Hey guys, did you know that more pets get lost from their families during the summer months then any other time during the year? To help reunite pets with their families, Baring is doing it’s annual Microchip-a-thon. From now until July 4th the microchip is only $36 (which includes the registration, and a year of the extra benefits). Below is the story of Buddy an indoor outdoor kitty that was missing for 3 months…..
In the spring of 2007, an under nourished 7-8 month old stray cat made his presence known from a distance with a meager series of cries. Over time we gained his confidence and provided a short period of petting and rubbing. Then off he went. The next morning we saw him still around the house. We fed the starving creature and he could not get enough food that day.
We discussed our next plan and vowed that if he remained at the house we would adopt. And here begins the 5 year saga of Buddy, our loved companion. He literally captured our hearts very shortly after ‘adopting us’! He was not a cat of great need for ‘cuddly’ compassion but more so just a tag along buddy (hence his name) who was curious of everything we did. He bonded with us from the start and us with him. He was small and our thought was that he may have been the ‘runt’ of the litter. We nursed him back to health and he became a very healthy and happy cat. Over the course of these years he provided us with much laughter and joy. That’s not to say there weren’t times of great distress and adjustments needed by all of us, but he also began to mellow slowly as time went on.
Through the bad times and good times, Buddy was always there waiting to be brushed, fed and loved. He truly was part of our family and gave us such pleasure. He became our 50-50 cat as we referred to him, half the time outside and always indoors every night.
Late in 2012 our son passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. With the turmoil that ensued, Buddy began to spend more and more time away from the house…..he knew something was not right. Plans were made to relocate soon after and when the day came we boarded Buddy while we completed our move, also understanding the task we faced with Buddy adapting to a new environment.
On January 2, 2013 we picked up Buddy from the vet after a week of boarding. Futile attempts were made to allow him to adjust. He was extremely unhappy and escaped that same afternoon. Our hearts were broken. In the ensuing days, weeks and months we searched all available resources for Buddy always looking everywhere we went. We were miserable with the loss of our son and our Buddy too. We resigned to the fact that he had joined our son and tried to make peace with that.
Then on a calm day, April 1, 2013, we received a call that will forever live in our minds. Nearly three months after he went missing, someone brought Buddy into the local animal services. He was healthy and was about to be put up for adoption when he was scanned for a microchip. During his last vet visit for a wellness check in 2012 we had the microchip installed and registered Buddy with HomeAgain. Our son had tried for years to get us to do that. Thank God we did; it was a gift from our son. It was what brought Buddy back to us. We call it a miracle!
Buddy was found 8 miles from our new home and less than 4 miles from his familiar territory of our last home. He was born and raised in that area and was heading back to his home!
