Thanks to a microchip, a teen has been reunited with the cat who wandered off from her home in Shorefields, Rainham (UK) almost ten years ago.
Isobel Thatcher, 14, and her mother Julie, a teaching assistant, thought their cat Max had wandered away from home and most likely run over by a car. As it turns out, Max had started a new life only a mile from his old home.
An elderly woman had been caring for Max all those years in the conservatory on Station Road. When she became disabled, the woman’s son contacted the Animals Lost and Found in Kent. The charity scanned Max for a microchip and Julie came up as the registered owner.
It took Facebook to bring about the reunion. After a few messages, Max went to his home on Monday. Isobel described being reunited with her cat during an interview with Kent Online
“It’s the best thing to happen to me all year – it’s a Christmas miracle. I was really upset when he went missing, I just presumed he’d died after all this time. It came completely out of the blue and I really wasn’t expecting it but I’m so happy.”
The elderly woman had been feeding Max for three or four years. He had lost weight since the last time the family had seen him. Max is 16 now and has made himself at home on Isobel’s bed.
Julie described how the reunion took place
“When he didn’t come back all those years ago, I think we all assumed he’d been run over and that was it. Then suddenly we got these messages and within a few hours they came to our door and I just said ‘that’s him’ – even though it’s been ten years, he’s very distinctive so we recognised him straight away.”
Microchipping is important. Many cats are found years later where they’ve been within a mile or two of their original home. Just as many tend to venture hundreds if not thousands of miles and we can only guess how they got from one place to another.
There are very few happy ending stories about cats being reunited who weren’t chipped. This article also goes to show that anyone who finds and takes in a new cat should have it checked for a microchip at a veterinarian or a shelter, just to be sure there’s not an owner anxiously waiting for a phone call that their missing cat has been found.
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