An artist from Lisburn has told of her distress as she continues to search for her runaway cat who has been missing for weeks.
Shirley Camblin has been living out of a self-converted van — Vauxhall Vivaro — since she left her home/studio in 2021 due to loss of income following the Covid-19 pandemic.
She lived there with her beloved cat Gingey.
The 56-year-old embraced this new life saying, “it was somewhere nobody could take off me”.
After rescuing the cat when he was only 12 weeks old, he is now nine and has lived with Shirley throughout her change in lifestyle.
“It’s just been me and him for the last 3 and a half years, and he’s been really happy and content,” Shirley stated.
However, tragedy struck when on January 27, Shirley pulled up along the Antrim Road, the cat got out and hasn’t been found since — he has now been missing for over a month.
Missing Gingey
She explained: “Whenever I opened the door to get out of the van, he jumped out past me, but I didn’t initially worry because he does that sometimes, but I’ve never seen him again.”
“It makes me really emotional talking about it”.
Gingey was Shirley’s travel partner as she not only lives out of her van but also runs her business from it, visiting people’s homes to offer art lessons and fun day painting sessions for the whole family.
This is where the pet became somewhat popular among Shirley’s clients and social media followers as she travelled across Northern Ireland.
This has led to many of her followers sharing pictures of the cat on social media in the hope of finding him while Shirley herself has also done this while also putting up leaflets and posters.
“I’ve walked the streets day and night.
“I’m really overwhelmed by the support of my local community,” she said
There was a glimmer of hope when Shirley received a photo of a cat that was similar in look to Gingey, however, it was not him, and the feline has yet to be spotted in any photo.
“Gingey has a distinct brown spot on his face”.
Gingey with his distinct markings
Shirley believes that her beloved pet may have gotten into a different van as there were “ a lot of workmen around that morning”.
Theorizing that her cat had perhaps gotten confused, jumped into the wrong van and ended up further away from their original search area. She said in a Facebook post that he may not be immediately visible as, “he is shy and likes to hide”.
All her followers as well as Shirley herself are still on the lookout for the pet and ask that anyone with information to please contact her.
The feline was last seen on the Crumlin Road but could be further away now.
Her phone number is 07541844166 and Facebook page is ‘PaintwithShirley’.