PHOTO PROVIDED Tab is seen here prior to his escape.

WOOLRICH — When the Moats’ family cat, Tab, disappeared from their Woolrich home in October, Terrie and Paul assumed the worst. The winter weather was brutal, coyotes were known to roam the area and there was even the possibility that someone had harmed him.

Nearly four months later, a tip led the Moats to Castanea, where they found Tab — thinner and battle-worn, but alive. Tab had survived the harsh winter thanks to good-hearted people who unknowingly took him in, feeding and sheltering him from the cold. But it was Terrie’s unwavering dedication — and a community of animal lovers who shared his story and kept watch — that finally brought him home. Now, as Tab recovers from his ordeal, the Moats are left with both gratitude and questions about how he managed to get so far away.

Born in the spring of 2018 in a shed behind their neighbor’s house, three tiny kittens were left to fend for themselves when their mother disappeared. Paul and Terrie Moats couldn’t bear to ignore them.

“They were left to fend for themselves, so we started feeding them,” Terrie explained.

Since then, the Moats have cared for the strays, ensuring they have food and warm shelter through the winter. They named them Tab Hunter, after the 1950s Hollywood heartthrob; Grey, for the Oscar Wilde novel; and Molly. With help from the Williamsport-based Beckoning Cat Project and the SPCA, they also had the cats spayed, neutered and vaccinated through the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.

Now nearing seven years old, the cats have been with the Moats so long that many in the community know they care for them.

“We basically belong to them,” Paul joked.

“They’ve been a joy,” said Terrie, recalling how in the summertime Tab, who was particularly loving, enjoyed mingling with guests on the porch or sitting on his mom’s lap while she folded the laundry.

As with many outdoor pets, however, the strays sometimes found themselves in trouble. A few years ago, Grey was caught in a steel trap and nearly lost his foot. He survived thanks to the tireless efforts of the Moats, but to this day, he remains two toes short from the ordeal.

“We always thought he’d be the one to get in trouble,” said Paul.

Then, around the second week of last October, it was Tab who disappeared. Spooked by Paul’s leaf blower, he took off running and vanished without a trace. Days passed with no sign of him, leaving Terrie sick with worry. Eventually, she posted a plea for help on Facebook.

“I figured it was time for me to do something because I looked everywhere,” she said.

For months, the Moats — Terrie especially — poured their energy into finding their lost mouser, chasing leads and poring over submitted photos in hopes of a match.

“Everyday was a search,” said Terrie, who looked extensively around the Woolrich and McElhattan area.

The pair examined five or six cats they thought might be Tab, but each time, they came up empty. As the weeks passed, it seemed as if hope was running out.

“There was a lot of heartache not knowing where he was,” Paul said.

According to a statistic cited by PawMaw, a lost pet recovery platform, only 33 percent of lost outdoor-access cats are found. Despite the odds, Terrie and Paul persisted.

“I just couldn’t give up,” said Terrie, adding the worst part was not knowing if he was alright.

When Paul suggested it might be time to stop searching, Terrie only doubled down, unwilling to give up on their four-legged friend.

During those months, the SPCA, as well as many of the Moats’ friends and community members, spread the word about Tab, sharing his photos and keeping their eyes peeled. After months of false alarms, last week, Paul received a message with a picture of a cat that might be theirs. That’s Tab, Terrie said she knew instantly.

Typically, neutered cats have their right ear clipped by veterinarians, but Beckoning Cat had clipped his left ear, making him easily identifiable.

Through word of mouth, the Moats learned that Brandy and Matt, neighbors in Castanea, had been unknowingly taking care of their cat for weeks.

A mutual friend had connected the dots, realizing that the cat Brandy had been feeding was, in fact, the Moats’ missing Tab. Tab had been sleeping in her neighbor Matt’s garage for an unknown amount of time.

After several days of communication, Terrie took his special food bowl, favorite food and a blanket that had Grey’s scent to lure him in.

“I went up to Brandy’s, and I noticed the throw had moved. And then, when I walked over… Honest to God, I turned around, and just at that moment, he’s coming around the house, and he’s looking at me like an old man. It was like he was saying ‘mom,'” Terrie recalled, her heart swelling as she was greeted by enthusiastic meows from her lost kitty. Like no time had passed, he climbed into her lap and started licking her hands.

“I gave him up for dead,” admitted Paul.

The Moats had seen coyotes in the area, the winter had been brutally cold and Paul had heard a shotgun blast shortly after Tab ran off. “I kept thinking someone shot him,” he said.

Thankfully, Tab received a clean bill of health, despite having lost a significant amount of weight and showing signs of an altercation. Following his harrowing ordeal, Terrie explained that he appeared nervous around people and seemed to be in a sort of trance.

Paul, a Navy veteran, said his behavior reminded him of the PTSD experienced by soldiers returning from battle.

Though he’s been home only a short time, Tab is already gaining weight and gradually returning to his old self.

But the question still remains: how did he end up so far away?

“He didn’t make it there by foot. I’ll tell you that,” said Paul, referring to the cat, found over five miles from home. “That cat had to be trapped to make it there.”

The Moats said they had heard rumors from neighbors about a person trapping cats and letting them loose in the woods miles away. They speculated that the individual simply wanted the cats out of their yard and discarded them.

“It’s illegal to transfer them — to catch them, take them and throw them out somewhere else,” explained Paul.

They said they would have preferred that someone bothered by the cats let them know, rather than resorting to such drastic measures.

“If a household is willing to do that, to save the cats and get them neutered, to decrease the population, take care of them. It’s not somebody’s right to disrupt that,” Terrie said.

Echoing her sentiment, Paul added, “If people had the unconditional love those fur babies do, it would be a better world to live in.”

“The bottom line is, if it hadn’t been for really good people who care about animals, we wouldn’t have got him home,” said Paul, who is nearly as grateful as his wife that their Tab is home.