Thanks to microchip technology and a group of concerned neighbours, Darcey the cat is back in the arms of her doting owners.
Last September, Glenn and Pat Armstrong drove their RV up from Brookdale, California to Burnaby – their black and white cat Darcey in tow.
With the intentions of driving across Canada, the Armstrong family was dismayed when their three-year-old cat didn’t return to the RV one night, according to Ryan Voutilainen, manager of the Burnaby B.C. SPCA branch.
“At the beginning of September, they tried and stayed around for as long as they could to locate poor Darcey,” Voutilainen told the NOW. “They had to make that horrible decision to make the trek home and they never expected to see poor Darcey again.”
The couple parked at a trailer park near Lougheed Highway and thought that either traffic or predators saw the last of their cat.
“They didn’t hold out much hope,” Voutilainen said. “Then, a few weeks ago we received a call from members of the public that they had seen a cat in their neighbourhood.”
Someone in the neighbourhood picked up the feline and dropped off Darcey at B.C. SPCA’s Burnaby branch on Nov. 10. Luckily, Darcey had a microchip that the branch was able to scan and obtain the owners’ information.
“We got a hold of the family and they said, ‘We’re on our way tomorrow,’” Voutilainen said.
The family, by this time, had returned to their home in Brookdale, California, near San Jose. Upon hearing the news that Darcey was waiting for them in Vancouver, the Armstrongs said they would come pick her up themselves.
“There was no hesitation, nothing like that,” Voutilainen said, adding that they could try and make arrangements to fly Darcey down. “They said, ‘No, we’re coming to get our cat, and we’ll go in our car the next day.’”
After that phone call, the Armstrongs drove across two states, crossed the Canadian border and showed up at the Burnaby branch two days later.
“Having somebody drive all the way up for their pet is absolutely amazing,” Voutilainen added. “It lit everybody’s day up when they came in here and took her back home with them.
“They were lovely people, definitely.”
Voutilainen said in cases like this it shows how important it is to have some identification attached to a pet, with updated information.
“People need to remember to update their phone numbers and address,” he noted. “The more identification, the better. None of them are necessarily foolproof … but a combination of a couple (things) – it’s even better.”
Pets can be identified either with a collar with an ID tag, tattoos or with a microchip.
As for Darcey, she left Burnaby with her owners last Friday and is back home in California.
“(Darcey) was very well-mannered,” Voutilainen added. “We get attached to all our animals that come to the shelter. Obviously, they loved her very much and from that far away, it makes us feel so much better about the work we do when we get to see these animals get into their homes.”
