Safely Home: His microchip reunited us

This is a bit of a soap opera. I travel the country by motorhome and my ex-husband lived in a house and he has cats, so I asked if he would care for my cat Newman for me. He adopted Newman, he cared for him for many years, he really loved him. A few months ago I found out that my ex-husband has dementia and the state put him in a home. My ex’s sister called me and I asked about Newman. She said oh, Newman died, don’t worry. I was sad to hear that, but the cat was 15 years old and had a good life.  What makes my stomach turn a little bit is that she claims that he died in her arms two months before my ex went into the nursing home.

Two days ago out of the blue I got a phone call from a state social worker, saying that my ex’s pets were taken to animal control. I asked for the names of the pets and one of them was Newman. I said that’s impossible, Newman died! The state social worker said oh he’s very much alive. She gave me his animal control case number.

I was able to reach animal control and I gave them his PetLink microchip number. They confirmed that they had my cat! He was very much alive and even healthy at the age of 15.

The cat was in West Palm Beach Florida and I am in California, but animal control agreed to transfer Newman to my very dear friend in Florida. She adopted him today while I was on the phone listening.

I feel fairly certain that if animal control got a random phone call from a woman in another state without the microchip number, they would not have taken me seriously.

I am the administrator for a Facebook group for lost and found Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Even though this is a story about a cat, I am going to share Newman’s PetLink microchip number in the group.