Source: Editorial Board
Today at NC Voices we decided to bring y’all something a little different in the lifestyle column. Usually, we are talking about sports, events, food, beer and all of the things that make us happy. Well, today this story will probably be emotional for some and head-scratching for others. The only thing I ask of you is to jog your memory of The Wizard of OZ and more importantly, Kansas, transporting and substituting Dorthy for a cat with multiple aliases.
You see, our furry, meowing, four-legged friend has a story to tell. The only problem is we may never hear how it unfolded. Bob is a tuxedo cat (black and white for our fans who don’t wear suits) from Kansas. Bob was an adopted cat that Carol Holmes brought home in 2013 in Wichita, Kansas. A few months into Bob’s new life at his new home he hits the streets and disappears.
Bob was later found in not-so-good condition in the same city by Alex Streight. During that time Streight posted in local groups about a missing cat. Streight even took him to the vet to get checked out. Remember this part because there’s more to this vet visit in Kansas.
“He was in horrible shape,” Streight said. “I fed him, kept looking for [the] owner. I posted in the Wichita groups, but I never found anyone.”
With no owner coming forth, Streight decided to keep Bob and changed his name to Maui. I wonder how our friend feels about his name change. Streight and the gang decided it was time to hit the Yellow Brick Road and move east. In 2015 the gang set a destination for some mountains and beaches and decided on North Carolina. The gang decided that the booming town of Fuquay-Varina would be their next home.
Plot Twist Time
Maui was taken to the vet on Aug. 19 by Streight’s neighbor at the local animal hospital to get checked out after Maui had been roaming. We are not sure how Maui ended up in the neighbor’s care to show up at another vet. Not sure if Maui channeled his old Bob days and decided to hit the streets for some fun or what. But here we are as our friend is at another vet.
The scan at Five Points Animal Hospital located a microchip and it showed that Bob AKA Maui belonged to Carol Holmes back in Kansas. The vets contacted her and she was excited that her cat had been found after all these years.
“She responded back,” Five Points Animal Hospital practice manager Scott Wilson said of Holmes. “She was excited she found her cat she had been looking for him for years.”
The animal hospital asked Streight to produce records that she owned the cat but she only had records for the past couple of years. Streight did not microchip the cat and for some reason, the vet in Kansas did not scan Bob/Maui for a microchip either. Our friend Bob/Maui had to stay put. Streight came back twice to claim Maui but the police got involved.
Streight went to file court papers for larceny of the cat and during that time she learned our friend was in protective custody with Wake County Animal Control. The cat is safe and isolated but Wake County Animal Control says the cat is microchipped and that proves who the owner is.
Streight plans to keep on fighting to get Maui back so stay tuned for updates on this very unusual story. Maybe we will get Bob/Maui’s side of the story at some point. Something tells me this will be a Netflix limited series soon!
Read more about Bob/Maui from WRAL
