Zephyr has returned home to his owner, Vanessa Niven, six years after he went missing. Photo: Supplied.
Vanessa Niven didn’t think she would see Zephyr, the cat she’d had since he was a kitten, ever again.
In 2017, the then-six-year-old pet had just moved to Canberra with Ms Niven’s mother when there was a large storm. In the middle of the thunder and rain, he managed to escape the home and disappeared into the streets of McKellar.
But earlier this month, Ms Niven was surprised when she picked up the phone to hear that he had been found.
“[I was] pretty shocked. Six years is quite a long time,” she told Region.
“He’s an old man! He’s a bit grey now!”
RSPCA ACT CEO Michelle Robertson said the remarkable reunion highlighted the importance of having your pet’s microchip details up to date.
“It makes us so happy when we scan an animal’s details, call the registered phone number and the owner answers, glad to hear their pet is safe and sound,” she said.
“Except in most cases, the owner’s pet is usually missing for a day or two, not six years.”
Zephyr came into Ms Niven’s life because he was a kitten from her brother’s cat. She remembered he was a very nice pet back then, although not overly cuddly.
“But he was always happy to chill with you on the couch and come up for pats,” she said.
After he went missing, she knew she had microchipped him with all of her details so she assumed someone would pick him up and take him to a shelter.
But as time stretched on and she didn’t receive a call, she assumed he had passed away.
Fast-forward to January 2024. Ms Niven used to be a vet nurse and said when she received a call from the RSPCA, her first thought was that she had forgotten to pull down her online ad and they were offering her a job.
The caller asked if she was missing her cat, to which she told them no as she could see her new cat in front of her. But then they mentioned the name ‘Zephyr’.
He had been found in the same suburb where he’d gone missing – McKellar – and arrived at the RSPCA ACT shelter on 9 January as a stray.
But the RSPCA said he seemed friendly and comfortable around people, indicating to their staff that he’d been living in a home and not on the streets.
Zephyr has been settling into a home again after he was found earlier this year. Photo: Supplied.
Ms Niven doesn’t hold a grudge against whoever cared for him, but she wanted to remind people to always take a lost animal to a vet and not to feed – or unofficially adopt – someone’s missing pet.
“Potentially, it was just a sweet old lady who thought he was a stray and fed him, and then he went inside,” she said.
“I don’t think there was any ill intent.
“If you do find a cat, don’t just assume that they are up for adoption. If they had taken him into any vet clinic or RSPCA, I would have had him home a lot sooner.”
RSPCA ACT said that in recent weeks, there has been a steady stream of people looking for their lost pets on Facebook community groups after thunderstorms.
Pets get startled by thunder, lightning, and heavy rain, and it is quite common for them to panic and get lost.
Ms Robertson said many lost animals are reunited with their owners when their microchip details are correct, but the system only works if people take animals they find to a vet or the RSPCA.
“Pets are like family members to most owners, and taking an animal you’ve found to a vet or the RSPCA for microchip scanning won’t cost you anything and could mean a much-loved pet could be reunited quickly with their worried owners,” she said.
Ms Niven said the now-12-year-old Zephyr had been settling in and was getting used to her new cat.
She thought he remembered her because on the first day he came home to her, he approached her for pats, purring and rubbing up against her leg, while he didn’t act the same way to her brother.
“So I thought maybe he remembered me, as he was more comfortable with me,” she said.
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