A combination of technology and the power of love may have saved a BC cat last month.
According to the BC SPCA, "Milly" went missing from her family home in Kimberley near the end of May. Shannon Magee, her daughter River, and the entire family sprung into action to try and locate the cat.
Within days, the family had checked with neighbours, the local veterinarians' offices, put up posts in community Facebook pages, and made missing cat signs that they hung all around east Kootenay. As weeks went by with no word on Milly, the family started to lose hope in finding the cat.
“We were crying and looking for Milly every day,” said Magee.
On June 23, almost a month to the day Milly went missing, the family was preparing to celebrate River's birthday. The only thing River wished for would be the safe return of her beloved cat.
"She told me that she didn’t want any presents for her birthday; she only wanted Milly back. She cried herself to sleep that night."
A day later, the SPCA called to tell the family they had found the missing cat.
"She told me, ‘See, dreams can come true.'"
According to the organization, Milly had been brought into the branch by a concerned family who had found her on her property, just 30 minutes from their home.
“They said she had been hanging around the last three days and was obviously owned by somebody because she was just the sweetest cat – happily coming over for lots of love and food,” says Lianne Thompson, animal care supervisor. “She was so nice they even wanted to keep her for themselves, but knew that a family must be missing her. They brought her into the shelter, she was scanned for a microchip, and thankfully she had one–with up-to-date contact information.”
With the safe return of Milly, the organization is encouraging all cat-owners to make sure their pets are chipped. In total, 108,000 pets have been registered in the SPCA's Pet Registry, which was launched in 2015.
The SPCA went on to encourage pet owners to never give up hope when searching for missing animals as a little effort could go a long way.
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