From Sunday, 26 Nov 2006 Courier Jurnal ... Cat-astrophe averted: Feline, couple reunited after scary adventure in Louisville ... This year, Linda and Robert Berzok's Christmas card will feature a picture of their 13-year-old cat Rommie, and words about their Louisville miracle. Thanks to the generosity and caring of strangers, the Berzoks' longhaired gray, white and black cat is home again in Arizona after an unplanned adventure.
The Berzoks were driving from ... upstate New York to their winter place in Arizona on Nov. 1 when they stopped in Louisville .... As they opened the car door Rommie leaped out. The cat, rescued from the streets 13 years earlier, always had been nervous. It took 10 years before she would jump onto Robert Berzok's lap. Linda Berzok, a 63-year-old writer and food historian indicated that the toothless, clawless and extremely timid, Rommie's fate unfolded.
Their "little girl" hid under cars and bushes around the parking lot - then she disappeared. After hours of searching, Robert Berzok, a 62-year-old retired communications director, didn't do much sleeping. Every few hours he would get up, get dressed and search. Then, filled with dread, they continued home.
Once in Arizona, they placed a new advertisement in the newspaper, this time with a photo of Rommie, and made more detailed fliers, which they sent to several Louisville organizations, including Alley Cat Advocates -Vicki Litton, a retired BellSouth worker and others called to tell them about a cat she had spotted matching Rommie's description. Robert Berzok flew to Louisville that night.
Cheryl Jewell, a volunteer with Alley Cat, worked nearby and kept an eye out for the cat. Berzok was paying his hotel bill when he heard that a woman searching nearby had heard a cat's cry. Litton had spotted a culvert and decided to drop a little cat food in front. That's when she heard a hiss. She closed off the culvert But it wouldn't budge.
Jane Harper, of Alley Cat, and her husband showed up. Capt. Ann Camp with Metro Animal Services. She brought a pole. Cat food and sardines were placed near the traps. Berzok got down on the muddy ground and edged closer to the cat, which slowly edged closer to him. When it was about 2 feet away he grabbed it. Rommie emerged -- muddy, scrawny and scared, but well.
Berzok began to cry, then Litton, then the rest.
"It was sweet; it was just the best feeling in the world," Litton said.
Robert Berzok has instituted a strict car policy. "She can have the run of the car," he said. "But before any door is opened, she must be in a carrier cage."
Hurrah for K. A. T. and member Rommie
2 comments:
The miracle of Louisville continues as Rommie turns 15 years old next month. Instead of being cooped up in a car on the semi-annual cross country ventures, she's learned that it's easiest to fly back and forth between Tucson and Albany. With a reservation in paw, she handles the flights underneath a passenger's seat, and somehow the whole trip, in her mind, seem as if it is a long run in a mini-van. But for any cat, a single day flight is far better than 7 nights at motels. With luck she still has a few more years and no prospects for overnights away from her homes.
Thanks for the update!
(and thanks for reading the blog!)
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