I Will Survive. I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified, Kept Thinking I Could Never Live Without You By My Side

This is a story of keeping hope alive. Switch the cat was over 16 when he managed to get out of a yard in Florida. While his survival story is inspiring, simultaneously his owner Laura Tendler offers an equally inspiring story of survival. 

Tendler didn’t want a cat when Switch appeared at her doorstep in 1991. “It was around Halloween, and I know how people might be with cats, so I took him in, reluctantly. At first, we were like two roommates sharing space. Neither one of us wanted much to do with the other,” she recalls.

Every day or two Tendler, then a student at University of South Florida, found a new name for her roommate. “I didn’t want to bond with him,” she says.

However, after a few weeks, her cat had another idea. One night, Switch decided to sleep on her head. And that’s when the love affair began. They slept with one another, and were inseparable.

A year later, her human roommate returned home from the pool with a funny little sound coming from her pool bag. It turned out to be a kitten, who she called Fraction. Both Tendler and Switch took on care for the little bundle.

Tendler was moving forward, continuing her schooling at the Miami Institute of Psychology, landing an Internship in 1999 at New York University Medical Center, soon finishing her Doctorate in Psychology. By now, an “adorable” 110 lb. Rottweiler/German Shepherd dog-mix was added to the family, all living in Cliffside Park, NJ.

“9/11 changed my life,” says Tendler. ”I had a view of the World Trade Center, and then it was no longer there. I read about pets lost because they weren’t microchipped.” So, Tendler had her trio microchipped, and registered with HomeAgain.

By 2007, she was a working psychologist, now living in North Bergen, NJ. One day while out running errands, Tendler collapsed at a produce store. “It’s like one day I was busy, productive and healthy, and the next day I wasn’t,” she recalls. Her health declined rapidly, until finally, after months of on and of hospitalization, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The disease was progressing, and fast. Friends and family had greatly been caring for her pets, but she finally decided a permanent solution. The animals move to stay with her best friend in Miami.  The plan was to join her pets when she was able to travel.

Of course, no one could explain to her pets what was happening, or why. Fraction and her dog Chelsea seemed content, but Laura’s soul mate, Switch, was clearly a little lost. The adjustment to the new home without Tendler was more difficult for Switch, who didn’t care for her friend’s Miniature Pinscher. One day, Switch, then 20-lbs. squeezed through the doggy door and once in the yard, this indoor cat, somehow found an opening in the fence.

“At first, my friend was even afraid to tell me Switch was lost,” recalls Tendler. “I can’t tell you how upset I was. It seemed everything in my life was out of control.”

Switch did wear an ID collar – which most cats don’t. Weeks later, the collar was recovered. Friends tried to convince Tendler that the 16 1/2-year old cat, just needed to go off somewhere and die, if a predator didn’t get to him first.

“I understood – but was unwilling accept it,” she says. Eventually, she was well enough to travel to Florida. “Imagine the picture of this silly lady with a big hat in a scooter roaming the neighborhood calling out, “Switch, Switch.” Unfortunately, her searching expeditions were cut short with additional hospitalizations. In fact, her condition became grave. Worrying about her cat seemed irrelevant to loved ones who were worried that Laura might not even pull through.

But she did make it, and did well in rehab. Her friend was happy to continue to share her home, but needed to relocate for another job. to Madeira Beach, FL. There was no choice but to give up on finding Switch. Still, each time she relocated, Tendler updated the HomeAgain data base with her new address and phone number. “It sounds crazy, most cats never live to 18 under the best of conditions – and dealing with the elements and predators, and for a cat not accustomed to being outdoors, how could he survive?”

On July 30, Tendler received a call from a veterinarian who scanned an old withering cat for a microchip. 

Barbara Zimbler and her daughter Joanna Zimbler were feeding Switch for four days, and decided to check if this cat had a microchip. “These people are my heroes, a Godsend for me and Switch, who would have died,” Tendler says.

Upons reuniting at the veterinary office, Tendler softly adds, “It’s been a long time since anything so wonderful has happened in my life.”

Switch was down to five pounds, “just skin and bones,” and wasn’t absorbing food. Now, being treated for hyperthyroidism, he’s starting to gain weight,” she says

“This is why people need to microchip and register even indoor cats,” adds Tendler. “I learned to never give up on hope. My vet seems to think Switch has many months left or longer, but when it’s his time, he will be with family. I feel like now I have my life back, I’m feeling better, and having Switch return makes me feel like everything will be ok.” 

©Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services