Photos courtesy of Carol McMorrow
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina — On the evening of Oct. 27, 2022, Carol McMorrow and her husband, Mike McMorrow, left for the 7:30 p.m. showing of “Native Gardens” at PlayMakers Repertory Company.
An hour before showtime, Carol helped her husband, who used a wheelchair, into their van. They greeted their 14-year-old green-eyed gray tabby cat, Pippin, as he wandered about the driveway.
Their 23-minute drive to the show was quiet. Carol parallel parked on Country Club Road and started to help her husband safely out of the van. Then Mike said, “Hey, that cat by the wheel looks just like Pippin.”
“I looked down and saw Pippin’s collar,” Carol said, referencing the tabby’s signature purple neckpiece.
But cars zoomed by as Carol lunged to retrieve her cat. Accustomed to the peaceful birdsong and open woods at the couple’s Durham home, Pippin’s frightened eyes widened. Instead of bracing for Carol’s familiar grip, he dashed across the street toward the Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District.
The couple searched for the tabby before and after the show — but they had no luck.
Bull City
Shortly after the couple’s move to their current Durham home in early 2008, Carol — a former physician assistant at the Durham VA Medical Center and lifelong cat owner — learned that one of her patients was trying to find homes for a new litter of kittens. “We adopted two from that litter,” Carol said.
The first of those kittens was a Siamese named Darcy, referencing Jane Austen’s character in “Pride and Prejudice.” The second, a gray tabby, was named for the 1972 Broadway musical, “Pippin.”
“We have always said Pippin is a very dignified cat,” Carol said, adding she also considers the tabby sweet and polite.
But nearly seven years after adopting the sibling duo, Darcy — who would frequently stay out exploring the couple’s vast wooded backyard for a day or two — never returned home. Pippin had remained close to home since his brother’s disappearance. “We haven’t really been concerned about him,” she said of Pippin.
That is, until now.
Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District
The next day, Carol returned to UNC to post orange signs with a photo and description of Pippin, Carol’s cell phone number, and an unspecified reward amount.
Not ready to give up hope, Carol said she continued to frequent the neighborhoods where Pippin had gone missing but seldom received leads on his whereabouts.
Within five weeks of Pippin’s disappearance, efforts to find the runaway cat took a back seat. On Dec. 8, Mike — who suffered from myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular condition that limited his mobility — broke his hip. He spent the holidays in the hospital and was not released home until the end of February.
“I was spending every day at the hospital,” Carol said, adding that her faith in finding Pippin began to fade by Christmas. “It was so cold,” she recalled. “I thought he was probably frozen somewhere.”
Jennifer Federico, animal services director for Wake County government, said only that 2% of lost cats typically reunite with their owners. Federico recommends microchipping, listing their lost pets on sites such as Triangle Lost Pets and Nextdoor, and routinely checking their local animal shelter.
UNC Hospitals
On the early morning of Jan. 15, Anna Curtis, a first-year student who works for UNC’s student-run radio station, WXYC, was on her usual early morning commute, walking along the bridge that connects Morrison Residence Hall and Chase Dining Hall.
Still dark, Curtis spotted a pair of glowing eyes ahead of her. She pulled out her phone and began recording.
“Hey,” she said in the video, extending her hand toward what looked like darkness. But within a few moments, a cat comes into view – adorned with a purple collar.
“It was the very next day I saw the posters,” Curtis said. “I recalled him wearing the same collar and connected the dots.”
Curtis called Carol, sent her the video, and relayed her encounter with Pippin. “I was glad I could give her a sign that he was alive,” she said.
Claudia Rodriguez, a cook for UNC Medical Center’s Terrace Café, said she began seeing Pippin toward the end of December.
“I keep seeing Pippin everywhere,” Rodriguez said. “It breaks my heart I can’t get him to come to me,” adding that she searched for him almost daily.
Carol said the response from the greater UNC community has been surprising, adding, “I didn’t expect people to band together as they have.” Because of the overwhelming care, Carol’s flyers specified a $500 reward from then on.
But even with increased sightings and communal support, no one could isolate Pippin. By May, the tabby, who celebrated a solo 15th birthday on Feb. 13, had been missing nearly seven months. Carol said she and Mike began losing hope again.
That is until Carol received a different kind of phone call.
Campus Health
On Monday, June 12, Angela Pierce, coordinator of referrals and academic interventions for UNC Campus Health, parked her car in Rams Head Parking Deck around 6 a.m. When she headed toward the back door of Campus Health, Pierce said she noticed something peeking out from behind a recycling bin.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, that’s Pippin,’” Pierce recalled, adding that the cat appeared skinnier and weaker since the last time she had spotted him. Pierce had begun contacting Carol earlier this year after noticing the flyers.
Carol said when she received Pierce’s Monday morning phone call, she was already at the hospital for her husband’s ongoing health condition. So she first sent Georgea Oliveira, a close friend of the family who has also worked for the couple since July of last year, to UNC’s campus.
“He didn’t get close to me,” Oliveira said, adding that she brought the tabby some food in hopes he would eat. “He looked scared.”
By 9:45 a.m., Carol was headed to UNC to meet Oliveira — and to hopefully see her cat again for the first time in almost eight months.
“Come on, Pippin, it’s time to come home,” Carol said she called to the cat when she arrived. “I tried to catch him, but when I’d get close, he would run. But I think he recognized us.”
After a few hours, Carol said she and Oliveira left campus to obtain a humane trap from Orange County Animal Services.
She placed the trap near some bushes outside Kenan Memorial Stadium Gate 6, where she had last seen the tabby. She said she left an old pajama shirt of hers inside, hoping he would be drawn to her scent.
It was her final attempt to bring the cat home.
Back in Bull City
On June 13, Pierce checked the trap before going to work that morning and made an emotional outgoing call to Carol.
“He’s in the trap!” Pierce said.
“I got dressed and just went straight over there,” Carol said. “I didn’t want to lose him again.”
Pippin — who lost about 8 pounds during his time missing but otherwise came home relatively healthy — readjusted well back into their Durham home, Carol said. She added, “It’s just so great to have him back.”
Pierce used the $500 reward money to buy prescription food for her own cat, Precious, who suffers from Crystalluria, a condition caused by the presence of crystals in urine.
“I feel like (UNC) was a good place for him to get lost,” Pierce said. “Chapel Hill is known for having a community that loves and adores animals. The fact he was able to survive that long is incredible.”
Following Pippin and Mike’s return home in June, Carol said the tabby stayed almost inseparably at her husband’s bedside, often sitting right between his legs. “He almost wanted to be even a little bit closer to him,” she said.
But nearly three months following Pippin’s homecoming, Mike died of heart failure in his Durham home on Sept. 1 — with the tabby by his side.
“Pippin remained right by him when he died and well after,” Carol said hours after Mike’s death. “(The nurse) said it was very unusual for an animal to stay after someone dies. Pippin is a special kitty.”
