None of us like the idea of having a pet disappear…let alone for five years. Yet as a fall back, microchipping is a very simple and effective way to keep track of our pets. Tags are good, collars with names embroidered or etched in them are great ideas, but they can be lost or taken off. The microchip stays with the pet. We must always remember to keep our details up to date. Here are two stories that are examples of how well a microchip works.
Follow the Link to the Lost Dogs’ Home Article Missing Dog Found 700km from Home
Missing dog found 700km from home
Four-year-old German shepherd Lily went missing from her home in Goulburn, NSW over seven months ago and today her owners drove 700 kilometres in seven hours to find her again.
Owners Theresa and Tracker, and their kids Carly and Stuart, were absolutely devastated by the loss of their beloved pooch and said they were gobsmacked to find out she was at The Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne.
“We were at a wedding on the coast over the weekend and came home to a message from The Lost Dogs’ Home saying that Lily was in Melbourne,” Theresa said. “I was completely dumbfounded that she had somehow gone interstate.”
“Our daughter Carly started hyperventilating when we told her the news!’”
The couple suspect Lily was taken from their yard, as the heavy front gate – which had been locked the night previous – was unhinged when Tracker set off to work on the early May morning. Theresa said her son had snuck Lily up to his room during the evening before and let her out at 5.30am so his parents wouldn’t know she’d spent the night indoors. In roughly an hour timeframe, Lily was missing from their property.
“She’s an incredibly friendly dog but she normally barks at strangers who drive up to our house,” Tracker said. “Because we didn’t hear anything that morning, we suspect the person who took her was familiar to her.”
After speaking with staff at the Home on Sunday to make arrangements, Theresa and Tracker jumped in the car at midnight last night and drove over seven hours to North Melbourne. The reunion between the exuberant dog and her loving owners was certainly a joyful one – although it came with a surprise.
“It looks like she has had pups in the time she’s been away,” Theresa noted. “She wasn’t pregnant when she went missing so maybe that was the intent of whoever took her – to use her as a breeder.”
Despite this, Theresa and Tracker said Lily looked the same as always and couldn’t wait to get her home to the kids.
“Our son is a big, macho 18-year-old but ever since we found out Lily is alive and well, he’s been posting pictures of her on Facebook, with love hearts and the whole deal,” Theresa laughed. “I know both kids will be over the moon to see her again.”
Lucky for Lily, nothing much will have changed at her home, with her owners saying they couldn’t bring themselves to throw her things out.
“She was microchipped as a pup and so we always had hope that one day she would come back to us,” Tracker said. “There came a point where we were going to throw out the lounge she likes to sleep on but when the time came, we just couldn’t do it. We thought we’d better hang on to it in case she came home.”
“I never really saw the point of microchips before, being from the country, but I’m definitely a convert now!”
National Pet Register Manager Kate Hoelter said this family’s story really highlights the importance of microchipping your pet and keeping the contact details up-to-date.
“As soon as Lily was brought into the Home on Friday, we immediately scanned her for a chip and found Theresa and Tracker’s details,” Kate said. “If they hadn’t taken that measure in the past, I don’t think Lily would ever have gotten home.”
Kate said although National Pet Register reunites around 24,000 pets with their owners every year, seeing the joy on both Lily and her owner’s faces when they were reunited was just wonderful.
“It almost brings a tear to your eye, seeing how dedicated these people are to their pet,” Kate said. “To get up at midnight and drive for seven hours straight to collect their dog is really amazing and we only wish all dogs and cats were shown the same amount of love and dedication that Theresa and Tracker show Lily.”
National Pet Register hold monthly discounted microchipping events around Victoria and Queensland. To microchip your pet and ensure they have a way of getting back home to you, visit www.petregister.com.au
Posted 14 Nov 2011
Follow the Link to the SMH Article Cat Missing For Over Five Year Found
A calico cat named Willow, who disappeared from a US home near the Rocky Mountains five years ago, was found yesterday on a Manhattan street and will soon be returned to her owners.
How she got to New York, more than 2500 kilometres away, and the kind of life she lived in the city remain mysteries.
But thanks to a microchip implanted when she was a kitten, Willow will be reunited with her Colorado owners, who had long ago given up hope.
“To be honest, there are tonnes of coyotes around here, and owls,” said Jamie Squires, of Boulder. “She was just a little thing, five and a half pounds [2.5 kilograms]. We put out the ‘Lost Cat’ posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she’d been eaten by coyotes.”
Mrs Squires and her husband, Chris, were “shocked and astounded” when they got a call yesterday from Animal Care & Control, which runs New York City’s animal rescue and shelter system.
Willow had been found on East 20th Street by a man who took her to a shelter.
“My husband said, ‘Don’t say anything to the kids yet. We have to make sure,’” Mrs Squires said. “But then we saw the picture, and it was Willow. It’s been so long.”
ACC executive director Julie Bank said a scanner found the microchip that led to the Squires family.
“All our pets are microchipped,” Mrs Squires said. “If I could microchip my kids, I would.”
The children are 17, 10 and three years old, so the older two remember Willow, Mrs Squires said. As for the three-year-old, “she saw the photo and said, ‘She’s a pretty cat.’”
The family also have a yellow Labrador named Roscoe, who knew Willow, and an English mastiff named Zoe.
“We had another dog back then, too, and I remember that Willow would lie with them as they all waited to be fed,” Ms Squires said. “She thought she was a dog.”
She said Willow escaped in late 2006 or early 2007 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation.
Since then, the family had moved about 16 kilometres from Broomfield to Boulder, but kept their address current with the microchip company.
Ms Bank recommended that all pet owners use microchips.
She said Willow, who now weighs three kilograms, is healthy and well-mannered and probably has not spent her life on the mean streets of Manhattan. But there are no clues about her trip east or anything else in the five years she’s been missing.
Mrs Squires seemed a bit worried about a possible New York state of mind.
“I don’t know what kind of life she’s had, so I don’t know what her personality will be like,” she said. When Willow disappeared, she said, “She was a really cool cat, really sweet.”
The ACC and the Squires were trying to arrange for transportation back to Colorado and health certificates and said it might be two weeks before the reunion. Willow may spend some time with a foster family in New York.
“The kids can’t wait to see her,” Mrs Squires said. “And we still have her little Christmas stocking.
