Veterans search for lost companion

Found a cat?

If you do and it's a Maine coon, orange colored and shaved like a lion, the folks at the Utah Veterans Nursing Home would like it back.

Digit, a 3-year-old cat that has lived at the nursing home since it was found abandoned in a parking lot as a kitten, is part of the family at the home and is loved by staff and patients alike for the joy he provides the 81 patients who, on average, are 83 years old.

"He really has a personality," administrator Colleen Nichols said of Digit, who was last seen about 8 p.m. Tuesday with visitors at the nursing home. "Visitors and family members who come here look for him because of his personality. He can sense when a patient is sick and about to pass on. He sits on their bed or sits in their window."

The nursing home plays "Taps" whenever one of the patients dies, and Digit always sits still no matter where he is in the building during the entire bugle call, Nichols said.

Nichols has offered a reward of $250 for the return of Digit. She doesn't believe he wandered off on his own. "He stays inside the building and the outside courtyard is fenced, so there is no way he could have gotten away on his own."

While Digit is the main-floor house cat, the nursing home, on the Veterans Administration campus, has a bloodhound named Lucy who stays on the lower floor with the Alzheimer's patients.

Nichols said the staff has been posting fliers with Digit's picture all over the neighborhood and on the VA property, hoping someone will either find or return the missing pet that has brought to much happiness to the nursing home. Anyone with information about Digit can call 584-1900.

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E-mail: lweist@desnews.com