another right and then went straight down the street again. The track was on the side of a vehicle driving, so we could certainly still consider a car.

Then the track turn left and went a couple of more blocks, and then it turned left and then stopped alongside a large neighborhood park just in front of a walking path that went through the park. The track then immediately turned left into the park and followed the paved path through the park and then went to the public restrooms and the scent went into the restroom. Then the track came out, continued along the path paved and then made a left along the sidewalk and continued alongside the park to a walking path that goes along San Tomas Expressway, which went for a long distance (several blocks) along STE.

At the next intersection, the track went right and crossed STE and then went straight along the street.

After about the distance of two blocks the track suddenly turned right up a driveway, which was some type of corporation yard for the City of San Jose. Unfortunately, it was after 5 PM and the yard was closed. We looked all over the different signs but could not find a phone number to call. We looked up and down the fence but could not find another possible way in.

Shelby's person called another family member at home and asked them to look at this place and try to find a number. In the meantime I checked up and down the driveway, but the dogs did not indicate a track leading out. Since we don't know the time frame on this, either Shelby was still inside or was taken out from another gate. From where we were standing and it was dark but this time, the place looked very large with several possible exists.

We all drove back to Shelby's home and they asked me to take the dogs through several neighbor's houses to double check that Shelby was not in these yards. I agreed to do this.

We walked to several houses and we did a "find felix" which is a general cat search without following a specific scent since we know that Shelby's goes to these yards.

We searched several yards, but did not find Shelby anywhere. While we were doing this, Shelby's people got a call from the City of San Jose responding to their request to search the yard. I said I would go to the yard if there would be somebody to meet us, however, The City said they did not have anybody at that time (around 7 PM) to meet us. They said that somebody would be there the following morning.

My best guess about what happened to Shelby is that she was picked up at the high school by a student that was on a bicycle or skateboard. This student got a ride from the school to the park by a person in a car. From the park that student rode with Shelby to the City corp yard because they knew somebody there, like a relative, who could give them a ride home. That is what I explained to Shelby's people.