It's safe to say that most of us consider our pets to be cherished companions. We care for them the best that we can, and in return they provide us with more emotional support than they'll ever know.
So it's no surprise that when one man's cat was taken from him while he was out of town, he's been distraught ever since. He's trying his best to get his beloved pet back from the vacationers who took her.
Troy Farrell received quite the phone call from a vet in Long Beach, over 400 miles south of Sonoma, saying they had his cat, Nubbins.
They scanned Nubbins' microchip after a couple brought her in for a health check. The vet urged them to contact Farrell, but they refused.
Turns out, they had stayed at an Airbnb just two doors down from Farrell's home back in October.
Nubbins is largely an outdoor cat, and Farrell was out of town during the couple's stay. When he returned, Nubbins was nowhere to be found, and he had no idea what happened until he received that call.
"Those are evil people. Those are people without conscience. Those are people without a heart," he said in an interview with KPIX.
He said he misses Nubbins every day. "I’d go outside stressed out and burnt out, and she’d just come running and sit on my lap. She’s like my support cat. And they stole her."
Farrell filed a pet-napping report with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, and the clinic that called him initially have been working with them as well.
An investigator told Farrell that the case was forwarded to the district attorney’s office. For now, three months later, he still awaits the return of his cat.
"I don’t have kids. She’s my kid. And she’s seen me through so many things. And they took her and I want her back," he pleaded. "Sorry, don’t mean to be emotional. But I just think of all the millions of times, the second that I’d open that door or drive up the driveway or go out back, it’s just there’s Nubbins, just in my lap."
He said he'd be willing to hire an attorney and a private investigator in order to get his cat back if law enforcement refused to act.
"I just want my kid back," he said. "I want my friend back. She’s my friend."
h/t: KPIX
