Heartbroken Family Needs Help To Find Missing Cat, Marshmallow

SOUTHOLD, NY — A Southold family is searching frantically for their missing cat Marshmallow, who's been gone for about 28 hours.

According to Vanessa Rebentisch, Marshmallow went missing from Corey Creek Lane in Southold; he has his name and phone number embroidered on his collar.

Marshmallow, Rebentisch said, "is very friendly. That’s the problem — he's incredibly friendly. I’m scared essentially that some person who's lonely saw him, and called to him — and he'd just roll on his back and get picked up."

The kitty is just a year and three months old.

The couple has four children, as well as a German shepherd, and Marshmallow and the dog are "best friends," Rebentisch said.

Marshmallow roughhouses with the kids and the dog, and Rebentisch is also worried that the spirited play may have given the cat a false sense of confidence, the wrong "impression of how tough he is. I'm nervous he got into something with a dog or another animal."

Rebentisch said their home is located on a dead end road with reeds and three or four acres of open land at the end; her husband has been out with the dog, searching and praying to bring Marshmallow home safely.

With a park nearby, Marshmallow is popular with the neighbors, Rebentisch said — and with his name and phone number on his collar, "he's obviously from a loved family."

She and her family are praying that Marshmallow didn't venture out onto Main Bayview Rd. or find himself faced with a predator.

"It's just really unusual for him not to be back. He always goes out for the first four hours then comes home mid-afternoon — and at night, he sleeps in our bed," she said.

The bitter cold, she said, is also a deep concern. "If it was summer, he'd be out trotting along, having a blast, but it's really cold out — and this is so unlike him."

If you see Marshmallow, call 631-848-7544.

Photo courtesy Rebentisch family.