Megan Danko holds out little hope that she'll ever see Scarlett again.
The three-year-old 'beautiful, loving' Siamese cat has been missing from her south-east Barrie home since October.
"She was my mom's cat," Danko explained, standing beside the remnants of one of many posters she plastered around the neighbourhood last fall.
"My mom passed away and Scarlett ran away shortly after. Especially after losing my mom, it left like a hole, an emptiness in the house. I keep hoping she's going to show up on the doorstep because it would just be the greatest news in the world for my dad to know that she's back."
Scarlett, an indoor cat, joins the ranks of hundreds of missing felines in Barrie and is part of a seasonal spike.
The Barrie Animal Centre has been receiving multiple calls a day from people looking for lost cats.
"We find that each late fall through the winter we get numerous reports daily and weekly," said Tracy McElman, regional manager for the Barrie and Midland Animal Centres. "A lot of times these are indoor cats that have never been outside before. Of course there's a lot of concern about their welfare."
Most of the felines slip out the door accidentally, says McElman, but chances for a happy reunion improve if a cat has identification and owners notice the pet missing right away.
Danko called the Barrie OSPCA and went door to door when she noticed Scarlett was gone, putting flyers in every single door and on every mail box.
There were a few sightings but no Scarlett.
"We don't know if somebody has her at their house and is taking good care of her, or in this area there are coyotes and stuff too, so we're a little bit worried about that," Danko said.
The OSPCA recommends micro chipping pets or at the least put a collar and tag on your cat with your address and phone number.
"Our goal is always to get found cats home quickly and identification allows helps us do that along with quick action on owner's part in letting everybody they can think of know their cat is missing. That would certainly go a long way in preventing pets from never finding their way back home," said McElman.
Social media groups are the latest to join the effort to reunite lost pets with heartbroken owners but all the searching for Scarlett has come up empty.
"I don't think she's coming back," said Danko, emotion creeping into her voice.
"It's like the loss of a family member. We lost my mom and then we lost the cat. Hopefully we don't lose anything else right now. It would be the most special thing in the world to have her home for my dad."
If you have any information about Scarlett's whereabouts call 705-734-2080 or 705-795-8964.
