Mashenka in Costa Rica

On February 1st when Gayle Sommers went to our brand new website, she was shocked to see the first image that came up of a beautiful cat with one blue and one green eye.  She immediately contacted me and said she thought it looked just like a cat they had lost 2 1/2 years earlier!  I thought it was very unlikely and told her the cat was now in Montreal.  But after seeing her photos and finding out where the cat disappeared and my records showing exactly where the cat was found months later……I decided it WAS the same cat!  What do YOU think??  This is her story:

Bowie at PuRR in 2016

Gayle and Paul adopted “Mashenka” from a woman who fostered cats and kittens when they were living in Costa Rica. Mashenka was very playful and especially loved tennis balls, and they eventually discovered that she was blind in her green eye. Along with their dog, they all enjoyed sailing trips and eventually decided to move to Puerto Vallarta. When they arrived in August of 2015, their new home was not ready so they moved into an apartment in town for a few days.  Mashenka disappeared in the middle of the first night and they feared she had jumped or fallen from the fourth floor balcony. Days of calling and looking proved fruitless and the heartbroken couple finally moved to their new home in another neighborhood.  Five months later, they visited the PuRR shelter and adopted an adult female they named Zoya and their home felt complete again. Gayle became a PuRR volunteer at the Friday Plaza Marina adoption post.

Bowie and Louis-Philippe

A few weeks after their shelter visit, I got a message from a couple who had been feeding a street cat on the hillside above town.  They were returning to Montreal and wanted us to take the kitty to our shelter, promising to return when they found a home for her.  Six weeks later, Louis-Philippe did return and took “Bowie” home with him to live.

Bowie in Montreal today

Gayle and Paul are thrilled to learn she survived those months alone on the streets and is now in a loving home!!  The irony is that if they had waited four weeks to visit the shelter, they would have discovered her living in the same casita as the cat they adopted.  And that is the amazing story of Mashenka/Bowie and her long journey from Costa Rica to Mexico to Canada!!