Lucky Toast wasn't ‘toast' after bouncy castle adventure

BALLYLICKEY woman Donna Meaney has been happily reunited with her cat Toast, 25 days after it hopped into the back of a ‘bouncy castle’ van heading west.

Donna, who lives at Pearson’s Bridge, recalled how the van had dropped off a bouncy castle for a birthday party on Saturday, July 28th and that she didn’t notice that Toast had gone missing until later that night.

Disconsolate, she slept on the couch hoping she’d wake up to find Toast alongside her, but it wasn’t to be, so at the crack of dawn she texted the van driver who admitted something had dashed out of the back of the van in Castletownbere.

Donna immediately grabbed her keys and drove west, crying all the way, and when she didn’t find Toast sitting on a wall waiting for her, she mounted a campaign – the likes of which the Mounties would be proud.

Her plan of action involved everything from posters to an online campaign, as well as the dedicated support of the Community Cat Network and RAWR.

Donna went to Beara daily  looking for Toast – except for a brief three-day family holiday in Wicklow – but even then, her dad, Noel Murphy, took three days off work and went to Beara in her stead.

On Monday, a local woman, Colette Murphy, contacted Donna to say she saw the cat with its distinctive white tip on its tail, but it wasn’t until Tuesday she was able to capture it.

Donna told The Southern Star: ‘I felt the same way carrying him in from the car on Tuesday night that I did when I carried my two children, Rhys and Nathan, home from hospital – there was that little shiver of “He’s home”.’