Sheba home for Christmas - thanks to chip ...
27 November 2016
Beautiful black-and-white moggy Sheba went missing from her home in Smiths Wood in June – but thanks to hair salon owners Marc Howard and Robert Jones, she is home for Christmas and back in the arms of 12-year-old school-girl Summer Stapleton.
Summer's Mum Kelly is ‘so glad we had Sheba microchipped – or we may never have seen her again.’
Marc and Robert at ‘71 Hair’ in Mason Road, Erdington, were doing what all hairdressers do – chatting away to their cut-and-blow-dry client – on this occasion, about a stray cat in their garden. They’d been feeding her regularly since she turned up, but wondered what to do now the weather was cold. But they weren’t just chatting to any client – this was Jenny Reynolds, long-time volunteer for Cats Protection North Birmingham. And she suggested the apparently young stray could have an owner who was missing her dreadfully – so why not take her along to the vet and get her checked for a microchip? Or, as she had a scanner, she could pop round and have a go.
They did as bid, and sure enough, the scanner beeped and there was the long number with lots of zeros in the middle – meaning the pretty young stray really did have an owner!
Sheba’s owner was soon traced via Petlog and the call was made. And owner Kelly Stapleton was over the moon. “We took her in at around five weeks old. We saved her from two big ferals who were attacking her. We sorted all her vet treatment – spay and chip – and she settled well with our five other cats. So when she went missing in late June, we all missed her. Hard to believe she travelled from Smiths Wood to Holly Lane in Erdington - several miles - and how she lived, crossed roads and found food along the way. We’re so grateful to Marc and Robert for taking care of her once they found her, and then checking for the chip. And thanks to Cats Protection’s Jenny for helping get her back home to us.”
Kelly’s young daughter, Park Hall pupil Summer, is ‘thrilled to have Sheba back in her arms’. She says: It is lovely to have my cat Sheba back. She went missing and we looked for her every day. We thought maybe she was dead or someone had taken her. Then my Nan phoned me to say that ‘two men called Marc and Robert had found her’ and I could go to Holly Lane in Erdington with my Mom and bring her home. Now she is happily reunited with me and my family – and we are all happy.”
Jenny enlisted the help of ‘microchip query’ volunteer Sheila Pennell to solve the case, and says it shows how vital it is to have cats chipped. “It’s wonderful when we help reunite a much-loved cat to her family. So it’s thanks to my hair-stylists of the past 25 years – guess after all that time and the cat-chats we’ve had, they knew I was the best person to ask!”
Stylist Robert confirmed that ‘Sheba first turned up as a kitten, and he often fed her along with a ginger cat, basically caring for them both as garden cats’.
“We’re glad to have been of help, and grateful for the ‘thank you’ bottles of fine wine which we’ve donated to the Branch for prizes at the regular pub quizzes. We will celebrate Christmas simply with thoughts of Sheba being back where she belongs. We gather she must be kept indoors for at least four weeks – or she may well be off on her travels again.”
** Cats Protection confirms all kittens and cats are microchipped and neutered/spayed before an adoption goes ahead. The branch is currently keen to recruit more fosterers, so if anyone has a spare room or even a cosy garden shed and wants a ‘temporary’ or 'garden' cat – rather like the way Robert and Marc cared for Sheba while she was in need – please do get in touch/call the helpline and leave a message.
** All food/expenses/requirements are covered by the Branch.
Update 6.12.16: The story of Sheba making it home for Christmas made it to the Birmingham Mail on 5.12.16!