A Touching Story of a Lost and Found Cat That Once Again Reminds Us of How Important It Is to Microchip Our Pets

Imagining your cat or dog going out for a while and getting lost is a nightmare for any pet owner. According to statistics, 1 in 3 pets gets lost at some point in their life. It’s probably impossible to completely avoid the risk of losing your pet, but you can surely increase their chances of being found. Microchipping your pet can bring it back to you even years later, and Elinore Repucci, from Massachusetts, knows this better than anyone else.

Here at Bright Side we were touched by this story of a cat and owner reunion, and we think it teaches pet owners a good lesson.

In 2013, Elinore’s cat Larry went for a walk and got lost without a trace.

In August 2013 Elinore Repucci, from Essex, Massachusetts, let her tabby cat Larry out for a walk. The cat had never gone too far and always came back when he was called, so Elinore had no idea that something bad might happen. But Larry never came back.

The Repucci family spent the next few weeks searching for their beloved cat, but no traces of him were found. “I live near the woods and I figured, ‘Well, maybe an animal got to him,’” says Elinore. “That was how I had reached some closure in my mind.”

In 2019, Larry was found by a man in Salisbury, about 20 miles away from his home.

In March 2019 a man from Salisbury, Massachusetts, noticed Larry when feeding some birds. When the stray cat came to eat the bread meant for the birds, the man figured out that the animal was very hungry and decided to take him to the nearby Humane Society.

Luckily, the cat was microchipped, and this helped him reunite with his owner years after getting lost.

Animal shelters and rescue societies scan incoming animals for microchips, and Larry was no exception. The Repucci family originally got Larry from a shelter, where he was microchipped in case he ever got lost and the microchip was registered to Elinore.

The woman was so surprised when she got a phone call from the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society in Salisbury. “They asked me if I was missing a cat. I told them that I wasn’t, but they said they had a cat there that had a microchip that was registered to me. I thought, ‘No way. No way,’” said Elinore.

It was Larry indeed, and apart from being very thin and missing a part of his paw, he was pretty healthy. Now he is back home and lives together with 2 more cats and a dog that the Repucci family has. “He remembers everything in the house, pretty much,” says Elinore. “He knew where the food bowl was and where everything was. He’s just getting to know the other cats and he’s home.”

Larry’s story is just another example of how important it is to put a microchip in your pet, and never lose hope that you’ll find them if they’re lost. According to statistics, 90% of pets with an ID return home, while 90% of pets without an ID are never found. Elinore Repucci is now a big advocate for microchip implants. “The microchip brought him home to me,” the woman says. “I’d love to meet the person who caught him. That person was very kind to take the time to help an animal.”

Have you microchipped your pet? Do you know any other stories of when a microchip helped owners find their lost pets?