BEL AIR, Md. — “That’s the last piece of our family missing,” said John Rich.
He and his wife Brittany have been searching since Saturday night for their beloved cat Skinz.
“My son who has been with him since birth, he sleeps with him every night,” said Brittany.
He and their dog Cooper ran off after a fire tore through their Bel Air townhome.
“I can’t focus on anything else going on around us until we have him,” said Brittany.
“Me, my wife and the kids are fine. We got our dog back and hopefully soon we’ll get out cat back,” said John.
Tuesday, they were joined by Sherry Webb and Tucker from the Maryland-based nonprofit Dogs Finding Dogs.
6-year-old tucker specializes in finding lost indoor cats.
“We always try our best to find them while we’re out here but that’s not normally how it works,” said Webb.
Instead, the nonprofits’ 97% success rate comes from the action plan they put together.
“We’re going to flier. We’re going to put some traps out and some scent trails, things like that,” said Webb.
They have a suggested donation for searches but help out for free in tragic cases like this one.
Tucker tracked Skinz’s scent to the same place of a reported sighting so the Richs are starting to picture a happy reunion.
“Today has been the best feeling in the world, just that little spark of hope since this happened,” said Brittany.
They, along with both their neighbors, lost nearly everything.
“I was able to go in and get my brothers ashes… and it was just great to have that back, and my wedding ring; that’s really the things that meant most to me that I recovered,” said Brittany.
They have been so overwhelmed with support and donations that they feel comfortable with clothing and temporary housing but hope the community continues to support their neighbors also in need.
“The neighbors right next to us, they have a 15-year-old and an 11-year-old and 2 dogs. At a time like this, we all need help,” said John. “From the bottoms of our heart, we just really appreciate it and it definitely makes it a lot easier to get through a situation like this when you have support from people.”
“If you’ve reached out to me just know how much it means to me. I just have not been able to keep up,” said Brittany.
They believe they have narrowed down the search area for Skinz to the Hunters Run area of Bel Air. If you see him, don’t approach and call Brittany at 443-286-8664.
