Couple vacationing in Collier County finds missing cat

Reporter: Gail Levy Writer: Jackie Winchester
Published: Updated:
Rajah the cat (Credit: Cody Dornbusch & Samantha Racine)

UPDATE: Cody and Samantha told WINK News on Feb. 17 that Rajah has been found safe.

A Minnesota couple’s trip home was unexpectedly halted when it turned into a hunt for a missing loved one.

Life is all about adventure for Cody Dornbusch, his girlfriend Samantha Racine and their two “kids” – Zen the Husky and Rajah the Bengal cat.

“Rajah is like, she follows us everywhere just like a dog,” Racine said.

The couple travels around the country in their Jeep, a camper in tow. On Jan. 26, they stopped for gas at a Murphy gas station outside the Walmart along Collier Boulevard, just south of U.S. 41 East. They rolled down the window for Zen to get some air and didn’t realize Rajah jumped out the window until a half-hour had passed. By the time they returned to the gas station, Rajah was nowhere to be found. The couple says she was seen on the gas station cameras roaming around and meowing at the pump the couple had filled up at.

Now, the couple isn’t leaving until they find her.

“We don’t need to rush out of here without our family,” Dornbusch said.

They’ve searched the woods near the gas station and put up signs. They’ve even laid cat traps and asked for help on Facebook.

You know we’re not gonna stop until we find her, so those are the things that we’ve been doing.”

Social media is working – people are on the lookout. At one point Wednesday, they thought Rajah might have been found, caught in a cat trap, but it turned out not to be her.

“I feel pretty sad because it’s not Rajah, but it’s hopeful because the traps are working,” Racine said.

“One of them, it will be her, is our hope and our hard work will have paid off when that happens,” Dornbusch said.

Until then, they’re trying to stay positive while they keep searching.

Let’s just bring Raja home, let’s bring her home!”

A GoFundMe page set up by Dornbusch says people in the Naples community have provided the couple with “money, food, gas, etc, and many prayers and kind thoughts over these two weeks. The gas station manager has allowed us to sleep at the gas station in our camper for two weeks and it has slowly been weighing on us.”

Dornbusch said he has lined up a job in Naples in order to help them stay afloat while they look for Rajah.

The couple is offering a $500 reward to the person who finds Rajah. If you’ve seen her, you can call them at 651-425-9071.

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