Three-and-a-half-year-old Jerry, who had been missing since October 13, was found safe and well last week.
Jerry’s mum, Olympia Valance, who had been searching for him, told Neos Kosmos she received a call from the Wat Djerring Animal Facility – Pet Rescue letting her know someone had taken Jerry in. Oh, by the way, Jerry is a cat.
“Apparently, he was under their house for a week, and they couldn’t coax him out because they had dogs that barked at him.
“Finally, they did and brought him to the pet rescue. Jerry was found about 25 km from our house, and we have no idea how he got there,” the relieved fur-baby mother said.
Olympia Valance – daughter of Tania Gogos-Wilson and Ryko Vukadinovic – is known to many of us from her roles as Paige Smith in Aussie soap, ‘Neighbours’ and Tahlia Woods in ‘Playing for Keeps’.
“There’s a good chance that he was stolen for breeding, but after realising he was desexed, he was dumped,” said Olympia.
Jerry is in good health “but has lost weight.”
Olympia and Thomas had posted a generous reward of $1,000 for Jerry’s return, but there was still no sign of their beloved feline, weeks after he went missing.
“To be honest, we didn’t have many leads – someone swore they’d seen him, but when we went to investigate, it was a Jerry lookalike – it could have been his cousin,” she laughed. Olympia, who is in her final trimester, and her partner, Tom Bellchambers, the former AFL footballer for the Essendon Bombers, had lost hope after four weeks.
“We just assumed he was dead and being in the last trimester made everything worse.
“I cried myself to sleep every single night for weeks, and only this past week was I finally able to go to sleep without bawling,” said Olympia.
The soon-to-be mum says that “Jerry is now grounded for life and will strictly be an indoor cat.”
Jerry, named after American comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has developed a taste for rizogalo (Greek rice pudding).
Ensconced again in the safety of home, and under the care of his mum Olympia, Jerry will undoubtedly stack on the weight again.
