Kitty Caper: Store mascot missing from Duncan's Pet Shop

The Duncan’s Pet Shop website lists three animals as its store mascots: a chameleon named Conway, a dog named Raven and a cat named Oscar. Last Thursday evening, mascots residing within the store dropped down to two.

Oscar went outside on the shop’s property Oct. 8 and didn't return, store manager Terri Kaiser said security footage shows.

“He was right outside this (back) door, which we leave open so he can go in and out,” Kaiser said. “He goes into the bushes out there, and then a car pulled up.”

A few minutes later, Oscar was taken into a car, the footage shows. Kaiser believes he was stolen.

“He's not one that would go outside and meander around the neighborhood,” Kaiser said. “The minute we go to close the store, he runs to come inside. If he's outdoors and I call him, he comes inside. This is his home.”

His presence at the store has been sorely missed.

“Oscar would pick a spot and lay down, curl up, and everybody would go, ‘Where's Oscar?’ then they'd go over and pet him while he'd just lay there,” Evett Hunter, an employee at Duncan’s Pet Shop, said. “If I sat on the floor, he would knead my legs, or he'd get up on my jacket.”

Oscar had his own bits of personality that separated him from other felines.

“He would dip his paw in his water and lick it, which I've never seen a cat do,” Hunter said. “He would greet me at the door when I’d come in in the morning. He was just an awesome cat.”

Duncan’s Pet Shop has three windows facing the parking lot. In the mornings when Kaiser would come to open the store, Oscar would be right there in the windows waiting for her.

“I’d walk through the parking lot and he'd be in that first window over there,” Kaiser said. “As I would walk, he'd follow to the next window, and then as I kept walking through he'd be in this window. Then he'd be at the door."

Duncan’s Pet Shop has been grateful for the support they’ve received from the community in trying to find Oscar. People are encouraged to reach out if they see him, but Kaiser advised that people simply tell the location instead of trying to catch him.

“If it's somebody's cat that just happened to get out and is running around and they take him away, then that cat's going to be lost too,” Kaiser said. “Do not pick him up and take him home or bring him here. Don't do anything like that.”

Instead, Kaiser suggested staying there with the cat and to immediately contact her by calling Duncan’s Pet Shop or sending a Facebook message to the store.

“They can also send a picture because I can tell if it's him just by a picture,” Kaiser said.

Duncan’s Pet Shop is ready to see Oscar trot back in through the doors.

“He’s very loving, a needy kid,” Hunter said. “Everybody loves Oscar. It’s been sad. Yeah, very sad.”

    Duncan's Pet Shop where store mascot Oscar was stolen from last Thursday evening.