"Little Cookie," DSH, Siamese/Tabby Mix, Oakland - Found!

Found in Less Than 15 Minutes!

I received the following letter from Cookie's mom after the search:

"Hi Jackie---

Hope you and Dino are well.  

Please feel free to use it as well as the picture of Little Cookie and me on your website.

Eternal thanks to you and Dino :]

I am happy to be a reference for you, and to personally speak to, text or email with any prospective clients of yours. :]

Lauren

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I have nothing but the highest praise for Jackie and Dino. 

 My cat Little Cookie had fallen out a window when her claw got stuck in the window screen. Cookie, a strictly indoor kitty, is extremely shy and hides from most people, including my husband (although she is extremely attached to me[and I am to her!] and is continuously at my side, on my lap, in my bed, etc...) 

 Even though I knew she was almost undoubtedly on my property or close by (a freaked out indoor cat like Cookie will find the closest, best hiding spot and not move no matter what), and I had begun to search for her outside, I truly felt there was NO hope whatsoever of finding her, that I was searching in vain, and the tragedy of this would be absolutely heartbreaking for me, and how would I ever recover from losing Little Cookie. If she gets freaked out and hides very well*indoors* it would absolutely be impossible to find her outside when she is undoubtedly multiple times as freaked out as she’s ever been in her life indoors.

After some research on the internet, I found Jackie. Responding promptly to my phone call, she thoroughly gathered information from me over the phone and was able to schedule the search for that same day.  She arrived on time, was up front and couldn’t have been clearer about her rate structure, her work process, and what my job needed to be in this situation. She was very focused on the work at hand and totally knew exactly what she was doing as we gathered samples of Little Cookie’s scent from places in my house. 

Dino was super happy to be searching.  :] although he was extremely excited, Jackie kept him controlled and focused.  In 15 minutes or so, we honed in on a particular spot on my property.  Frankly, I truly thought Dino (and Jackie) were mistaken, about this spot.  Honestly I was a bit frustrated at their focus on this spot, and was aggravated that Jackie was persisting in asking me to move things so that Dino could have better access to this tight spot. (I may have even tried to discourage her!) She was saying that Dino was extraordinarily focused on this spot, even for him. And then to my utterly BLOWN MIND, I spotted Little Cookie in that very spot we were exploring.  I was humbled and shocked!! I just could not get over that she was found and in less than 30 minutes!! That Dino and Jackie were my very last hope of finding her and that they did was just the most mind blowing and relieving thing-- I was nothing short of absolutely stunned and more grateful than I can put into words.

I highly, highly recommend Jackie and Dino and shall always sing their praises and have tremendous gratitude to them.

lauren schneider
www.wonderlandgarden.com
510.914.2772

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Search details:

Cookie is a four year old, petite, 10 pound, indoor only, female DSH tabby/siamese mix. She went missing by accident at around 7:30 AM this morning, when she fell from a second story window after the screen came loose. When she went missing, she was not wearing a collar and she was not microchipped. 

There were no sightings of her after she went missing, even after an extensive search of the yard and surrounding neighborhood. 

I received a call around 12:31 PM asking to come help to look for her. I was there by 2:30 PM. 

After showing Dino the scent article, we first checked two vehicles on the property in the front of the house in case she was hiding in one of the cars, which was an oversized and raised truck with no shell. Dino said she was not there. From there we went to the back of the house, where four loose and feral cats lived on the property. The yard was a standard sized urban backyard, maybe 30 feet long by 30 feet wide, high fences and inside the yard was a lot of potted plants and an extensive organized wooden plank pile that was from ground to the height of the fence and maybe 15 feet long. After checking the perimeter of the fence and a hole in the base of one of the fences that led to a neighbor's yard, I saw from the corner of my eye a petite but leggy cat run from the middle of the yard to the plank pile. Cookie's mom thought it was one of the feral cats, but I decided to take Dino there to have him check. 

I took Dino to the location where I saw the cat run to and Dino frantically started to get deeper inside the pile, scratching at tree stumps and an old BBQ. We had to move several large cut and trimmed tree stumps stored underneath, along with several potted plants. I was also getting poked by other cactus plants. Dino barely had room to squeeze in, but he frantically pushed himself in. Cookie's mom said that she did see one of the feral cats on one of the levels of the plank pile and thought Dino was trying to get to that cat. But, I knew that Dino would not really care about another cat, but he would care if he smelled the cat we were looking for. I asked if we could continue to look through the pile and move some more items. 

Within one minute, Cookie's mom shouted, "I see Cookie! She is wedged down behind a large pot." I pulled Dino out of the search pile and held him with me while Cookie's mom pulled away pots one by one and pushed herself down to where she could reach her. She was about 10 feet to my left. After about another minute, she pulled Cookie out of the wood pile and held her close. She quickly went into the house to let Cookie loose.

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Name: Little Cookie Oakland
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 0.10 km (0.1 mi)
Total time: 34:59
Moving time: 01:29
Average speed: 0.18 km/h (0.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 4.22 km/h (2.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 4.22 km/h (2.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 334:30 min/km (538:20 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 14:14 min/km (22:54 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 14:14 min/km (22:54 min/mi)
Max elevation: 0 m (0 ft)
Min elevation: -5 m (-16 ft)
Elevation gain: 5 m (16 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 9/24/2013 3:27pm