Every week, we look for interesting stories of cats and their owners. This week, we share Katja's special story, her cat Hunter went missing in November 2018. For over 4 years, Katja and her husband searched weekly for the missing cat. Until recently, Jay's long-lost brother has been found again thanks to his chip!
Chip duty
In mid-January 2023, it was announced that a national chip requirement for cats is imminent within the Netherlands. When this will go into effect is not yet known. What is known is that only 17% of missing cats that end up in the shelter are reunited with their owner. The rest do not have a chip or are not properly registered. A significant difference with dogs, 93% of dogs are chipped, showing that it is hugely effective.
Brothers
Hunter and Jay are brothers and come from a litter of
kittens that was found along the road in 2014. They first went to a host family
via the animal shelter and then new owners were sought. "We wanted a cat,
and because only Hunter and Jay were left, we took them together. We thought it
was sad to leave one alone," says Katja.
The two males grew up in Kerkdriel and were able to go
outside through the cat flap. Until in October 2018, Hunter suddenly didn't
come home anymore. Katja can still remember this well: "We searched for a
long time and really everywhere, asked around and flyered. We checked all the
tips from people who thought they had seen him. It didn't yield anything".
For more than 4 years, Jay has had the kingdom to himself at
Katja's home.
Special phone call
Eventually it turns out that Hunter ended up in Alem, it is a mystery how he got there from Kerkdriel. And an even bigger mystery, why he never returned. The moment Paul was called by the shelter was accompanied by quite a few tears. ‘It felt so surreal’ says Katja, who cannot emphasise enough how important it is to chip and register your cats, which is how they got their Hunter back.
A few days ago, the woman who found him noticed that the cat food in her shed always ran out very quickly. Soon she saw Hunter going through the barn's cat flap. She watched it for a few days, but then called the animal shelter if someone could come and catch him and check for a chip. Otherwise, she would want to keep him herself.
Never giving up hope
Katja and her husband still can't believe that Hunter is back on
track, since 2 weeks he has been back at home on his Royalty
scratching post.
Yet all this time they never gave up hope ‘my husband still searched the list of found animals of Amivedi every month after all these years, to see if Hunter was among them’ says Katja, who is extremely happy that Hunter is back home with his little brother Jay. Besides, Hunter still looks very good, you wouldn't say he has been away from home for over four years.
Fortunately, the reunion between the brothers also went well:
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De Kattenvader
27.01.2023
Every week, we look for interesting stories from cats and their owners. This week, we spoke to Christopher and his daughter Luna Jasmin from Ede, the Netherlands. Together, they are big cat lovers. This is evident in Christopher's home, among other things, and Luna's cuddly collection. Endless stories Christopher can tell us about his cats. In fact, we can say he is the ultimate Cat Dad.
