Nuala Hussey lost her cat Poppy mid-October and has been using a thermal imaging camera to aid her search around Hereford.
Originally, after searching in the day time Nuala would also search in the dark with a torch, because cats eyes are very reflective in the dark.
Using a torch to search reminded Nuala of an art installation she created a few years ago, in which visitors use torches in a dark room to reveal different colours and shapes in a series of paintings. In order to create this effect, under natural light the paintings had very saturated colour and abstract shapes, which meant they were reminiscent of a heat map.
Nuala remembered that the torches she gave visitors had different colour lights which is why they revealed different things about the paintings. This got her thinking about whether there was a different sort of ‘torch’ she could use to reveal her surroundings in a different way to help find Poppy. Eventually she realised being able to see heat sources would help.
“So far using the thermal imaging camera I have found many other neighbourhood cats going about their lives, and a hedgehog, but I have not found my cat.”
Poppy is a calico cat, which means multicoloured. She is small, has short hair and a distinctive meow. The campaign to find Poppy is also on social media or people can use the contact form at nualahussey.com if they have a lead.
