As a very happy fur baby mom, just reunited with her long-lost, dear kitty after almost 17 weeks away from the safety and love of her home, I must sing the praises of pet microchipping.
Without a microchip, our Natasha may not ever have been reunited with us and safely returned, despite the almost daily checks I made to lost cat websites and vets and shelters throughout the area. It so happens our little wanderer escaped out of the door on one of the coldest nights in late January and was discovered on June 5 outside of High Five Coffee on Broadway behind Green Life, turned in by a wonderful, kind young lady to the Buncombe County Animal Shelter.
Upon arrival, the shelter immediately scanned Natty for a chip, where a pet owner’s name and email and phone number are accessible. The shelter phoned us while my husband and I were at lunch — telling us the astonishing news that Natasha had finally been found — so of course lunch was abandoned, and we rushed to the shelter to witness the wonder of our sweet kitty cat returned safe and sound and not so very much the worse for wear.
During her sojourn, several thoughtful Ashevilleans and perhaps visitors must have taken time to care a bit for a little long-haired mackerel tabby with very short legs and a super-fluffy tail — feeding her scraps perhaps or maybe letting her sleep on porches or other safe places — and if this fits your description, thank you — thank you — from the bottom of our hearts. Natty thanks you, too.
And thank you BCAS for giving Natty flea drops, a rabies shot and heartworm medicine so she can be healthy and ready for hopefully a long, happy, strictly indoors life with her older sister cat Katrinka. So, in closing, please, please microchip your pet(s) if you haven’t already. It’s worth the peace of mind — if the almost unthinkable happens as it did to us — and microchips really work! We and Natty are testament to that.
Shelters microchip all their adopted pets as a matter of course, or your vet can microchip, and this is one technology all pets and their people should be exceedingly grateful for. And do not give up if your pet is lost. Miracles do happen.
— Diane Kaufmann
Asheville
Wow, that is an incredible story! Both my dog and my cat were “neighborhood” rescues.. Both were chipped so I found the owners and both (hard to believe but true) did not want the animals but because I had been able to find the previous owners with the microchipping — I was able to learn the medical history, etc. of both animals… certainly a valuable thing . Go microchipping!
A lovely story. A reminder: a microchip is only as good as the data that’s on file, which applies especially if you’ve moved house since adopting.
As the third owner of both my dog and my cat, it took time to update all the microchip info– but my peace of mind made it so worth the effort.
Good Kitty