Putting up missing notices

M and I went around our neighbourhood to put up the missing notices for Oren (aka Tubbs) last night. We posted a total of 10 notices at the lift lobbies. Midway through, a call came in - this chinese guy said he saw Oren at 898A wearing a red collar. He said he played with the cat and the cat bellied up for him.

Now, we fear well-intended callers may mistake OJ or Taro (both at 898) for Oren. OJ looks like the junior version of Oren, only he is younger, wary and not touchable. Taro is a mix of ginger and white with long tail while Oren is a full ginger with white chest and belly and short bobtail.

We analysed the call:

1. The cat the guy mentioned is not OJ cos OJ will not belly up and allow him to touch.

2. We asked if the cat he saw is a mix of ginger and white, he said no. It was full ginger. So the cat is not Taro.

3. Neither Taro nor OJ wear a collar. He said the cat he saw wears a red collar. But Oren was not wearing any collar when he went missing.

4. The guy sounded a little flustered.

Our conclusion:-

1. The cat is someone else's home cat who is allowed to come out. However we have never seen another ginger cat besides OJ and Taro at that area.

2. The cat is Oren. He must have been adopted by a family at 898A and was collared.

3. The guy played a prank.

We met another group of youngsters at 898A and decided to show them the notice and asked politely if they saw Oren. One guy said he saw a cat like Oren at 807. He sounded quite sure. He said he last saw the cat last week.

M and I knew of another full ginger cat (without any white chest) at 808 vincinity so our guess is that the youngster meant this 808 ginger. We decided to just pop by to investigate. We found only the 808 ginger. No Oren.

We hope to receive genuine calls on Oren's whereabout and not prank calls. I have asked M to note down all the mobile nos. reflected on caller ID for record just in case. Her no. is given first followed by mine so chances of her receiving calls are higher. Luckily she is on university holidays now so she can man the calls. It's more difficult for me as I'm working.