Missing Cat Named Willow Found After 5 Years

A calico cat named Willow that disappeared from her Colorado home five years ago has been found nearly 3,000km away from its home on a Manhattan  street on Wednesday.

A man found Willow wandering down East 20^th Street and sent her to the Animal Care & Control (ACC) – an animal rescue and shelter in New York City.  A scanner found the microchip implanted in the cat, enabling the centre to contact  Willow’s owner based on information on the microchip.

Animal Care & Control Executive Director Julie Bank said Willow, who now weighs 7 lbs, is healthy and well-mannered, and probably has not spent her life on the mean streets of Manhattan. Ms Bank recommended that all pet owners use microchips.

How Willow made the distance of more than 1,600 miles from Broomfield, Colorado, to Manhattan, New York, and the kind of life she lived in the city are both mysteries.

Jamie and Chris Squires, of Boulder, Colorado, were ‘astounded’ when they got a call from Animal Care & Control in New York City, saying she had been found on East 20th Street.

‘To be honest, there are tons of coyotes around here, and owls,’ said her owner Jamie Squires of Colorado. ‘She was just a little thing, five and a half pounds.

‘We put out the “Lost Cat” posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she’d been eaten by coyotes.’

Squires and her husband, Chris, have three children – aged three, 10 and 17 – and the two older ones remember Willow.

The family also has a yellow Labrador named Roscoe, who knew Willow, and an English mastiff named Zoe.

“We had another dog back then, too, and I remember that Willow would lie with them as they all waited to be fed,” Squires said.

“She thought she was a dog.”

Mrs Squires added that her husband told her not to tell their children until they were sure it was indeed Willow that had been found.

‘Then we saw the picture, and it was Willow,’ she said. ‘It’s been so long.’

‘All our pets are micro-chipped,’ Mrs Squires said. ‘If I could microchip my kids, I would.’

Jamie Squires said Willow escaped in late 2006 or early 2007 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation

Since then the family had moved about 10 miles from Broomfield to Boulder, but kept its address current with the microchip company.

The ACC and the Squires family were trying to arrange for health certificates and transportation back to Colorado.

They said it might be two weeks before the reunion. Willow may spend some time with a foster family in New York.

‘The kids can’t wait to see her,’ Mrs Squires said. ‘And we still have her little Christmas stocking.’

Willow’s incredible story has taken the web by storm. Social medias are loving this story. On Twitter, @TAshwell called it “The Most Up-Lifting News Story of the Month.” Others like @collins3779 say the story shows, “Why u should microchip ur pet.”