Thank you so much for all the caring people that supported us over the search of Marusya.

When our dearest 11 year old cat went missing, I really did not know what to do We are a family of expats and have lived in the Netherlands for almost a year.

A few words of advice I want to give to those who lost their beloved pet.

1. Immediately report at Amivedi.nl your pet is missing. You will get social media support and best tips to find your pet.

2. Immediately check if your pet's chip has an updated registration and valid contacts in the systems

3. Get to the local WhatsApp chats in the neighbourhood and ask people to check their yards and garages. - this one saved my cat!

4. Immediately print the posters and distribute those in the area of 100-300m around your house. Put A4 posters in the stores/petrol station. Ask people to call you day and night.

5. Share on social media. You will get good advice and support there.

6. Never give up.

I was crying every day. I was approached by the scammers that said that for 100 euro they would find her with drones, I lost sleep and was desperate but hopeful. When I was looking for my cat we got first notice from the local WhatsApp group - someone saw the cat on the driveway. We went there immediately but saw different cat. Neighbours asked for more pictures, Good thing I did not only have the front facing pictures but also full body from different sides. - This helps a lot in identifying the pet.

I took her litter box outside, left food around the house. Kept calling for her every 30 minutes from the house and the garden. We made trips every few hours around and were searching with a flashlight at night. I was checking Amivedi all the time and if I saw information about a cat that might look like mine - I was mailing them and they were replying whether the found cat looked like mine or not. 24/7!

Today was day 4 since she went missing. We got a message from the local WhatsApp group that someone saw her just nowcrawling  in her garden but lost the sight of her. I immediately rushed there with the treats, talked to the lady who saw her, she confirmed it was my cat with the pink collar, left her cat treats and checked her garden and ways for a cat to escape. I started calling for the cat, looking under cars and the bushes, calling at every house asking to check gardens and garages, leaving the poster to those who were not home.

When I was talking to some people they said they saw her a day before and in the morning. But because they did not know she was missing - they did not do anything. Please distribute the posters!

Finally after almost an hour of searching, I saw something moving under the tree bush and I saw my cat! I called her with the treats and she immediately came to me. I was afraid to scare her and I didn't know if she was hurt, so first I checked that she was not in pain and then hugged her and I can't even describe all emotions after that. I found her next to the house of the lady who heard Marusya was missing and she was very sympathetic, wishing for us to find her as soon as possible. We were sitting crying from happiness on her driveway till my husband came and we safely came home with Marusya.

Marusya is very hungry now, she eats and drinks and sleeps on the chair next to me. My cat has a registered chip, a bright collar with our phone numbers, but I'll get her an online tracker as I learned she is a really shy cat and won't approach people.

I would like to thank everyone that supported me and cared. I am very happy now and very tired. I'll be praying that all of the lost pets will return home safe with their owners.

If there is anything I can do to help those who are going through what I went through, I will do anything to help. Stay strong and keep searching.