Family joy as pet is home again after two years missing

A ‘stray’ cat has been reunited with her overjoyed family almost two years after going missing, thanks to Blue Cross.

Molly, an eight-year-old moggie, disappeared from her home in Dudley in May 2016 whilst being looked after when her owners were on holiday. Despite searching high and low for their beloved pet, they had no luck finding her and had given up all hope of ever seeing her again.

Owner Nicola Butler explains: “Molly is a member of the family and we were absolutely heartbroken when she went missing. I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights we had. 

“As more time passed we didn’t think we’d ever see her again and feared the worse.”

Then, in March 2018 she was brought into our Bromsgrove rehoming centre after she was found hanging around in a local garden - not far from her home - and thought to be a stray. As with all pets brought to our charity, we scanned Molly for a microchip which revealed her owners’ contact details. 

Nicola continued: “When Blue Cross called us to say they had our cat we couldn’t believe our ears. We went straight to the centre to collect her. 

“It was very emotional to see her again after all this time and we are over the moon she’s finally home.” 

Blue Cross encourages all pet owners to get their pet microchipped and keep their contact details up to date with the database firm if they move or change their telephone number.

Caroline Oram, Animal Welfare Assistant at Blue Cross Bromsgrove, adds: “This is an incredible and heartwarming story and one that highlights the importance of getting your pets microchipped. 

“If the Butlers hadn’t had Molly microchipped we wouldn’t have known that a family were missing her, they most certainly would never have seen her again. We’re delighted we were able to help. It’s great to see Molly back with her family.”

Microchipping of dogs is now a legal requirement in the UK, however, the law does not cover cats or rabbits. We recommend all cat and rabbit owners get their pets chipped even through it's not a legal requirement, and keeping details up to date is so important. If we can’t reach the owner of a chipped pet because the details on the chip are not current, we have no way of reuniting pets with their devastated owners. Read more about microchipping.