Wellington woman abandons holiday to find missing cat, pair reunited on Christmas Day

Wellington woman Ruby Carter has spent the afternoon snuggled up to her cat Othello after he went missing. Photo / Ruby Carter

• Ruby Carter flew back from Rotorua to Wellington to find her missing cat, Othello.
• After a stressful search, the pair were reunited on Christmas Day.
• Othello, previously a stray, showed no concern and spent the afternoon asleep next to Carter.

A Wellington woman who abandoned her Rotorua holiday after her beloved cat went missing has been reunited with the mischievous feline on Christmas Day.

It had already been a stressful month for Ruby Carter after her cat Othello ate some sewing thread and required major abdominal surgery to remove it.

Carter had taken Othello to the vet on Monday to get his stitches out before leaving him with a house sitter while she visited family in Rotorua.

That evening, she got a call from the house sitter saying Othello was nowhere to be seen.

Carter wasn’t initially too concerned and thought he might be hiding under a bed somewhere.

Othello ate some sewing thread earlier this month and required major abdominal surgery to remove it. Photo / Ruby Carter

However, he was still missing the following morning and it had become clear the indoor cat had escaped out a kitchen window.

The house sitter spied Othello in the neighbour’s basement but he ran away from her.

“It was just hideous and I didn’t really know what I was going to do,” Carter told the Herald.

When he still didn’t show, she got a last-minute flight to Wellington via Auckland.

She got back to her home in the Wellington suburb of Karori at about 9.30pm on Christmas Eve.

“I was walking around the neighbourhood just calling out to him, calling out to him.

”I spent about two hours out in the dark, just with my phone torch.“

Othello spent Christmas afternoon asleep after he was finally found. Photo / Ruby Carter

Carter left the door to the house open and put some food inside in the hope he might return on his own.

She barely slept overnight and woke up every few hours to see if he had shown up.

Carter set up camp next to the front door with a book this morning so she could hear if he arrived.

Suddenly, Carter heard a crunch of leaves and she poked her head out to find Othello there. She slowly made an approach.

“I saw him, he saw me, and he scampered away.

“I ran after him, but I don’t know where he went.”

She called his name again and looked around but he had gone.

Then, a couple of hours later, she went to the bathroom and heard “crunch, crunch, crunch” again.

Othello was a stray cat who lived at a Rotorua campground before he was taken in. Photo / Ruby Carter

This time, it was the sound of Othello eating the food she had left for him inside.

“So, slowly I get off the toilet, I crawl into the lounge, and I sneak just so slowly, keeping the energy so low, and I grab him and I shut the front door.”

Carter said Othello had shown no sign of concern and had spent the afternoon asleep next to her.

“He’s just lying here on his back with his paws in the air completely not bothered at all.”

When the Herald spoke to Carter, she was figuring out whether she could fly with him back to Rotorua or if someone else could look after him.

Ruby Carter says Othello is the most precious thing in the world to her. Photo / Ruby Carter

Carter has had Othello for about two years.

He was previously a stray cat living at a Rotorua campground.

“He’s the most precious thing in the world to me,” she said. ”He’s my baby."

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.