His name is Charlie Ortiz, and he has 634 friends in his Facebook group — 160 of them acquired in three days.
People, especially children, love to take pictures of him when he’s not preoccupied with his curiosity agenda or taking naps. He’s so regionally famous, that he has his own listing on Google Maps at his favorite hangout: White’s Road Park in Lansdale.
He’ll even waltz up to someone’s Lansdale West Ward house unexpectedly – usually the Kalbach Family home next to the park – and they’re fine with it. Some even let him sleep it off on a comfy chair.
Luckily, his address is around his neck at all times.
Unfortunately, Charlie cannot read or talk. He also licks himself, eats voles and uses a litter box.
The three-year-old half domestic shorthair and half Scottish fold kitten named Charlie has sunk his claws into the some feline-loving hearts in the North Penn community like a toy mouse.
He has called White’s Road Park – and beyond – his home ever since the Ortiz family, of Upper Gwynedd, brought him and his twin brother Sonny to their Green Street home, where their backyard is literally the park.
They were free kittens and they needed a good home.
"Charlie and Sonny were both put on Facebook … the poor woman was chewed up and spit out with people saying, ‘You need vet references, people will take your kittens and feed them to snakes.’ I contacted the lady and she trusted we were good people, so she gave us the kittens,” said Kristen Ortiz.
For the first year, the Ortiz family home was like a storybook with two cozy new kittens everywhere.
Then, the kittens found the windows and stalked the doors.
For Charlie, and sometimes, Sonny, their home is wherever they roam.
"Many times, they would run out and we would put them back in the house, until I just decided to let it happen and let the cats outside,” Ortiz said. "You can only go in and out of your house so many times while tossing cats back in until you realize it is ridiculous grabbing cats and putting them in the house. They will make it out sooner or later.”
While Sonny is sweet, sometimes standoffish, faithful to his family and sleeps nightly in Ortiz’s daughter’s bed, Charlie is a wanderlust and is faithful to no one.
"He disappears for days at a time sometimes and then comes sauntering down the driveway like it’s not strange that he hasn’t been home for a week,” Ortiz said.
It was last February when Charlie sauntered up a different driveway, one owned by the Kalbachs of White’s Road, whose property abuts the park and pool. Linette Kalbach’s daughter Keira recognized him as the cat that belonged to her friend Scarlett. His tag confirmed it, and Kalbach texted Ortiz with pictures of Charlie.
"They were away for the weekend, but said he had a cat door so he could get back inside for food and shelter,” Kalbach said. "However, he stayed here all weekend, and we ended up making him a partially-covered sheepskin-lined box and some tuna, since it’s what we had.”
For the weekend, Charlie called the Kalbachs home; he played in the yard with the Kalbach daughters and snoozed in the box that was sheltered in a greenhouse.
"I’m not really a cat person, and due to allergies, I tend to avoid them,” Kalbach said, "but I am a Charlie person.”
Over the past year, Ortiz would text Kalbach, asking if she had seen Charlie when he did not come home for a while. Kalbach’s husband Wayne then suggested a Facebook group for those Charlie regularly visited to keep track of him. It came in especially handy this summer when Charlie disappeared for a month.
"Initially, I thought of the Facebook group as just a place to track when he showed up, but quickly realized just how many people knew him or knew about him, and then started wondering how many people he visited regularly and how far his range truly was,” Kalbach said.
Since not everyone is on Facebook, Kalbach went a step further and added Charlie to Google Maps.
"We have another place to collect pictures and stories from people who meet him,” Kalbach said. "Plus, I think it’s cool for Lansdale to have a unique tourist attraction. Some towns have a ball of string, we have a Charlie!”
Oritz agreed with the reasons for the Facebook group.
"We realized how many Lansdale people knew him due to encounters at the park and his wanders around Lansdale and figured people would enjoy the page,” Ortiz said. "Linette and I both get a kick out of how many people know Charlie. The random posts each day are epic. There are people out there who say seeing Charlie posts is the highlight of their day, which is so nice.”
Charlie also seems to be empathic and sympathetic to his "families.”
"After he showed up the first weekend, we only saw him briefly a few times a week for about a month,” Kalbach said. "One day, I got some devastating news. That night, it was like he sensed how wrecked I was and came to offer comfort. We let him in the house for the first time – up to this point he stayed outside due to my allergies – and he just cuddled up to me purring all night.”
Now, the popularity of Charlie has grown beyond just those who see him around town and at the park.
"I love that Charlie and his antics can bring joy to people’s lives,” Kalbach said. "This Facebook group is a very wholesome page. This is a fun page about a really cool cat and his adventures both real and imagined.”
Charlie has influenced this writer, who resides in the West Ward, to write children’s chapter stories on Charlie’s "adventures.” Five chapters have been written so far.
At three years old, Charlie is young in cat years, but to us, he is in his late 20s.
"So, he’s got a lot of years left to bring us joy,” Kalbach said. "If we leave Lansdale, we’ll just have to come back to the park often or visit the Ortiz Family frequently.”
The Ortiz Family is in their fur-ever home too.
"There are people who say ‘Don’t you worry about him with cars? Predators? People who may mistreat him?’ These are all real possibilities I am willing to accept to let this wildcat live out his best life. Not all who wander are lost; the lost may know more than we do.”
Follow Charlie’s adventures on Facebook here.
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