# Missibg cat potentially found. Finders being difficult. Need advice!



## WillyNoggin (Jun 29, 2018)

Hello. Ive made this account purely for advice on this topic as it is a bit niche.


In May one of our indoor cats got out after moving home and all potential leads weren't too promising. He was neutered, microchipped, and well loved and socialised.

He is a 3yo long black haired cat with red undertones and in some lights appears to have grey "tabby stripes" primarily he is solid black.

As I said all possible sightings turned up null until a finder came forward with pictures 30 miles away where the family used to live. The cat is a dead ringer for our boy! Temperament wise is a dead on match. Fur and coat match. He is neutered. Even the fact that he doesn't meow only "squeaks".

The finder was all too happy to reunite. Until the cat was taken to the vet and no microchip could be found. I know the chance of migration is low but the cat was also very malnourished and dehydrated in the heat.
The finder got him microchipped against the vets advice and refused to have him put in a shelter against vets advice and has registered him as a "stray".
Since then, a family member was in contact and went looking on the street for the cat, calling his name. Which attracted the attention of many neighbours. Without any luck as the cat was not able to be found again.


Since that day, the finder has become resistant to say the least and has actively tried to convince us this is not our cat as apparently neighbours have now only just come forth (after the finder had put posters up for a few weeks prior to the family member actively searching) saying they have been looking after him since February.

Now a lot of people may be thinking now "well this obviously isn't your cat" but anyone who had ever lost a cat, you *know* when you're seeing a picture of your baby.


Our only ace in the hole is that we adopted this cat with his mother when he was a kitten as a bonded pair. So we decided to have a DNA profiling kit done at the vets to find out if the mother cat and this mystery cat have a relation. I have already paid for the kits and am waiting for them to arrive.

The finder at first agreed to the tests but has become resistant again, talking about how they have already had offers to rehome him and to pretty much focus our efforts elsewhere.

Our family need this DNA test as closure but the finder seems to have already made the excuse that them and their neighbours "might not be able to catch him" so it feels like they are actively now trying to pursue their own interests.

Do we have any rights with this?
If the neighbours have been feeding/loving this cat we believe to be ours, why had it taken them this long to get him the medical aid he needed?
Why did it take someone actively calling out the cats name in the street to get them to come forward?

Something doesn't feel right and it's breaking our hearts. If the DNA test proves he is not related to the mother cat then it is conclusive that he is not ours, then our main interest is him receiving a loving forever home. But you just know when you see your missing pet in photos.

Any advice would be heavily appreciated as we have tried to do the right thing throughout.


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

@WillyNoggin 
Hi,
Do you think the person who found the cat you believe to be yours wants to keep him for themselves?
If the finder claims to be looking for a home, did they give a reason they are refusing you?
If I understand correctly, the person who brought him to the vet is not the same person who had been feeding him since February.
Do you have photos you can show for comparison? I am not sure about the lack of microchip could his have been placed in a not typical spot? Or maybe for some reason the scanner missed it.


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## WillyNoggin (Jun 29, 2018)

Hi @Summercat

I don't think the finder wants to keep him. I believe that the finders neighbours have conveniently come forward with their claim of care of this cat the day *after* the family member began actively searching for the cat on that road.

The reason the finder is rebuffing at this stage is because they say the timelines don't add up. Because their neighbour says they have been feeding this cat since February. When our boy disappeared in late May.

The picture of the Cat looking up at the camera is our missing boy when he was about a year old. He is now 3 years old.

The cat in the carrier is the cat that has been taken to the vet and microchipped by the finde
r. And was identified by the vet to be between 3-5years old. Which fits how old our missing boy would be now.

Once i am home from work I shall get the pictures to show the body shape and specifically the tail area.


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

@WillyNoggin 
They look similar yes. Are you able to visit the cat?


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Summercat said:


> @WillyNoggin
> They look similar yes. Are you able to visit the cat?


 I rather got the impression that the possible 'finder' was not being very cooperative in this respect.
@WillyNoggin: not heard from you since Friday (now Monday, so maybe, and hopefully, Prince is home).
Just to say tho', re the microchip: I have had two vastly different experiences of having a cat scanned. 
A) was my Flo, whom I took in in 2009 as a heavily pregnant stray who had moved in with an Australian friend who was due to go home and could not bear to leave her. The vet nurse spent a lot of time scanning as much of her body as necessary. No chip detected (which is why she still lives with me).
B) I witnessed a particularly horrid RTA where a beautiful black female cat was hit by several vehicles but still alive - just. Two of us got her to a local vet who spent about two seconds scanning her neck only. I suggested that the chip ''might have migrated'' at which point he looked at me as tho' I were insane and said that was impossible as ''chips do NOT move . . . EVER''. I know someone whose dog's microchip moves regularly. The vet I used was not my own vet that I use for my own lot (I obviously went to the one nearest to where the cat was hit) but when I told my own vet he agreed that ''sometimes they do move, not that often, but it can happen and it sometimes does''.

Any news??


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

WillyNoggin said:


> Hi @Summercat
> 
> I don't think the finder wants to keep him. I believe that the finders neighbours have conveniently come forward with their claim of care of this cat the day *after* the family member began actively searching for the cat on that road.
> 
> ...


Lovely amber eyes!


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## Treaclesmum (Sep 26, 2011)

He is lovely. Of course microchips can migrate, my Pixie’s chip can be felt at the side of her neck having moved around quite a lot from where she was originally chipped. She was a very small kitten at 6 months old when she was chipped, and she did most of her growing between 9 and 14 months. If your cat was chipped when he was quite small, I would be surprised if it had stayed in exactly the same place!


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

OP not been around since last month . . .


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