Here is Ernie's story.

In 2004 I took in a local stray cat which had been hanging about the neighbourhood and being fed by various of us who have our own cats.

I was still too deep in grief from the very recent loss of another cat, but Ernie hated being a stray, and the weather was bad. So - to Ernie's great relief, I reluctantly relented. I had used up all my savings on veterinarian treatment for my previous cat, so I told Ernie straight: "Don't you give me cause to take you to the vet. If I have to take you there - you won't be coming out again." Ernie is a very smart cat, and he has always remained very healthy.

Roll forward to 2011. Ernie is still healthy, and he shares me with another (ex-stray) cat who I could not resist bringing in. I decided that, as they were getting on in years, that I had better get them to a vet to get their teeth etc checked out. Whilst we were there I asked the vet to check Ernie for the possibility of having been microchipped. He had indeed been microchipped. I was given the microchip number plus a telephone number to call about it.

When I called the number I was told that the microchip number had been registered in the Netherlands! I was then given a Dutch website address. The website was all in Dutch (surprise, surprise) but I managed to send a message anyway. I didn't get a reply, so I tried again on a different area of the site. This time I got a reply.

To cut it short - they didn't have all the details but could tell me his former name - Benny, and his age. The lady there said he was from a shelter, and that she would ask to see if anyone there remembered anything. She got back to me with the name of his former keeper. A former neighbour of theirs confirmed that they had left Holland to move (here) to Manchester.

I had their name, so I got out the telephone directory and called all those with the same name in this area, but had no luck. I was considering contacting the local free newspaper to pester them into writing Ernie/Benny's story in the hope that it would jog some memories.

One evening I received an e-mail from Ernie's former keeper. She said she had been in contact with her old schoolteacher in Holland, and had been given my e-mail address and told that I had found her cat and wanted to let her know that he was alright and would send her photographs and news of his life.

I've sent her photos and stories about him. She in turn has told me about the time in his life before I had him. She is going to send me a photograph of him as a kitten too!

She said that Ernie went missing on his third day in England, but that she never stopped looking for him. She has sinced moved house - but not too far for us to plan for her to come and visit him :o)

Some cat/animal lovers (like me) also feed feral cats. We take over this responsibility for a number of cats, so forgive us for not always being able to spend the time and money on trying to find certain stray cat's previous keepers. But we do look out for and give loving to these cats.

Please trust your cats to find us, or at least get ensconced in a neighbourhood where several people with cats take on the feeding of your beloved animal.

When trying to find your cat - be Loud, be Persistent, be Creative.

Regards
Anita

PS

Hi Sue.

           I didn't mention it before, and perhaps it is already covered somewhere on your websites, but I have a little advice for people who have lost cats which were formerly ferals or strays living alongside ferals.

I had a 'born and bred' feral cat. One day she got a scare and bolted out through a window. Three months later she turned up outside the place where my sister worked on an industrial estate.

My sister is the one who first 'found' and rescued her from the industrial estate. Amber had made her way back there somehow and let my sister know Loud & Clear that she wanted to be taken back home. She even let my sister pick her up and put her in a box without any bloodshed! Unheard of.

So it seems that ex-ferals have an emergency homing instinct for their original territory when they find themselves lost. So those areas are good places to search for them in.

Anita