A “Tale of Two Cats” unfolded recently on social media involving mystery, mistaken identity and, best of all, a happy ending.
The tale opens May 17 with Luverne’s Martha Nowatzki posting that her 18-year-old cat named Shamus “has gone on a walkabout” and had been gone for several days.
It’s not unusual for the black cat with a cloudy left eye to cross people’s paths in the area of Freeman Avenue and Dodge Street. Martha reported that the last time her kitty went missing, he was stuck in a garden shed.
By May 27, ten days after Shamus’ disappearance, a picture of a black cat was posted. The quick snap was of a feline looking through the window at Sterling’s Bar and Grille in downtown Luverne, some six blocks from his home.
Martha said when she saw that picture “there was absolutely no doubt in my mind it was Shamus.”
The face-to-face meeting left Martha “flummoxed” and thinking “This isn’t him.”
“But he was so friendly and clearly distressed so I figured I would sort it out later,” she said.
Three days later Martha’s puzzlement at Shamus’ sudden clinginess was correct: The real Shamus, complete with cloudy eye and the characteristic aloofness, arrived back at the Nowatzki home May 28.
“What are the freaking odds of two cats looking that similar going missing at the same time?” she questioned.
Martha’s self-proclaimed “Black Cat Whisperer” title came with a responsibility of finding out who this Shamus-imposter was.
Meanwhile, on an acreage some four miles north of Luverne, Dean and Linda Wenzel were puzzled as to where their 12+-year-old black cat named Speck could have gone this time.
“This cat has a lot of lives,” Linda recalled last week. “He is just very inquisitive and follows Dean around everywhere.”
The black cat also likes truck rides into the metro and had stowed away in a customer’s pickup, later jumping out near First Farmers Bank.
Speck was the one who peeked into the window at Sterling’s and ultimately went home with Martha.
“They took such good care of him. I think he was hesitant to come home with me,” Linda said. “This is not the first time he went for a ride to town, but this is the longest time he was gone. Thought he was lost for sure.”
With Speck reunited with the Wenzel family and Shamus back home with the Nowatzki family, Martha reflected on her feline experience.
“I think Speck enjoyed the indoor digs but was getting antsy to get back home,” she said. “We are so happy to have our elderly gentleman back, though. Speck soothed our hearts for a few days for sure!”
Reportedly, Martha would like to write a book about her cat mix-up. The working title is “The Tail of Two Kitties.”