Local veterinarian Colin Manson has been going to extraordinary lengths to locate his dog Spikey, the mascot of his clinic, Kman Vets, and a cherished family pet.
The dog went missing nearly two weeks ago, on 13 Nov., and was last seen wearing an orange harness between Selkirk Drive and Bimini Drive, Manson said. He is offering a $5,000 reward for the dog’s safe return.
“I have been sleeping in my car the last five nights. I am still searching and putting up signs on the roadside. I have put adverts on the radio and in the newspaper,” he said.
“On Friday night, we were able to launch a heat-seeking drone, and while we found a few chickens, some ducks, several cats and a hickatee turtle, unfortunately there was still no sign of Spikey. So, we are continuing to search for him.”
Manson has also used a sniffer dog to search for the missing family pet.
At 7am on Monday, a resident called him to say that they had just seen a little dog like Spikey running around in Newlands. Manson said he drove out there and had a good look around but there was no sign of his dog.
“At that time of the day, a lot of people let their dogs out to go to the bathroom, so I think it was probably a case of mistaken identity,” he said, adding he has received quite a few calls.
While none of the small, white dogs that people have spotted wandering the streets have been his dog, he is not yet ready to give up hope.
The last possible sightings of Spikey were on 14 Nov. at 7am, near Royal Bank of Canada by the Hurley’s roundabout, and then at around 3pm the same day, near the top of Selkirk Drive.
When he went missing, Spikey had been at a doggy daycare in Red Bay.
“We drop him off every morning when we go to work and then pick him back up between 3 and 4 in the afternoon,” Manson said.
“The owner of the daycare knows him very well and he is normally very obedient when he is out in her yard, but it appears he ran out of the back corner of the garden where there is a damaged fence.”
Volunteers are aiding the search
Manson says the search for the missing dog has been aided by several people who have volunteered to help him look.
“One of his favourite things is playing tug of war, so I have been stopping and calling his name and using his squeaker [on his tug-of-war toy] but so far I have still not found him,” he said.
He has also driven down the canals in a boat and has looked in the mangrove thickets near where the dog first went missing in Red Bay, just in case he fell in the water.
The vet and his wife have no children, and he said Spikey is more important to him than physical possessions or even his car.
Spikey was a rescue animal, Manson explained, and he brought a lot of joy to his life.
“The original owner was going to put him down and we planned to rehome him, but then he developed a bond with our dog named Mansun and then we also fell in love with him too,” Manson added.
“It has been especially hard because my other dog, Mansun, developed a brain tumour at the end of last year and we had to put him to sleep, so it has been very difficult. I can barely concentrate at work right now.”
In the past, stray dogs were reasonably common in Cayman and while a few dog packs are still believed to be present on Grand Cayman, they are rare. The packs have been known to attack pets, but there are no known dog packs in that area of Red Bay where Spikey went missing.
The large white barn owl is also a fairly common predator in Grand Cayman and could potentially take a very small, unattended dog, but that is considered highly unlikely.
There have also been cases where dogs have been stolen, but Manson believes that the reward and the publicity would likely cause the person to make contact if Spikey had been taken.
“I am just hoping that someone picked up Spikey who is not a regular consumer of news and information, perhaps an older person and they haven’t yet seen the signs on the road about our missing dog,” he said.
Spikey has white hair in a lion cut with a mohawk-style haircut running down the middle of his back. He has a distinctive scar on his left thigh and back from being bitten by a pitbull as a puppy.
Manson said the scar from Spikey’s injury is still quite visible on his left thigh.
He thanked the many people who have helped with the search so far.
“Please if you see him, call us and we will give you the reward. He is well socialised, so you don’t have to be afraid approaching Spikey.”
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