By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Having a new pet is supposed to be comforting, not traumatizing. The final result for Ellinwood's Allison McReynolds and Cosmo the cat is a happy ending, but not before several days of stress. McReynolds adopted Cosmo from the Golden Belt Humane Society on Saturday. Shortly after he began warming up to Allison and her sister, Brooke, things went awry after Allison went to bed.
"He kept waking me up," Allison said. "He was knocking stuff off my dresser. I got a little bit annoyed, so I made the decision to open my door and let him explore the house a little bit. By Sunday morning, around 7 or 8 a.m., he was gone."
Throughout Sunday, as Cosmo remained missing, Allison chalked it up as a scared cat hiding in his new home. By Monday, now uncertain if Cosmo was still inside the house, she went to social media. The post soon had nearly 70 shares.
"I didn't expect it to get nearly as many shares as it did," Allison said. "It was astonishing to see how many people actually cared about my little cat I had just adopted."
The search was just beginning. Later that evening, Allison and Brooke were in the bathroom when they heard meowing. They climbed into a crawlspace and shook a bag of food. Cosmo responded with meows but remained hidden. Then he went silent.
"I was a little bit convinced that he was dead by Tuesday because he had not made any noise for about nine hours," said Allison. "It was freaking me out."
At one point, Allison's mother, Diane, contacted the Ellinwood city office. A city worker who volunteers for the Ellinwood Fire Department brought over a thermal imaging camera. Still, Cosmo could not be found. Diane contacted a friend at Ellinwood District Hospital, and a maintenance worker brought over a scoping camera to check all the small spaces. Still, no Cosmo.
On Wednesday, Diane called Mason Doll, who stopped by the house to cut two holes in the floor to expand search capabilities. Cosmo was still nowhere to be found. Later that evening, Doll and Brooke were able to spot him in the attic.
"Brooke eventually went up there and grabbed him," Allison said. "He scratched the life out of her but she's okay and he's okay."
Allison still has no idea how the cat got into the attic. While the experience was traumatic for all involved, the McReynolds have also been inspired by the many acts of kindness from those in the Ellinwood community and beyond.
"It was insane to see that so many people were reaching out," Allison said. "It was just friends at first, but then it just got out to everybody. People from other towns were sharing it just in case. The Humane Society shared it and they had multiple shares on their post. We had multiple people come over, and people were contacting us and asking and saying they were following along. There was one lady who said she was watching my mom's Facebook page like it was a Netflix show, trying to see if there was an update."
Cosmo spent Thursday at the veterinarian's office nursing an injured leg and recuperating.
"He got some fluids," Allison said. "He ate overnight and ate (Thursday) morning. He was just really overheated and dehydrated. He's a very anxious cat, but I think he's okay. We're going to get him on some antibiotics to just make sure nothing's wrong."