Ridgewood Cat Carted Away In Couch By Movers

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — A Ridgewood family is continuing efforts to bring home Blade, their 10-year-old gray and black-striped tabby who went missing last month after the couch he was hiding in was swapped out with a new sofa and carried away by a furniture company.

So far, there’s no sign of the feline, Evan Strassberg said but they are hoping the public will keep an eye out for his beloved cat.

Since Blade’s disappearance on May 30, Strassberg has posted fliers in his neighborhood, set up food outside his home, posted information on missing pet websites and social media, contacted police and notified the Bergen County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center.

Strassberg said, “The efforts resulted in many calls and sightings of similar looking cats, and we’re prioritizing the ones about sightings near the streets that the delivery truck made stops on that day. We’ve received a couple.”

He also contacted the furniture company to get the delivery truck’s travel itinerary on the day they switched out the couch and put fliers in each of the nine locations it stopped after the Strassberg home.

Stops were made in Ridgewood, Ho-Ho-Kus, Woodcliff Lake, Washington Township, Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. and North Bergen.

According to Strassberg’s flier, Blade was lost in Ridgewood, near Heights Road and West Ridgewood Avenue. He is a small, gray tabby with black stripes, weighs between five and 10 pounds and was not wearing a collar. Blade is also microchipped.

“Blade is skittish, so when we have friends over or deliverymen come to do things, he jumps into the inside of the sofa bed because it’s a good, secluded hiding spot. He just didn’t know that they came to take the sofa bed itself,” Strassberg said.

"It’s tough for us to make trips to and from sightings each time we get a tip - to even verify if it’s him or not - so if the chance is given, please try to snap a picture on a phone of the cat," he said.

Strassberg can be reached at evanstrassberg98@icloud.com