Ken Gold hoped his lost cat would show up one day. But for nine months he hadn’t heard anything.
Good news finally came to Gold, formerly a resident University Place and now living in Arizona, after someone dropped a stray cat off in February at the Kent Animal Shelter.
Thanks to a tiny wafer of silicon, shelter staff had good news for the expectant owner.
The county’s animal-care staff checked the microchip implanted in RV, and eventually tracked down Gold at his new home in Tucson.
Gold had lost the cat last July just before he moved to Arizona, when the cat had clawed her way out of a carrier just before Gold moved. He hated to leave town without her, but he couldn’t wait any longer, and regretfully left for Arizona.
Earlier this month, Gold and RV, his 2-year-old calico, were reunited in Tucson, thanks to a county veterinarian who took the cat with her to Arizona, on a trip she’d already planned, to visit her son.
It didn’t take long for RV to warm up to her owner.
“I was wondering if she would remember me,” Gold said in a phone interview from his Tucson home. “As soon as she saw me, she recognized me. She started licking me and nuzzling me.”
The cat had been found near Federal Way. It was in good condition, but it is unknown how the cat traveled from the Tacoma area to Federal Way.
“I knew she could survive on her own,” Gold said.
RV had never been declawed and lived as an outdoor cat. RV clawed her way out of a carrier just before Gold moved. He hated to leave town without her, but couldn’t stay around any longer.
In Arizona, Gold bought a boxer puppy, now 8 months old. He expects the dog and cat to get along fine.
Gold had the foresight to update his contact information with HomeAgain, a paid service that keeps current phone numbers for pet owners that have microchips implanted in their animals and notifies animal shelters and veterinarians in the area where the animal was lost.
“This is a great example of why it is so important to have two forms of identification on your cat at all times,” said Nancy McKenney, interim manager of the Kent Shelter. “If your pet wears an ID tag, a license, and has a microchip, the chances of having your pet return home are exponentially greater than if they were wearing just one form of identification or none at all.”
Once Kent Shelter staffers located Gold in Arizona, they arranged for RV to be vaccinated and to have a current animal health certificate prepared for transport. Aussie Pet Mobile provided a free bath and grooming, and donated a pet supply gift card to the shelter to buy a cat carrier for the trip.
Gold, who is retired and lives on disability, also found out from shelter officials that Marilyn Christensen, a King County Animal Control veterinarian, already had planned a trip to Tucson to visit her son. Christensen agreed to transport the cat. Gold met Christensen and his cat March 5 at the Tucson International Airport.
Reporters from Tucson television stations and newspapers also greeted Gold.
“I was a little overwhelmed by the publicity RV’s return has generated,” Gold said.
But it turned out to be a feel-good story too hard to ignore.
“It’s great,” Gold said. “I’m happy to have her back.”
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