A happy ending for Gizmo

  Remember Gizmo, the missing cat?

Well, he's home -- thanks to his owner's dedication, hard work and refusal to ever give up the search.

Gizmo isn't just any cat -- his owner claims that Gizmo has an uncanny ability to predict his heart attacks. That means getting vital medical help that much faster.

"He's sitting on my lap right now," said a very happy Steve Piel of Torrance when he called this afternoon to report Gizmo's return.

Gizmo was found two weeks to the day after he'd gone missing.

Piel searched every day and night for his 4-year-old lost cat, walking for hours on end and posting about 200 "Lost Cat" posters with photographs all over the neighborhood where he was last seen.

Last Friday, a couple kids called Piel and told him the pictures on the poster looked just like a cat they spotted on the roof of a house next door to them, about half a mile from where Gizmo was lost.

The people who owned the house were away on vacation but told Piel when he called that he was free to look around in the backyard.

"I kept hearing this cat crying," he said. He finally spotted Gizmo -- sitting up in a tree house.

I have to admit I was surprised.

But Piel wasn't. He said he always believed he'd find Gizmo.

Oh me of little faith.

As it turns out, he followed much of the advice found online about how to look for a lost pet, including knocking on doors, talking to people in the neighborhood, handing out fliers with the pet's picture and your phone number and checking local shelters.

(And while this wasn't a case of pet theft, there are some other good links with how to find missing pets included in our earlier post on that topic.)

Piel says he'll meet up with the kids who called with the tip to give them a reward.

Meanwhile, Gizmo appears to be in good health. Gizmo apparently found food during his two-week absence as the cat doesn't appear to have lost any weight.

But he's no doubt glad to be back home in the lap of luxury -- and with a devoted owner who never gave up hope of finding him and bringing him home. A very lucky cat.