Nuneaton cat given up for dead returns home after 11 years
Susie RackBBC News, West Midlands
A family have spoken of their amazement at being reunited with their missing cat after 11 years.
The Allan family gave 14-year-old moggy Toby up for dead in 2012 when he disappeared following a Warwickshire house move.
But the tabby was returned home this week after a local woman contacted Coventry Cats Protection, who checked his microchip.
“I never thought in a million years I’d see him again,” said owner Justine Allan.
“Toby was collected and will no longer have to scavenge for food and sleep in a cold bin store,” added charity co-ordinator Wendy Harris.
Toby went missing in December 2012 after his owners moved from Galley Common, Nuneaton, to their current home on the Long Shoot.
“[My son Charlie] was about 12 when Toby went missing, and he was heartbroken when we realised he probably wasn’t coming back,” said Mrs Allan.
“The Long Shoot is a notoriously busy road, we just assumed the worst had happened and thought he had been run over.”
More than a decade later, about five miles (8km) away a Bedworth woman contacted Cats Protection after believing the stray she was feeding to be pregnant.
Armed with a microchip scanner, a volunteer went out at 21:00 GMT on Saturday to catch it.
“It turned out, not only did it have a chip, but that he was a neutered male named Toby, rather than female as originally believed,” said Ms Harris.
The charity traced the Allan’s details on a database and contacted them to say their missing mouser had been found.
His grateful family picked him up on Sunday and said he had settled back in, despite the household’s addition of King Charles Cavalier pup Bernie.
“I can’t believe he survived all this time, the odds were stacked against him, but here he is,” said Mrs Allan.
“He doesn’t seem different at all, he’s obviously been cared for and fed by somebody, I just wish he could tell us what happened,” she added.
“We’ll keep him in now for six to eight weeks and then hope he stays.”
Cats Protection urged anybody who found a stray to bring it to a vet or the charity to be scanned.
Earlier this year, the government announced compulsory microchipping for cats would become law in England from June 2024.
