Daves Story
27 September 2017
This is a story about Dave, a semi feral cat and his remarkable journey.
Earlier in the year, we had a report come in about a stray/semi feral cat from a lovely lady who wanted to give this cat a home as she was moving soon and didn't want to leave him behind to fend for himself.
We managed to trap the cat after a few nights and it turns out he was not microchipped or neutered. We did advertise for owners but none came forward sadly. He was a little rough around the edges but the lady loved him anyway as he had become part of her family! She took him on, got him neutered and microchipped and he then also got given his name.... Dave.
Dave went to his new home with the lovely lady and her family. It was a little difficult as Dave was semi feral but they got there eventually as they never gave up on him and clearly Dave knew he had people who loved him and of course, fed him!! (and we all know cats love their food)
Soon enough, he lived alongside her other cats happily.
Sadly one day in June, Dave managed to sneak out and go missing. His owner looked for him night after night, putting posters up around the local area and speaking to everyone she could but sadly Dave was well and truly lost.
That was until someone at Southampton Docks noticed a cat hanging around. The lady who worked at The Docks had a look on facebook and contacted Daves owner and told her about the cat that they had started to see and feed as he looked a bit like Dave. Daves owner went to the Docks to have a look, as soon as she saw him, she knew that it was him but Dave had gone back to his feral ways and was very scared and would not approach anyone. That was when we stepped in, we lent a trap and the lady at the docks eventually managed to trap him last week. After a quick scan for a microchip, the scanner pinged and we checked the chip number..... low and behold, it was DAVE!!
Dave had travelled from Shirley to Southampton Docks, we have no idea how! He had been missing 3 months and managed to survive and was luckily reunited with his owners through the power of caring people, facebook and of course a microchip!! Dave has now been returned home after his adventures and although he is still adjusting from his ordeal, he is happy to be home where he belongs.
This story proves that cats really can travel so never think that it couldn't be your cat because you don't think it would go that far, because it could be. It also proves that microchips work so please please please microchip your cats, even if they are indoor ones!!!!! The power of facebook also is fantastic. We post all missing cats reported to us on our facebook page and website but also on the Lost & Found Pets Southampton page which has over 8,000 members all posting to reunite pets so please keep an eye out on those pages.
We hope you enjoyed this lovely story. Please to everyone out there missing a pet never give up hope, remember to keep the microchip details up to date, post on social media and get posters out there. The more people that you can make aware, the more chance you have at being reunited with your pet.
Lots of love to Dave and his lovely family.
Love Southampton CP x