Cheeky Chino is reunited with his family after 18 months in the wild

Jan. 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Cheeky Chino the cat has been reunited with his owners after disappearing from his family home 18 months ago – thanks to his microchip.
When Chino, a black domestic short hair, went missing from his Longstowe home back in July 2009, his owners never gave up hope that one day he would return.
As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Bridget Knell and her family, who now live in Caxton, began to fear the worst.
However, their fears turned to tears when they received a call from Wood Green Animal Shelters on January 18 to say Chino had been brought into the Godmanchester Shelter.
Chino was brought to the Shelter as a stray found in the Longstowe area but although he was chipped, his microchip hadn’t been registered.
Luckily with the help of the team at Potton Veterinary Surgery where the microchip was issued, Wood Green were able to finally reunite Chino with his owners.
With tears in her eyes Mrs Knell said: “We never thought we would see Chino again. He was never one to wonder off for more than a few hours so we were never sure what had happened to him.
“We are just so pleased that when we got him as a kitten nine years ago, that we had him microchipped as otherwise we may never have seen him again.
“I didn’t think Chino would recognise us but he does. He is a little bigger than what we remember but he always was a good hunter so he has been looking after himself well in the wild.”
Manager of the Cat Section at Wood Green, Juliette Jones said: “We were delighted to be able to reunite Chino with his family, who were clearly worried about his welfare – even after 18 months.
“This story stresses the importance of micro-chipping a pet. Micro-chipping is a simple procedure which sees a tiny device implanted under the skin which, when scanned, reveals a code number, unique to each cat and owner.
“This means that should a cat or dog go missing, their owners can be identified quickly and easily.”