Miracle Mussi, the Cat, Survives Two Months Locked in a Basement Without Food!

Feb 11, 2013: Mussi, my beloved tabby from South Chicago, did not return from his nightly outing! At first, I thought he was just extending his nightly trip for a few hours, but Mussi remained gone until after midnight. I started searching the neighborhood over and over, calling his name. After hours of fruitless search activities, I gave up and went to bed. I tossed and turned restlessly until the following morning. Early in the morning, I got up and combed the neighborhood again. I extended the search area a few blocks, puzzled at the situation. I kept calling his name "Muuussssiiii!" Nothing! Where could he be?

On no occasion had Mussi ventured far from the house in the past. In seven years, he'd never disappeared like this. Our silent agreement entailed him checking in with me every 30 minutes or so. He had always been sticking to it. So, what happened all of a sudden? My mind played out the worst horror scenarios. Was he locked in some dark basement? Kidnapped? Run over? Chased away by other cats, or worse, dogs? I felt so desperate that I could not think straight. I was way too depressed and anxious.

I alarmed my family and friends, who were at a loss for words. Everyone loved Mussi and knew him as the most intuitive, smart, gentle tiger from Chicago. They felt sorry for me, as I was still reeling from pain due to another crisis and certainly had enough sorrows. After many more searches, I decided to get help. I asked my sister to contact a woman she calls "witch", her intuitive friend, healer and animal communicator for advice. This woman tuned in and felt that Mussi was slightly injured and hiding in a basement somewhere. She did not feel that he was locked in, but simply hiding out. She said that she would send him energy and guide him home.

No cat appeared. I checked the basements I could get access to and informed the neighbors to do the same. My frustration grew with every passing hour. I scanned the entire area, again and again. Where could this cat be? A neighbor and I checked two buildings' ground floors and garages for a cat sign, to no avail. Instead, she introduced me to her cats, who I greeted suspiciously. They looked guilty and could have been involved in chasing Mussi away. Everyone was a suspect at this point. Even the other two black cats from the neighbor straight across seemed to paw around shiftily. I clearly needed sleep!

I started tagging the entire district and beyond with "Desperately Seeking Mussi" posters. The initial batch I put up two days after Mussi's disappearance, covering several blocks. The densely populated area did not make the choices for flyer placement and neighbor conversations any easier. There were simply too many places where Mussi could be hiding, it was making me dizzy. So, I put flyers on any suitable spot; on buildings, doors, lamp posts, garage doors, garbage bins, you name it - Mussi posters went up! Within days, everyone in the area knew my cat was missing.

As the desperation grew, I decided to talk to one of my friends in LA about an animal communicator she had used years back when her cat was missing. She could not remember the name of the lady in Seattle, so I googled on my own. I found her and sent an emergency request. I guess the animal psychic grasped the severity of the situation. She called me back the same day, after I transferred a bit over a hundred bucks to her PayPal. The information she apparently obtained from Mussi was that he went down an alley way, across a field and then crawled into a hole. He seemed to find the inside of the new territory interesting and decided to hang out for a while. This sounded totally unlike Mussi. She claimed that he wasn't locked in and could potentially get out on his own. She further mentioned that the building was near my house and that we would be reunited one day.

I continued to put more posters up in the neighborhood and ask around. A guy called from a few blocks away, claiming that he had spotted Mussi in his yard. I drove down there instantly, but the cat, of course, was gone. I checked the area, but there was no hint of Mussi.

I expanded the poster and search area a few more blocks. I tagged the post office, the outside of stores, pretty much all lamp posts in the area, bus and train stations. It was cold out. Deep winter had arrived. It did not make Mussi's survival or my search any easier. Many ol' nights I froze my fingers off, posting flyers. I did not want to imagine what the cold spell meant for Mussi, wherever he was. I could not bear the thought of Mussi freezing to death somewhere out there in midwinter.

My phone really starting ringing now. I received calls from numerous people, claiming they spotted Mussi in the cemetery, close to a bus station and sitting on a trail and under a car. However, none was able to either snap a picture or catch the cat. As I was at work, it was not always feasible for me to drop everything and follow vague leads.

Then, one Saturday, I got a call from a French lady who found and held a grey tabby captive. She snapped a picture and sent it. I was on a horse when I got the call, about an hour away. I hurried back as the somewhat blurry picture could have been Mussi. An hour later, I found the French lady in the described area, with four children and a cat gathered around her. Deeply impressed at her determination and persistence, I thanked her immensely for trying to help. Unfortunately, the captured cat was not Mussi and could get released.

It had been way over a week now and still no cat. He was my precious baby, who moved from Chicago to Zurich with me, three and a half years ago. He loved Switzerland as he could venture outside, which was not feasible downtown Chicago. All my life I've had cats, but none as special as Mussi. I was deeply connected to him and loved him from the bottom of my heart. Mussi to me resembled a cat embodiment of Mother Teresa. I knew he was alive, but I simply was unable to fathom where. I missed his cuddling up to me every night, his comfort when I was not feeling well and the many different faces and sounds of Mussi.

Where was he? I knew he would have never left on his own. Increasingly, I started to suspect he was abducted. Or did he attempt to go back to his old house where we lived until a few acim app  prior, and got lost on the way there? I had alerted the ex-neighbors and skimmed the area. Nobody had seen Mussi there. The old neighbors, who used to watch Mussi, were on constant lookout for him. I knew they'd do a great job, but I tagged the entire area with Mussi flyers.

I got a call from an energy healer who lived near my old house. She said she spotted my flyer and just a few minutes after spotted a cat that looked like a spitting image of Mussi. She swore it was him. Her intuition, she said, never lied. So, I drove down there to see if I could still see traces of my cat, but there was nothing.

Despite all the Mussi search activities that had been ongoing for two weeks, I decided to go snowboarding for a couple of days. I needed to get away. I was going insane. On my way home Sunday night from the mountains, I got a call from my cosmetologist who lived near my old house. Her voice was frantic as she screeched something about having caught my cat and that I should show up right away to pick him up. I drove down to her house, still dressed in snowboard pants. Indeed, she was sitting in front of a tabby, but it wasn't Mussi. However, that cat was clearly lost and confused and looking for his home. A beautiful kitty this guy was and I felt sorry for him. Adrienne said, "Just take him instead or yours!" Sorry, but there was no quick replacement for Mussi! It broke my heart to see this cat hysterically searching for his home. So, I told Adrienne that if nobody else takes him in the coming days, I would, temporarily anyway! Luckily, a neighbor was kind enough to give him shelter a few days later.

I had also reported Mussi missing with petlink.com, the chip company, hoping that a finder would take him to a vet or hospital where he would get scanned and reported to me. Further, I advised animal clinics and vets in the area about the missing Mussi. Online, I had posted missing Mussi ads on various lost pet sites.

I started receiving emails from people who identified with my pain and tried to give advice. Some mentioned to intensify the search after midnight, others insisted I should not give up hope as they had lost their cats for up to a year and then got reunited. One person even offered to come help search at night or in the wee hours.

A lady from about five blocks away called saying "Don't tell anyone, but I feed the foxes at night." I said that I would not utter a word and that she should continue. It seems that the past few nights, a cat had shared the fox's chicken leg she dropped outside her window. In fact, the cat was faster than the fox and got its share early on. The lady insisted that the fox food thief was my cat. I agreed to check up on it. She promised to call the same night right after dropping the chicken outside. She did. I immediately left my house to see the scene for myself. And really, a cat showed up just five minutes after the chicken was out to feast on it. But it wasn't my kitty - again! But now I was an insider of the fox feeding conspiracy!

I contacted another animal communicator somewhere in Nevada. She tuned in and dowsed the map of my surrounding area. She claimed a neighbor was holding Mussi hostage and that I should launch an attack on that house. She was sure. I got binoculars, sat myself in a bush at night and ogled the area. No cat. I even put fliers in all mailboxes belonging to that building, rang a few doorbells and asked, but nothing.

More calls were coming my way. A clerk who worked in a nearby company reported "Oh, your tomcat has been visiting us here for weeks. I will send you a picture." I did receive the photo. A nice, totally happy tabby stretched out on his desk. While he looked similar, it was not Mussi. I thanked him and felt he was glad that the long tiger wasn't my cat. He seemed to love this tabby visiting him in the afternoon for playtime.

I decided to push my luck and contacted Joseph McMoneagle, a super famous remote viewer, who worked for the US Army for twenty years, remote viewing and finding top secret military buildings, equipment and people. After his stint in the Army, he became famous remote viewing for corporations or live on Japanese TV. Joe had written several bestsellers on the topic and was the rock star in the field of "psychic spy" work. I met Joe a few times in Virginia and decided to ask for help. A regular session with him usually cost thousands of dollars, but he was kind enough to supply a drawing with indications about the cat's whereabouts. I surveyed the specified area, but could not find anything that looked like Mussi. I put up more flyers in the pointed out area, which led to a few calls of cat sightings, but nothing serious. A cat as a target appears a lot harder than a human or a machine.

The cat who stretched out on the clerk's desk got reported to me again by a local football club member. He called and said "I found your cat and am holding him in our clubhouse." I ran down there and saw the same tabby stretched out on the floor, watching football with the dudes. What a funny sight it was. This cat seriously got around. I thanked them for the effort and left, dejected. It had been almost four weeks now and I started to lose hope.