Clyde The Cat Stolen From UWS Petco: 'We Are Completely Devastated'

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Fear is growing as almost two weeks have passed since Clyde the cat was stolen from an Upper West Side Petco, The Animal Project NYC and police confirm to Patch.

The feline theft took place about 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 8 within the Petco at 2475 Broadway, near West 92nd Street, police said.

"Clyde has not yet been found and we are completely devastated, though, not giving up hope," Kelly, a volunteer at Animal Project NYC, which is a nonprofit that rescues cats and helps with adoptions, told Patch.

Every Saturday, the nonprofit holds an adoption event at the Upper West Side Petco. Foster parents will bring their cats in for customers to peruse and possibly decide on giving them a forever home.

Clyde, who is a six to seven month-old black and white tuxedo cat with a small pink patch on his nose, was last seen with a group of four boys age 12 to 14, who ran out with him in a black mesh carrier, a lost poster for Clyde reads.

Carol Moon, the director of The Animal Project, told Patch that the group of kids had been hanging around the store, but that she was focused on another man who had begun filing adoption papers.

When she looked back, the cat and the kids were gone, Moon told the West Side Rag, which was the first publication to report the story.

"This is probably not the cat you were after, he's very shy and not sweet and cuddly," Moon told Patch when asked what she would say to the kids that took Clyde. "He may be hiding under a bed or something. We're happy to help come and get him out, no questions asked.

"We've been at Petco for 12 years straight, doing the same Saturday adoption events, and never in all that time has anything like this happened," she added. "We're just devastated."

Clyde also has a distinct marking on his back.

There is a $500 reward for Clyde's safe return.

In the two weeks, Moon said that they had gotten a lot of tips about a cat at 107th Street and Amsterdam, but it is a bodega cat with a striking similarity to Clyde, not Clyde himself.

"I should have been watching," Moon said with tangible sadness.

Anyone with information is asked to email the [email protected], or call or text the following two numbers.

• 646-675-0082
• 212-567-9688