News One month journey for missing Mitzy
A cat which went missing for a month has returned home - after turning up at the house of an ex-RSPCA inspector 15 miles away.
Mitzy, a one-year-old female, went missing from her home on Thorntree Lane in Goole, on March 3.
After four weeks and still no trace of Mitzy, owners Christine and John Hume gave her up for dead.
But one day during the Easter holidays came a call that took them totally by surprise.
It was Petlog, the pet reunification service which keeps a database of chipped animals.
Petlog told Mrs Hume that Mitzy had turned up at the home of a former RSPCA inspector in Broomfleet, and was being well looked after.
"I couldn't believe it when they told me she was in Broomfleet," said Mrs Hume. "I just don't know how she got there, but I'm over the moon."
She added: "We feared the worst; we thought she'd been run over or something. We're just pleased we got her chipped, otherwise we wouldn't have got her back."
Mrs Hume suspects Mitzy may have somehow hitched a ride in a vehicle to get to Broomfleet.
"I can't think how else could she have got across Boothferry Bridge and all those dangerous roads out there without getting injured or killed,' she said.
Mitzy was in a bit of a mess when she turned up. She had lost lots of weight, had injuries to her nose and front paws, and there were bald patches where her fur had come off.
"We think she got caught up in something," said Mrs Hume. "We're building her up again and giving her lots of milk - she's eating like a horse."
Mrs Hume went to pick Mitzy up from the woman in Broomfleet on April 3, the day after she was found.
Former RSPCA inspector Rebecca Smith, who looks after rescued animals, found Mitzy miaowing outside her front door.
"She was being really friendly, but her tail was puffed up and she was obviously very upset," said Mrs Smith.
"We gave her something to eat and drink and she couldn't stop eating."
The next morning Mrs Smith noticed Mitzy's collar bore the letter 'M', so she began calling her all the names she could think of beginning with the initial.
"We tried Missy and then Mitzy, and she responded to her name!" she said.
"She was obviously either completely and utterly lost or had been abandoned, but this didn't seem to make any sense because she had a collar on.
"She had these old injuries on both her legs, which looked bent and broken, and there were bald patches everywhere. She looked like she'd been run over or something.'
Mrs Smith couldn't find her chip scanner to find Mitzy on the database so she borrowed a friend's.
The next morning she rang Petlog, which then set about trying to find the owner.
"Within about 10 minutes the owner rang me up to say it was her," said Mrs Smith. "When we handed Mitzy over she was absolutely delighted."
Mrs Smith - who also owns a rescued dog, five horses and two pet rats as well as her two cats Prudence and Reiki - said she fell in love with Mitzy straight away and would have kept her had Mrs Hume not been traced.
"She was so lovely," she said. 'These animals just seem to be drawn to us.'
Mrs Smith, who worked for the West Yorkshire branch of the RSPCA Inspectorate until 2004, is now urging more people to get their pets chipped.
"Whether it be a dog, a horse, a pig or a rabbit, get them chipped," she said.
Published on 24th April 2008 in News.
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