Monday, October 19, 2015

A helpful robo call pays off

Jeff Todd had a problem.  It was Asia.
                Not Japan, Korea, China or Thailand.
                It was Asia, his 13-year-old Bengal cat that decided to bolt the house on Sunday and has not been seen since.  It’s possible Asia was watching the Cubs and decided enough was enough.
                The intriguing thing about Todd’s situation is how he got the word out.  Rather than litter utility and light poles with hard-to-read flyers, Todd posted on “lostmykitty.com” – seriously – a web site dedicated to lost cats. And yes, there is a companion site for lost dogs, lostmydoggie.com.
Asia

                One of the features of lostmykitty.com, and I presume lostmydoggie.com, is that it generates robo calls.
                Just like the politicians.  Just like the window cleaning services.  Just like the siding salesmen. Just like --- fill-in-the blank.
                The call lets you know that there’s a car missing in your neighborhood, offers a description, tips on where cats may hide and, of course, a phone number for you to call.
                In this case, people were asked to call 630-244-6726.
                As for Todd, he was frantic, as pet owners often do when the feline or canine bolts.
                Did it work?  Apparently it did -- because late Monday afternoon Todd called me to report that Asia had been found.  Smart cat.  Asia decided to hang out in the back yard of a police officer who lives near Todd.

                So now Asian is home and still has, for the sake of argument, eight lives left.
Which when you think about it, is more than than Cubs have.