Buff is still **not** home! (read more below)

More about the Search for Buff

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For a clearer picture of Buff, go to http://lostandfoundnow.com/Detailed/2734.html
PLEASE NOTE: BUFF IS THE SAME COLOR AS A COCKER SPANIEL - LIGHT TAN.

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10/11
I am continuing to publicize my search for Buff, and I've also expanded the search area, in case Buff has roamed further away from my apartment complex.

9/17
Possible sighting - large cat with red collar in Clearview Ridge, on Benham Ct., lying in the backyard at approx. 10pm.

9/8 REPORT: WRONG CAT. Please continue to call with all sightings, even if you are uncertain it is Buff!!!!

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8/30 REPORT

Searchers found a cat meeting Buff's description on 8/30 resting behind a bottom-level outdoor stairwell in the back of the Summit Pike Creek Apartments.

TWO VERY CREDIBLE RECENT SIGHTINGS

Buff (large fluffy “overweight cat with red collar”) was seen crossing HENDERSON HILL RD. TUESDAY NIGHT, August 27 at 9 pm from the Summit entrance over to the Clearview Ridge entrance.

Buff was sighted (large tan cat with “droopy belly”) SUNDAY NIGHT, August 25 at 9:30 walking through a backyard garden at 611 Benham Ct., across the street in Clearview Ridge.

Please if you do come across Buff again, please approach him gently, take him and phone me. 354-6432. Please keep looking for him!

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Did you receive a postcard? Buff has been seen in your neighborhood - Clearview Ridge, Martine, Emery, Chadd, Ansonia, Cartier, Roseman townhomes! (see below)

Would you like to help search for Buff? Here are some things you can do:

1.) Cats will find low, enclosed spaces to hide from the rain or from the heat of the sun. Please check under your decks, storage sheds, open garages, etc. for Buff.

2.) In the early morning, cats will often find a sunny spot to stretch out and warm up. Look around for a large tan cat with a red collar!

3.) Most outdoor cats come out and roam after dark. If you'd like to help search for Buff, please check the yards, front and back, on your street and block, in the evenings.

Thank you for helping!

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Read about Buff in this week's Mill Creek News!

(CORRECTIONS to the Mill Creek News article: The "pet detective" and his dogs did not "chase" twenty cats. We *spotted* about twenty cats in the search of the half-mile -- not five mile -- radius of my apartment building.)

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More on the search:

Sunday 8/25 Sighting - Backyards of the 600s block of Benham Ct. in the Clearview Ridge community (the odd-numbered side of the street.) Sighting of large tan fluffy cat, with belly drooping down. Definitely Buff. Please do not startle him if you come across him, and try to pick him up. I hope the next sighting can lead to a recovery. If you offer food during approach, you should be able to pick him up. He's an unusually sweet cat. But please no chasing -- that will only drive Buff away from the neighborhood. For any sighting or recovery, call my cell phone 354-6432.

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RECENT SIGHTINGS:

-- Buff (an "overweight" tan cat wearing a red collar) was sighted sitting on the curb by the dumpster at Summit Pike Creek Apartments, Aug. 19th at 9pm.

-- Buff was sighted lounging in the parking lot area of Summit Pike Creek Apartments, Building 6 at 7:30 pm on Thursday, 8/15.

[The woman who stopped to pet him could not pick him up because she had her small child in her arms at the time. He seemed hungry because he jumped off the landscaping ledge to pick up a cookie her son had dropped.]

-- Please if you do come across Buff again, please approach him gently so as not to frighten him away (reach out your hand and wiggle your fingers at him will work while saying hi gently), take him and phone me at my cell number (302)354-6432. I have tried to stay in the immediate vicinity of this most recent sighting so that I won’t miss him again, but I am not having any luck. Your assistance is so much appreciated.

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I will update this web page when Buff is back home again. I will maintain a list of active searchers who I will call back when the search is over.

Buff can be very shy, and, based on recent sightings, I believe he may be spending his time on the grounds somewhere around Summit Pike Creek Apartments and Clearview Ridge, near the intersections of New Linden Hill Rd. and Polly Drummond Hill Road.

I have recommend to others that they approach him by waving his favorite brand of Fancy Feast (see poster), and speak his name in a high-pitched voice. He hates loud noises and may dart away and hide unless coaxed somehow to come to you.

He is an indoor cat; he's never been outdoors. I can't predict what his behavior might be. I am sure he is lost, since he is completely unfamiliar with his new territory. He may have started roaming, and he could end up far away. Most pet recovery organizations recommend that for cats the search include a six-mile radius. However, the vast majority (something like over 80%)of INDOOR-ONLY cats are found within 2 blocks of home, and most even closer to home.

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PREVIOUS SIGHTINGS:

-- 8/12 report of sighting large tan cat in early morning of 8/10 roaming between Clearview Ridge apts and Summit Creek Apartments. No approach was made, but it sounds like it could have been Buff. If you live in this vicinity, please look out for him. If he's on the move, he could be further away by now, including the homes behind Benham St.: Chadd, Emery, Ansonia, Cartier, Martene Ct., etc.

-- 8/13 sighting of Buff in the parking lot of Summit Pike Creek apartments at 11:30 pm. After an approach was made that was perhaps too sudden, Buff darted away across Hendersen Hill Road over to the Clearview Ridge neighborhood.

New in Delaware

Buff escaped from my apartment the second night after I moved to Delaware. I did not discover he was gone until the next morning, Aug. 10. Because I have not yet started work (I will be teaching at the U. of Delaware this fall), I know very few people who can help me with this search. I appreciate any volunteers who might be willing to devote a few hours to putting up posters in their neighborhood and stores or to taking a walk around the apartment grounds and neighborhood, to search for Buff. Please call (302)266-7064 to volunteer.

Buff is a special much-loved cat

I first picked Buff in the Connecticut Animal Shelter in Bethany, CT (he's still wearing their tag, unless his red collar has been removed). For the past EIGHT YEARS, he has been my constant companion. I am determined to do my best for him now.

lynda.dodd@aya.yale.edu

Why We Love Our Cats