Safely Home: Which One Is My House?

Edward, my cat, is sixteen years old. I’ve had him since he was a kitten and in all that time he was an indoor cat, never one to dart out the door or go far. Well, the door must have been open and he was in the front eating grass. My neighbor had heard him miaowing but of course, because he’s always indoors, she didn’t know he was ours. When we realized Edward was missing we went to look in an animal shelter to see if he was there. We were about to go on vacation and asked another neighbor to look out for him as she was caring for our dog while we went away. 

So we left and weren’t able to check for Edward again. A week later he was still missing. We got him chipped because it is a requirement for pets on the military installation where my husband is posted and where we live. There is an animal shelter on the installation. When they called to tell me Edward had been found through his PetLink microchip I was standing right outside the building! By this time I had already prepared myself for the worst, believing I would never see him again. Edward has been declawed and, now he’s a senior, he couldn’t defend himself if he got into a fight. I was so glad he was found alive even though he lost a lot of weight and I could feel his spine. I’ve had him on diets for years and now he’s lost four pounds. He likely has cat Alzheimer’s and got confused because the houses on the military installation all look the same. I am very grateful to have Edward returned.