Feefee’s back home.
The tabby cat, who belongs to the Ishak family of Everett, Washington, has been reunited with her humans after an 11-day ordeal that started with her abduction by an Amazon Flex delivery driver on July 21 and ended with a long and determined search by her family that led to an apartment complex about six miles from their home.
“My wife and I drove around over the last three days concentrating on apartment buildings until [Thursday] when I spotted a car that matched [the driver’s],” Ray Ishak told PITB. “I have been in the car business for 26 years. I know what to look for. Perfect match, even missing the front wheel cover, just like in the [home security camera] video.
“We went to the leasing office and explained we were looking for our cat and reason to believe it might here. The office employees immediately commented that the police were there a few days ago asking about the cat. We knew then we were at the right place.”
Ishak and his wife spent the next few hours searching the grounds around the apartment complex, which are covered in heavy brush. While they didn’t find Feefee, they spoke to several children playing nearby who confirmed they’d seen the missing tabby. They gave their phone number to the kids, asking them to call if they spotted Feefee again.
“Around 6 pm they called,” Ishak told PITB. “We took off and found her in very heavy brush and sticker bushes.”
The couple gave the kids rewards for their crucial help, then gently coaxed their frightened cat from out of the brush where she’d been hiding.
A video taken afterward shows a famished Feefee digging into a large bowl of food after her long ordeal. She’d clearly not been eating over the past week and since she’s been home she’s been doing little else besides sleeping and eating.
Ishak said his grandchildren, who are particularly close to Feefee, were “elated” when told she’d been found.
For the family, the reunion comes after lots of worry, stress, taking time off work to search for her — and frustration that neither Amazon nor the driver who stole Feefee helped them recover her.
“What is infuriating is the area where [Feefee was found] is right behind the building where that person’s car was parked. That cat has been out there for days with no food and multiple people have seen her on multiple days. [The Amazon driver] just let her out and could have very easily told us and we could have very easily found her days ago and all this would be put to rest.”
The driver stole Feefee from the family’s driveway after delivering a package on July 21. Footage from the Ishaks’ security cameras shows the female driver squatting down in their driveway to pet the 13-year-old cat. The motion-activated camera timed out momentarily, then was triggered a second time as the Amazon driver left with Feefee in her car.
When confronted with video evidence, Amazon admitted the driver had taken the cat and told Ishak the driver went to the police to return her. That wasn’t true: Ishak checked with the Everett police as well as the county sheriff’s office, and neither had been contacted by anyone trying to return a stolen cat.
Then the driver’s story changed. An Amazon rep told Ishak that the driver claimed Feefee had escaped and was missing.
When Amazon would not put Ishak in touch with the driver, he pleaded with them to at least point him in the right direction, suggesting the driver could make a burner email address or call from a blocked number — anything just to get a lead on where Feefee might be.
The woman refused to cooperate.
“She knew where the cat was for over a week and still refused,” Ishak fumed. “She purposely left that cat outside to basically die, while everyone online was calling us bad people for letting our cat be an indoor outdoor cat and that she is better off with that person.”
The online retail giant never gave Ishak an explanation for why one of its drivers would steal his cat, and said only that she no longer works for the company. In an email exchange with Amazon, Ishak pointed out that his family had been victimized in a crime committed by a company employee, yet Amazon was treating it like a customer service issue and protecting the driver.
In the meantime, the family was frustrated by online comments criticizing them for allowing their cat outdoors on their own property. Feefee was diagnosed with asthma years ago and benefits from fresh air, Ray Ishak said. The cat was in the family’s driveway, just a few feet from their home, when she was stolen.
“I took time off work and after a few days of pure determination looking for a needle in a sea of haystacks we found her,” Ray Ishak told PITB. “I guess we’re not so bad after all.”
Videos and photos in this post courtesy of Ray Ishak.
Pain In The Bud 
BEST NEWS of the day!!! – apart from all the crap comments about them being bad cat parents, far worse Amazon employs VERY bad drivers, comment about the driver/criminal and the drivers corporate paymasters and stop victim shaming.
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I’m very happy for them as well, and this is a good reminder that it’s not helpful to criticize people for what they determine is best for their cat, especially without knowing the full story.
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Our prayers to Bast worked! Ramses will include links to your blog posts in his Caturday Post. Thank you for staying on top of this story!!!!
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I was very happy to hear they found her as well. No one can claim they don’t love her, considering the lengths they went to in order to get her back.
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DOES THIS POS LOSE THIER JOB?!!This is ANIMAL CRUELTY.
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I updated the story to note that Amazon says the driver no longer works with them. It looks like the woman was an Amazon Flex driver, so she would have been a contractor instead of an employee.
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Sorry. Missed that part. Persons name should of been made public.
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Doesn’t matter. She still worked for them and they are responsible for what those drivers do. And it took how long for her to be fired? No, Amazon is complicit in this. They did nothing to help. Then to top it off, they rubbed salt in the wounds of those people by offering a god damned stuffed cat! Who in the F does that??? Unbelievable!!
What I don’t understand is why this bitch took the cat in the first place, only to throw her out like so much garbage? I’d also like to know if they found out who this bitch is and is she going to be arrested and charged. I so wish she could be named and shamed on the internet. I usually don’t like that, but she deserves to be outed for the asshole she is.
I REALLY hate people that treat animals badly! 🤬. And I’m so very happy the family found their baby alive and relatively unscathed.
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I’m just happy the family got their cat back. I don’t know if there will be repercussions for the driver beyond not contracting anymore, but one problem among many with online shaming is that it quickly spirals out of control, we forget there’s a person on the other end, and oftentimes the shaming is way out of proportion with the alleged offense.
I’m not saying you would intend to do that, and I’m not defending what the driver allegedly did. I’m just saying I’m here to inform people about cat related stories, and I’m in no position to pass judgment on anyone even when I condemn the act.
As for the police, maybe they felt that because the security camera timed out, and there is no footage of the driver physically picking Feefee up, it would be difficult to find an appropriate charge. That’s just a guess, as I don’t know the particulars of state law in Washington.
Sadly, even if the police arrest people for harming animals, the thefts are treated like property crime. Most states include pet theft under agriculture and markets law, a throwback to the days when the primary worry about stolen animals was that Farmer Jim might steal Farmer Dave’s sheep or cattle.
Most states have not modernized those laws, so there’s no legal consideration for sentimental value, or recognizing cats and dogs as companions who are considered family members.
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I’m so happy to learn that the cat is now back safe with its family! I’m very steamed about the way this was handled though. There should definitely be some repercussions.
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Yeah I don’t yet it either, it’s strange that this wasn’t treated like a crime despite the footage, the driver admitting she took the cat and the refusal to cooperate.
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Karma baby. Karma will come…
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so very happy the cat is back with it’s owners. Many heartwarming kudos to them. They are obviously very very good people.
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Very happy kitty is back with her family. Unbelievable how Amazon responded and unbelievable that one of Amazon’s drivers would steal someone’s beloved pet. I have never used Amazon bc I don’t trust monopolies. They have too much power and can get away with anything.
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So pleased to read that this story has a happy ending…but not at all pleased with Amazon’s part in this.
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I didn’t mean to say that’d I’d ever do the shame thing. I just said it because she’s an awful person and some people need to be called out. It’s one thing to think about and talk of it and a whole other thing to actually do it. I wouldn’t even know where to start.
As for the cops, she had the cat, so yeah, she did the crime. And as you said in your story, the family did say that the people at the apt. building told them the cops had been there asking about the cat. They know she did it. Whether they can actually prove it to a court is something else. That cat did not follow her home and it didn’t jump into her truck. I also realize that even if she’s charged and found guilty, she’ll only get a slap on the wrist and maybe a fine which is utter BS. States need to update their laws to protect animals and not just treat them like a thing. In MN you can get a year in prison and/or a up to a $3000 fine. That’s probably better than most states, but it’s still not enough.
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That’s exactly the problem, the laws were written at a time when people regarded animals differently, and yes, the police make these decisions in consultation with prosecutors to decide if there’s any chance of prosecution.
But like I said, I really don’t know anything about the state specific laws in Washington. The local media didn’t follow up on the story, which unfortunately is not unusual either.
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