Annie ~ a microchip miracle

My cat, Annie, came to me from Nova Scotia as an 8-week old kitten in June of 2007, a gorgeous, orange, polydactyl tabby. The minute she arrived, she showed that she was a very busy and social kitten. She was not afraid of the neighbor’s dachshund and they ended up being friends and would wrestle and tumble together on my lawn. She loved to explore her territory and became the queen of the neighborhood, visiting every house, even wandering to the next street over. Everyone knew Annie. I didn’t worry that she wandered because she always came running from wherever she was when I called her name.

At the age of 6 months, in October, she was scheduled to be spayed and at the same time Dr. Jeff Rockwell at Atlantic Veterinary Hospital inserted a HomeAgain Microchip just in case Annie wandered too far someday and got lost. Only a month later, at dusk on Veteran’s Day, when I called Annie home for dinner, she did not come running. I looked everywhere, calling her name. By midnight I was quite worried, and my dawn when she was not on the doorstep, I was frantic.

I called HomeAgain and they were wonderful. I downloaded a poster from their website with her photo and description that said she was missing and posted them all over the neighborhood and in stores and the Post Office. And I waited. I called her again and again up and down all nearby streets. I asked neighbors to check their garages and houses in case she had wandered inside and got shut in.

When the new year came and Annie had not been found, I took down all my posters and accepted the fact that Annie was really gone. It was a very, very sad time. Jeff Rockwell kept telling me to hold out hope, he thought she would be found.

In late April when Annie would have been over a year old, my aunt called to say she had a new litter of orange tabby kittens and asked me if I wanted one. I prepared to drive to Nova Scotia with my cousin to get a kitten as I missed Annie so much. Two weeks before we were to leave, on April 28, 2008, I got a call from the Marblehead Animal Shelter saying that they had Annie. I nearly fainted, and asked how they knew it was Annie.

"She was turned in to the shelter and we took her to Atlantic Veterinary Hospital to have her spayed and given a health exam so she could be adopted. An astute technician, Sue A., noticed that she had already been spayed and she looked familiar." It was then that they scanned her and her HomeAgain microchip showed all her information right away. The story of where she was for 6 months is a long one, too long to tell here.

After the phone call, I had Annie back within an hour. She resumed being the social queen of the neighborhood, visiting everyone and playing with her doggie friend and sleeping in her favorite spots in the sun. She is a true Microchip Miracle and is going to be 11 years old in April this year.