General News
8 May, 2024
Owner overjoyed at wayward Ed's return
Much-loved cat Ed has walked himself home after being missing in Warracknabeal since mid-April.
Owner Jason O'Brien and his partner made the move to Warracknabeal last August when Mr O'Brien accepted a job with Rural Northwest Health.
"He's had six months to get the lay of the land," Mr O'Brien said.
The six-year-old ginger cat is allowed outside and sleeps inside with his owners.
But when he didn't return home like usual one day the real worrying began.
Mr O'Brien said Ed routinely came home for lunch and dinner.
"When he didn't come back for lunch it wasn't that concerning because he skips lunch sometimes, but he's always home for dinner," he said.
"When he didn't come back for dinner we found it unusual.
"The next day he didn't come home at all. That's when the real concern started to set in," he said.
The couple did everything they could to find Ed, asking around town, putting flyers in letterboxes, posting on Facebook and taking out an advertisement in the Herald.
The couple searched the streets but their beloved cat was nowhere to be seen.
"We just missed him heaps," Mr O'Brien said.
"He sleeps in the bed with me and I wasn't able to sleep because he wasn't there.
"I had charged his collar the day he went missing we would have found him by now. That was always in the back of my mind."
His Labrador dog Mimi was also missing her best friend.
"We noticed the changes in her behaviour - that was the most heartbreaking part," Mr O'Brien said.
"She was like 'Have you bought him home yet? Where is he?'
"She was really missing her playmate and best friend."
They spoke to Yarriambiack Shire and the ranger, as well as notifying their vet, since he was microchipped.
Just when the couple were fearing the worst, Ed made his way back home last Friday morning around 2.30am.
Mr O'Brien said they were "over the moon" to have him back with them.
"He came inside through the kitty flap and was meowing, which woke us up," he said.
"We're just really ecstatic. It's so great to have him home."
Mr O'Brien expressed this thanks to the Warracknabeal community for looking out for Ed and to all the people who contacted him via phone or Facebook.
"It's a big weight lifted off our shoulders," Mr O'Brien said.