THREE loved pets have disappeared from the same street in West Albury on three consecutive Wednesdays and their owners suspect more than coincidence.
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The cats went missing from their respective Glendale Avenue homes on the same day each week, a pattern their owners only discovered by reading each other’s public lost pet notices.
Nursing student Emma Hailey, whose three-year-old cat Kitty was the second to be lost, said the situation seemed unusual, given the pets’ natures.
"All three cats eat twice daily, have families, spend the night inside so it's not normal for them to not come home at night at all,” she said.
"All three cats are microchipped, we've been in contact with local vets, the Albury and Wodonga pounds.”
Kitty went missing during the day a fortnight ago and Miss Hailey had not seen her since.
"My cat is a big fat cat and she loves to eat, so when she didn't come home for dinner I started to get really, really, really worried," she said.
Miss Hailey had not known the other owners, nor seen their cats wandering, before they contacted each other over their missing pets.
When Kitty disappeared exactly a week after the first cat, their owners just thought coincidence explained the timing.
“We thought ‘OK, two cats wandered away, cats do that’, even though neither of our cats have done that before,” Miss Hailey said.
“And then when the third cat went missing on the next Wednesday it was like, ‘OK, no, this is very suspicious’."
Adding to their concerns, they found out a fourth cat was missing from nearby Pemberton Street around the same time.
Miss Hailey contacted police and was referred to the RSPCA, but the animal welfare group could not act because the case did not involve specific cruelty.
RSPCA executive manager, education and training, Mark Jeffrey encouraged people to contact police if they thought their missing animals had been stolen.
"Animals under the law are considered to be your property, so stealing your cat would be the same as somebody stealing your DVD player," he said.
Miss Hailey just hoped to get Kitty back.
“I'm one of those crazy cat ladies who's obsessed with their cat," she said with a laugh.
"Even the not-knowing thing because it's so not normal,” she said.
“If someone had her, she has a collar with all my details on it … so it's not like they wouldn't know that she's a loved pet."
