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WEST JORDAN — After missing for over six weeks, a cat was reunited with its West Jordan family with the help of a dog.
Desiree Van Dyke said she first found her cat when she attended a wedding in Torrey in 2004. She said the animal was a stray that kept begging for food, so her family adopted the cat and named it Torrey after the town.
Van Dyke said although very timid and shy, the now 10-year-old cat became a prominent part of their family. After a neighborhood cat got shot by a pellet gun, Van Dyke said they began keeping Torrey inside their garage for protection. However, the family accidentally locked the cat out one evening and the next morning, it was gone.
“She is such a shy cat,” Van Dyke said. “She hides from my kids. She hides from my mom. I knew a human probably couldn’t find her. I didn’t know how we would ever, ever find her.”
Torrey went missing on June 2 and the family put up fliers and checked local animal shelters in an attempt to locate her, Van Dyke said. She said after several weeks, her family told her she needed to move on and stop searching for the cat.
“I was told to stop looking for her,” she said. “I took that piece of advice, but I couldn’t do it. Even though they told me to stop, I felt that she was still out there. I just felt she was still alive.”
Van Dyke said her family went on vacation to Oregon for a week and when they were returning home on July 19, they received a call at 10:30 p.m. from the Utah Veterinary Center telling them their cat had been found.
“I bawled (when I heard),” Van Dyke said. “I was actually in disbelief.”
The cat was initially treated at the Utah Veterinary Center and then transferred to Banfield Pet Hospital. Van Dyke said the family who found Torrey lived about 3 miles away from her. The family took the cat to the vet after their dog found it and alerted them to it hiding underneath their shed, Van Dyke said.
“The cat was in pretty bad shape when she got to UVC,” said Bradey Christensen, practice manager of Banfield Pet Hospital. “She’s doing a lot better. She’s starting to eat again now and she’s drinking on her own which is huge progress. She’s doing really well.”
The cat was released from the clinic Tuesday evening and after six weeks was reunited with its family. Van Dyke believes the cat will survive.
