What do you love about your cat?
We love that he’s so playful and frisky, and he’s very loving. He is a younger cat; we found him when he was a baby. He’s a rescue cat. I think he was feral and lived only outside until we adopted him. My daughter found him in our front yard under a bush and spent three days coaxing him. She sat outside with food/tuna and talked to him, then she started petting him, and then it went from there.
Who made the lost cat poster?
I did. I wanted to bring awareness to look around for him.
Why did you name your cat Geno?
My daughter did, she just said “I’m going to call him Geno.” We call him Geno Bambino.
What has your cat taught you that has surprised you?
That you can be a feral cat and grow up to be a sweet loving kitty; he loves the kids. Don’t judge a cat by their background!
Did you ever find Geno?
Yes! He was gone for 4 nights and 5 days. It was cold and windy, and we had gotten advice to go out at night when it’s quiet and call for him and shake his food bowl. We did that every night; we’d walk around the neighborhood and look for glowing eyes and his meow. He has a distinct meow. Our neighbors felt sorry for us.
I thought I heard a faint meow the fourth night by our neighbor’s house, so I went there. He had two cats, and one dog that barked loudly, and neither of the cats was Geno. I went back home and got my husband, and we went back to the same neighbor’s side yard where I had heard the meow.
We heard faint meowing and found him 60 ft up a pine tree in the neighbor’s side yard. It was 10:30 at night and we could tell he was starting to get tired; he kept dosing off in the tree.
I googled 24-hour cat rescue arborist, and called an arborist to get him out of the tree. Again, it was 10:30 at night, but this lovely older man answered the phone, he was the only one who answered the phone, and he just happened to be close by. He drove up at 11pm to the neighbor’s side yard and helped rescue Geno! That’s how we know how high up he was in the tree, the arborist told us. Before we called him we had gone to the fire station to ask for help, but they told us they don’t do cat rescues anymore, that it only happens in the movies.
Our neighbors and the arborist were lovely. We were standing in the yard with blankets, and the arborist was going to push Geno out of the tree and we were going to catch him with our blankets. Well, the arborist had to cut branches to get to Geno, and as we are standing there my blink camera goes off back at home because I got an alert on my phone.
So I check my phone, and I see my cat walk across the camera! He had gotten scared and jumped off the tree onto the neighbor’s roof when the arborist started cutting limbs to reach him, and just went home. We have a dog door, and he went inside and was sitting there licking his paws when we got back.
Does your cat have relationships with other animals?
Yes, with cats and dogs. We have a German Shepard and they are buddies. It took a while due to Geno’s feral past trauma, but they are friends. We have another cat who is 10 and they tolerate each other.
Does your cat have any special abilities and/or psychic powers?
No psychic powers, but he is a mice killer and a bunny killer. I put a bell on him to save the bunnies.
Is your cat indoor/outdoor?
He’s Both. He uses a dog door.
How would you describe your cat’s personality?
He is sweet and loving and fun.
Why did you decide to talk with me?
Because I think it’s encouraging to hear the story to not give up looking for your cat. It took a lot of energy to make signs and go searching for him with the other things still going on in our life at the same time as well. I think it’s good for people to know there’s hope. That cats are sneaky, so give them time and keep looking.
Does your cat remind you of any people in your life?
My daughter, they are both fun, but frisky and spicy. Geno is close to my son who is older; he doesn’t try and squish him with love hugs like my daughter.
What is something to know about your neighborhood?
We have really nice neighbors. We reached out to our neighbors after we found him, and everyone was super happy and encouraging. They were helping look for him too.
After he was found we made a timeline of where he was last seen. Where he was last seen was on the opposite side of where we were looking. We might have found him sooner if we had known that. We put a tracker on him now and it’s lovely. I can turn on the thing and see where he is. The tracker has a range of 300 feet and the closer you get to him the lights on the tracker turn different colors.
What kinds of things do you notice about your cat?
He likes to sleep a lot during the day and be a menace to society at night. He brings mice home, and bunnies. He brings them in the dog door; he brings them in alive and lets them go. Once he brought a live bunny and let it loose inside my closet. He also kills them and leaves them outside. He’s a great hunter.
Describe your cat with four words:
Sweet, frisky, independent, fun.