GEORGIA – The folks who recently donated a sofa to a thrift store in downtown Cumming, Georgia, might have donated a bit more than they planned.
A gray tabby cat was apparently quietly hidden in the pillows when the sofa arrived at the No Longer Bound Thrift Store.
It’s the very first time that manager Terri Benning has seen such an item among the donations.
“People have given away things they did not intend to — a particular pair of pants or grandma’s quilt — but never a cat,” she stated. “Nothing live.”
At first, the employees at the store were completely unaware of the cat’s arrival. The store did receive a call about five weeks ago from a donor that said their cat might have hitch-hiked in on a couch. However, no cat was evident. And, unfortunately, the store employees didn’t take down any contact information from the caller. (The store receives approximately 15-20 sofas a week.)
Then the shop’s motion-sensor alarm began going off at night, which prompted a visit from the Cumming police, who never found any evidence of foul play.
One evening, just after closing time, Benning was watching a security camera when a cat walked across the screen. “She was on her way to the men’s room.”
For a while the cat remained at large within the store, evading a humane trap and avoiding people. “She was a smart thing,” stated employee Crystal Streetman. Streetman was finally able to coax the feline out of hiding, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and took her home.
The store has since posted messages Craig’s List, but has received no replies at all. The cat had no collar and is not at all chipped. She was extremely thin but is fattening up a bit now that she’s getting regular meals.
This particular thrift store benefits a residential 12-month program called No Longer Bound that helps men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Streetman has debbed the young tabby “Bound.” Bound doesn’t interact well with Otis and Molly, who are Streetman’s own cats, and so she hopes that one day Bound will be Homeward Bound.
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