Newtown Cat Has An Incredible Journey

By Nancy K. Crevier

Meeka the kitten has packed more adventure into two weeks than many cats pack into all nine lives. The 8-month-old kitten, owned by Karen and Ron Udiskey, and children Mitch and Cora, gave the family the slip on April 27.

“We had Mark Edwards Roofing working at our house on that day,” said Ms Udiskey. The roofers had arrived early that day, and Meeka, who had only recently been allowed outside, while the family is home in the morning, was frightened and ran under the deck.

“Before I left the house for the day, I called her and she did not come out from hiding,” Ms Udiskey said. She was not happy to leave the kitten outdoors, but decided all that was left to do was to find her later in the day, after the roofers had left.

“Meeka is really Cora’s cat, so I tried to play it low key when she got home that afternoon. I told her I couldn’t find Meeka, but we were not going to get upset right away,” said Ms Udiskey. She and Cora searched everywhere that afternoon, but Meeka was nowhere to be found.

“We searched the woods, and called her. She had simply vanished,” recalled Ms Udiskey. No one had dropped off a similar tiger striped kitty at the Newtown Dog Pound, so the family made up more than 30 flyers and distributed them to houses in the Thunder Ridge Road area of Sandy Hook, where they live. “That first night, I thought Meeka would try to go to a house, if she was lost, because that would be familiar. But then a few days went by and she still wasn’t back, and we began to think the worst,” she said.

No one called, and the Udiskeys began to lose hope of ever seeing Meeka again. Despite nearly a week having passed, they decided to place an ad in The Newtown Bee: “LOST 8-MONTH-OLD female kitten on Wednesday, April 27, on Thunder Ridge Road, Sandy Hook (near Great Ring). Tiger-stripe, black, white and gold. Name is Meeka. Timid personality. Please call 203-426-7027.”

Many similar ads appear periodically in the paper, and sadly, many do not have a happy ending or are left open-ended. The Udiskeys hoped this would not be the case for Meeka.

Ms Udiskey was pleased and surprised to find a voicemail on the family phone on May 6.

“The woman said that her son, an eighth grade student at the Newtown Middle School, and his two friends, had found a kitten hiding in a hole, outside of Burgerittoville.” This restaurant is located on Church Hill Road, though, many miles distant from Thunder Ridge Road. That a small cat could travel that far seemed a bit far-fetched to the Udiskeys.

The boys had been visiting the kitten regularly at Burgerittoville, and feeding it scraps of their school lunch.

“They said it seemed friendly, but scared. I’m sure she was very hungry,” said Ms Udiskey.

“My friends and I walk over to Burgerittoville pretty often after school,” eighth grader James Brown said. On Wednesday, April 27, he and friends Russell Jacobs and Steven Tramontozzi headed over for a snack, and were “just hanging around outside. There’s this little shack next to Burgerittoville, with some lumber leaning against it, and this hole that goes all the way through,” James said. That afternoon, they saw a cat peeking out from the hole and went over to investigate. “We weren’t sure what to do at first, but it seemed really friendly,” James said, “so we bought it some food.”

The boys called Animal Control, but no one there could help them, “because they said the cat wasn’t sick or dangerous or anything,” James said.

The next afternoon, the boys were back at Burgerittoville and the cat reappeared. This time, James called his mother, Priscilla Bock.

“The cat was so friendly, I knew she had to belong to someone,” James said.

“I do cat rescues all the time,” said Ms Bock. “James helps me with some of the rescues, so when he told me and my husband, Randy, about the cat, we drove over and picked it up. We brought it home and got it comfortable,” she said.

Because she knows that families do sometimes place ads, Ms Bock checked The Bee, and saw the ad for Meeka.

Once James’s family read the classified ad, they felt certain it was Meeka.

“I felt that the description fit the cat to a T and it all came together for me,” said Ms Bock. They contacted the family, keeping the kitty safe until the Udiskeys could come and get her.

But Meeka had other ideas about getting home.

Mr Bock had to run some errands in town. When he returned to his truck in the parking lot of CVS, he was shocked to see that the kitten had left the safety of their Meadow Brook Road home, and apparently hitched a ride in the back of the pickup truck.

“We had realized the cat was gone, and were looking for her when my husband called and said, ‘Don’t look for the cat anymore — she’s in my truck cab.’ Then the cat climbed right up on his shoulder and rode back like that,” laughed Ms Bock.

The Udiskeys were thrilled to find that, sure enough, it was their little Meeka safe — but anxious to get home — when they arrived at the Bock residence.

“It was great. The cat ran right up into Cora’s arms when she saw her,” said Ms Bock.

The kitten’s uninvited trip in the truck has led the family to assume that Meeka’s big adventure began when she jumped into one of the Mark Edwards Roofing trucks and caught a ride into town.

“Maybe on May 6, she thought, ‘If I hitch a ride in another truck, maybe it will bring me back home,’” laughed Ms Udiskey.

“Thunder Ridge Road is really far away from Burgerittoville,” said James, “but I’m definitely happy [Meeka] is back with her family.”

“We are so thankful to James, Russell and Steven, and all of the Bock family, for being good Samaritans, and caring for Meeka while she was so far from home,” Ms Udiskey said. “It’s good to have a happy ending.”

Visitors to the Udiskey home should not be surprised if they are asked to check the back seat before pulling out of the driveway from now on. Meeka could be off on another adventure.