A black cat bound for New York spent part of Black Cat Appreciation Day in Texarkana. Luna has been staying at the Texarkana Animal Care and Adoption Center since she was found in a local hotel room.
Luna's owner, Lisa Schievelbein was moving home to upstate New York from New Braunfels, Texas, Saturday and spent the first night of her trip at the Roadway Inn on North State Line Avenue in Texarkana. But when she was packing the car the next morning, Schievelbein realized Luna was missing.
"I looked everywhere. I looked behind the bed, pulled the mattress out, everything," Schievelbein said.
After several hours, Schievelbein left Texarkana in tears at not being able to find Luna.
"It was a horrible trip home. I was crying all the way. I had a migraine from crying so much and wondering what to do," she said.
Schievelbein was also traveling with her 6-year-old son and another cat named Joey.
She left her number with the hotel in hopes that Luna would turn up.
On Monday night, a new guest at the hotel realized they were sharing the room with a black cat.
Luna was under the box spring.
As soon as Schievelbein received the call that Luna had been found, she looked up the number of the Animal Care and Adoption Center in hopes that a local animal lover would temporarily take custody of Luna.
Director Charles Lokey got Luna out from the box spring and into a pet carrier. She's been hanging out in the lobby of the center while Schievelbein made the 20-hour drive back to get her.
"He (Lokey) was awesome. He went totally out of his way to help me out," Schievelbein said.
Lokey said Luna has been the perfect guest.
"She's sweet, but she was scared to death when they found her in the hotel," Lokey said.
Coincidentally, Thursday was Black Cat Appreciation Day.
"It's crazy that today is when I'm getting her back," Schievelbein said. "Now we've got the whole family back."
She said she planned on making a donation to the Texarkana Animal Care and Adoption Center.
Black cats have often had a bad reputation and are the hardest cats to find homes for.
"There have so many stories and stigmas about them through history, and some of it still around today," Lokey said. "Personality wise, they some of the most loving cats," he said.
Lokey always tries to promote the black cats at the shelter. The only exception to that is around Halloween when he fears some of the cats might be adopted for pranks or rituals.
"We do a hard vetting of our adopters in October," he said.
The adoption center has one black cat on the adoption floor today. His name is Shadow and he was brought in as a stray. He has been at the shelter since May.
According to nationaltoday.com, there are many interesting facts about black cats:
- In Great Britain, black cats are thought to bring good luck, while in Germany, if a black cat crosses your path from the right, it is said to bring prosperity.
- Dark fur is practical. Research shows that black cats may have developed dark hair to fight off disease, meaning their fur is more than beautiful-it's useful, too.
- Due to a special pigment called melanin in their fur, when out in the sun, many black cats will temporarily turn a dark brown color, as if they were "rusting."
- Black cats have an excess of melanin, a pigment that causes dark coloration. Coincidentally, melanin also causes their irises to be yellow.
To learn more about National Black Cat Appreciation Day, visit nationaltoday.com.