Reporter staff

A key staff member is missing from Mercer Island Care and Rehabilitation.

The 9-year-old cat became a resident in early May, when a reader of a Reporter article on the center’s penchant for pets re-homed her cat there.

“The residents love him,” said Beth Ihde, administrator at the residential facility. “We’ve been slowly integrating him into life here.”

But Pumpkin refuses to commit.

Since Pumpkin’s arrival, he’s kept everyone on their toes. He managed to escape out of a window screen and disappear for two weeks, prompting workers to put up flyers and contact vets and animal control to try to find him. A Mercer Island family found him near their home, just minutes from the building several weeks ago.

“We were so sad and worried when he disappeared. The residents really missed him while he was gone,” said Ihde.

And now he has gone again.

Staff and resdients have tried a multitude of things to keep him from being an “outdoor cat,” including putting butter and vanilla on his paws.

If you do happen to see Pumpkin out and about, please know that his home is at Mercer Island Care and Rehabilitation at 7445 S.E. 24th St., or call Beth Ihde at 232-6600.