Moose, the beloved gray tabby cat that frequently hangs out in front of the East Hill Publix, is missing, and some people — including the friendly feline's owners — fear he might be dead.

Husband-and-wife attorneys Alistair McKenzie and Therese Felth, who live across the street from the Publix on 1100 E. Cervantes St., have owned Moose for five years, since he was a kitten. Moose likes to wander and explore, and the couple has been happy to let him do both.

McKenzie said Tuesday that he hasn't seen Moose since Saturday. Since then, he has learned that a cat loosely fitting Moose's description was found dead on Cervantes Street and 11th Avenue, presumably hit by a car.

But neither he nor his wife are sure whether that cat was Moose, because they say they were never presented the opportunity to see the body and identify it.

"Publix disposed of the cat’s body they found and would not show it to me so I did not get a chance to identify him and now we have no closure," McKenzie said in a Facebook message Tuesday morning. "I’m a bit upset about that."

Management at the East Hill Publix declined to comment to the News Journal on Tuesday, citing corporate policy.

Although Moose spends time in front of the Publix on a nearly daily basis, he almost always returns home to eat and sleep, his owners said. So when he still hadn't shown up by Sunday morning, McKenzie visited the Publix to see if they knew of the cat's whereabouts.

"I went to Publix when I heard and spoke with a manager," McKenzie said. "She disposed the body. She said it did not look like Moose because it was larger and did not have his collar on, which makes the situation even worse for us. We’ve got a friend going to the shelters today to look for him."

Still, McKenzie fears the worst.

"I think it likely was him," he said of the cat that was likely hit by a car. "But now I’m just left in limbo because of what Publix did. They didn’t even try and contact us about the whole thing."

It's not uncommon for Moose to go missing for a few days. Since he began popping up a couple of years ago at the Publix — where he's stolen the hearts of countless shoppers with his warm, sociable nature — he has been picked up by people who mistook him for a stray.

To make the public aware that Moose does in fact have a home, a Moose the East Hill Publix Cat Facebook page was created in early 2018.

"(He's gone missing) several times," McKenzie said. "He has also been catnapped from Publix two times before. That was prior to his Facebook page and reason it was created."

The last post on Moose's Facebook page, which is run by a family friend, was on Feb. 12. For the past couple of weekends, shoppers say he has been helping Girl Scouts sell cookies in front of the store.

Hundreds of East Hill residents and Publix shoppers have expressed their grief over Moose's possible death on Facebook with multiple posts since Sunday. Many expressed how sweet and kind the cat was and how his presence in front of the store brightened their shopping experience.

Before 10 a.m. Tuesday, Felth asked residents to keep an eye out for Moose in a post on a popular East Hill Facebook group page.

"There is also the possibility that someone took Moose home thinking he was homeless or lost, that has happened multiple times before," Felth pointed out in the post. "He is (micro) chipped and we’re hoping someone will contact us soon.

"Please be on the lookout for Moose," she added. "We miss him dearly and hope he’s OK at someone’s house."

Jake Newby can be reached at jnewby@pnj.com or 850-435-8538.