Missing cat reunited with owners - more than three years after he disappeared

20 January 2024 , 07:18

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Oscar, 12, was reunited with his owners after going missing years earlier in a snowstorm (Image: The Kennel Club / SWNS)

A beloved moggy called Oscar gave his owners the shock of their lives after he turned up alive and well, almost four years after he vanished in a snowstorm.

Distraught owner Katie Salt, 39, says she spent weeks searching for her furry friend, the 12-year-old black and white cat, but Oscar never returned home after the unexpected heavy snow in 2020.

Katie described how, after putting up missing posters, searching the streets for weeks and appealing for information on social media, she gave up the search - convinced Oscar had died during the snowstorm.

But then Katie received a phone call out of the blue more than three years after she had given up hope of ever seeing Oscar again with news she hadn’t dared hope for, Oscar was alive and well. The vet on the phone confirmed that Oscar had been brought into the practice.

Thanks to the number on Oscar’s microchip the vet had been able to get hold of his owner Katie when a member of the public brought him in. He had been living in a garden just six miles away from Katie's home in Sheffield. Now Katie has been reunited with Oscar and says he 'hasn't stopped purring' and 'wants cuddles all the time' now he's back with his family.

Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts

Missing cat reunited with owners - more than three years after he disappeared

Oscar is safe back home and enjoying his return to life as an indoor cat with a loving family (The Kennel Club / SWNS)

She said: "I couldn’t believe it. The vet said Oscar had been fed and provided with an outside shelter, but had never been fully taken in by the person that was feeding him. They had never thought to get him checked for a microchip. It became apparent that Oscar required medical care and so they surrendered him at a vets.

"The vet, after hearing their story, checked him for a chip and low and behold it was our Oscar. They immediately phoned me and I collected him within the hour. He remembered us, his name and his home. He's not stopped purring since he came home and wants cuddles all the time."

Oscar immediately recognised his owners, his name and his home, even after years away (The Kennel Club / SWNS)

When Oscar went missing in January 2020, Katie and her family contacted their neighbours who checked their CCTV, outhouses and gardens for him. Katie also put up missing posters in the area and contacted various animal rescue centres, cat shelters and vets. She eventually gave up home and 'concluded that he must have died during the snowstorm' which was 'very upsetting' for her.

Katie said: "I had more phone calls and messages than I could count from strangers wondering if a cat they had seen was him – but none were. I walked the streets at night for miles and hours shouting his name, rattling his food, for weeks on end. All to no avail. We eventually concluded he must have died during the snowstorm.

"But we still scanned our eyes everywhere, whenever we were out driving, and to be honest this never stopped. Even after two years. It was very upsetting.

"It was unlike him to go missing and we were so concerned for his wellbeing, particularly due to his age – he was 12. Years later we would still stop and check over cats that initially looked like him wherever we were. It was the not knowing that was the hardest part.”

Oscar had to have surgery after he was found but has now recovered and is back home with his family. Katie is now encouraging other pet owners to keep their microchip details up to date and to 'never give up hope' if they go missing.

She said: "Please keep your microchip details up to date, with alternative phone numbers as well as your own. Get them a collar with a tag stating they are chipped and also with your phone number. Never give up hope if they go missing."

Bill Lambert, a spokesperson for microchipping company Petlog, says Oscar and Katie's story shows 'how important it is' for owners to chip their pets.

He said: "We’re so pleased that Oscar and Katie have been reunited. Their story shows just how important it is for owners to chip their pets, keep their contact details up-to-date with their microchip database, and to hold out hope no matter how much time has passed."