Deaf and disabled, Shilo’s life is tougher without Bella Lost cat heartbreak
BRENDA Collins’ daughter Shilo Nicholson is deaf, disabled and now heartbroken.
Her therapy cat Bella, a rare ragdoll- seal point cross, went missing about threeand- a- half weeks ago.
Ms Collins said the fivemonth- old cat had been toler- ant of her daughter, who suffers from ADD and ADHD and helped calm her anxiety episodes.
“It’s ( past three weeks) been really hectic and sad and emotional,” she said.
Ms Collins said Shilo used a Cochlear implant but had been born medically deaf and the Railway Estate State School student had grown extremely close to her pet cat during over the past few months. Since Bella had been missing Ms Collins said her daughter’s creased.
Ms Collins said Shilo had stopped using her hammock, another calming technique for her disorders, as she’d trained Bella to sit in the hammock with her.
Shilo, 10, was no longer sleeping in her own bed as her anxiety had increased.
The Rasmussen mother said she’d tried spreading the word on Facebook, had offered a $ 100 reward and put up 400 flyers around town in anxiety had in- a bid to find her daughter’s cat. But so far her efforts to find the beloved feline have been in vain.
Ms Collins thought Bella might have been picked up by someone mistaking her for a purebred ragdoll cat.
“She stood out because she was so pretty,” Ms Collins said.
Ms Collins said she’d worked the Supercars weekend to save the money to have Bella desexed and microchipped on the Friday, but the cat had disappeared beforehand.
“She could be anywhere,” Ms Collins said.
“She ( Shilo) is hopeful of finding Bella, but she keeps saying ‘ she’s probably dead’.”
Several reported sightings have so far failed to turn up Bella and Ms Collins said she’d received a number of false reports on Facebook.
Ms Collins asked anyone who may have seen or have possession of Bella to call her on 0407 785 913.