Has fire survivor Whitey been ‘rescued’ again — or catnapped?

So many pet cats have been desperate for food and medical attention and a return to normalcy since the fires of October threatened or laid waste to their homes.

Whitey simply is not one of them.

Until he disappeared a week ago from near his master’s temporary new home off Riebli Road, northeast of Santa Rosa, Whitey was doing fine.

“He just looks pitiful,” said Karen Kopel, one of the people who’ve helped to trap fire-scattered cats and return them to their families. She said his whitish fur is prone to becoming sooty, so people who come upon him might assume he’s not cared for.

Not so.

“He was very well loved and very well cared for,” said Sara Ratekin, a Sonoma County veterinarian familiar with Whitey.

Several times in recent weeks, people with presumably good intentions came upon Whitey, and took him to Sonoma County Animal Services or a rescue shelter. Ratekin said Whitey is a personable and contented cat but looks forlorn, so it’s not surprising people would repeatedly rescue him from the badly burned Riebli area.

But Whitey did not require rescuing. Kopel and Ratekin said the cat’s master and best friend is an older man who lost his home to the firestorm, but lives now in a camper on the property.

The man is brokenhearted to have lost Whitey again, and this time fears his cat was not mistakenly rescued but was intentionally stolen.

There’s been conversation about the cat on Facebook, and in posted comments some participants have declared that Whitey shouldn’t be on the property and isn’t being properly cared for.

“It’s just so sad,” Ratekin said. “In my opinion as a vet, he is fine out there.”

If someone has Whitey, Ratekin and Kopel plead that the cat be taken to the county animal shelter or the Humane Society, or dropped off back at his home. Ratekin said she’d welcome being contacted at sara.ratekin@vca.com and would gladly drive to fetch Whitey.

You can reach Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.