Derek the cat vanished 11 years ago. ‘Long journey’ brings him back to Florida family
After more than a decade, a Florida cat has found his way back home after a “long journey,” thanks to his microchip.
An officer with the Animal Care and Protective Services in Jacksonville responded to a call about a sick cat, the shelter said in a Facebook post on June 7.
The officer found the sick cat and took him into the shelter to scan for a microchip, the animal service said.
She found one, but the information on the chip was incorrect. That didn’t stop the officer.
“The team at the ACPS is trained to use every resource available when researching microchips so Officer Alfredson put on her detective hat and went to work,” the shelter said.
She learned that the chip had been implanted by The Jacksonville Humane Society, but the information was from 2010, and she thought it was unlikely still accurate, the shelter said.
She tried the phone number, but it was out of service. Not wanting to give up, the officer used the address provided by the microchip to search through public records and found a second phone number associated with the address.
“The number worked, but was it for the owner of the cat named Derek from over a decade ago??” the shelter wrote. “Officer Alfredson left a message describing the cat and provided information and where the kitty was being held for reclaim.”
To itssurprise, a few hours later “magic happened.” The shelter got a call back from the number the officer had found. A woman named Angela was on the other end of the line and said Derek was her long lost cat. She was shocked he had been found and wanted to bring him home.
“She told us that Derek had been a childhood pet for her children and the kids were devastated when he went missing,” the shelter said. “Derek now gets to live out his life back in the place where he was raised and with a family who still loves him to this day.”
In the comments of the post, Angela Green thanked the shelter for bringing Derek back into her family’s life.
“Derek is doing great and fitting in well with our other cat Cedric,” Green said. “We are so happy and feel unbelievably lucky to have him back.”
She also shared a photo of Derek with her son when they first adopted the cat more than 11 years ago.
The Animal Care and Protective Services encouraged all pet owners to have their animals microchipped and keep their information updated.
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Derek the cat vanished 11 years ago. ‘Long journey’ brings him back to Florida family."
