'He Means Everything': Desperate Search For Missing Bengal Cat

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — A Hampton Bays woman is desperately searching for her lost cat.

According to Sonya Fezza, Rajah, a Bengal cat who will be four years old in September, is brown with leopard spots and gold eyes. He went missing on Thursday, April 10, after running out the door of her home in Hampton Bays.

Fezza, who considers Rajah an emotional support animal, is devastated. "I don't feel like I recognize myself without him," she said.

Although initially, neighbors had reported sightings of Rajah on their Ring cameras, there have been no sightings in the past nine to 10 days, she said. She's been searching tirelessly, Fezza said, to no avail.

"I don't know if it's because he’s such a beautiful and appealing cat — maybe somebody has him, and they haven’t let me know yet. He’s very, very timid around people he doesn’t know, so I'm just praying he’s doing an incredible job of hiding. I just keep trying to have hope," she said.

Rajah, she said, is an indoor cat who ran out the door while groceries were brought in. "It's every person's worst nightmare, when they have an indoor cat, that they'll run out. They're so quick."

His loss echoes. Rajah, she said, has been with her throughout some of the most difficult times of her life, including an accident she had in 2022. "He feels like my sense of safety, security and companionship," she said.

Cats, often scared, are difficult to spot, Fezza said. "I feel like I'm looking for something that's essentially invisible right now," she said. "I'm so distraught."

The community has opened its hearts to help, she added, searching, as she has, for long days and nights. She's posted flyers at stores, the vet . . . anywhere that she can think of. "There are so many flyers that it's come to the point that people will see me, or my boyfriend or parents, and say, 'Any luck finding your cat?'" she said.

On the flip side, there have been "scammers" who've called or texted, claiming to have Rajah. Her hopes soared — and just as quickly, dissipated as the leads led nowhere, she said.

Although there's a trap set up under the house, Fezza said in her community, there are so many places for a cat to hide, "it's like being in Disney World and losing your kid — there are so many hiding places."

Her heart broken, her voice breaking with tears, Fezza said: "I pray that he comes back. I never thought that I would go to work one morning and never see him again. He means everything to me."