A cat that had been missing for 11 years has been reunited with its owner in New York. The kitty was rescued by the Dutchess County SPCA and found to be microchipped.
SPCA officials say it took staff member Carol O'Connell three years to get close enough to pet a stray cat that had been coming by her home every now and then. "Each year he came to my house, he deteriorated more and more each year, and that's when I realized either somebody just abandoned him or he just was missing or lost or he was just a feral cat," O'Connell said. "This spring he started to come around a little bit more in the mornings so I started to work harder to try to gain his trust."
They say that on a whim, she borrowed a scanner from the shelter and discovered the cat was chipped.
With the information from the chip, they were able to locate the owner, Maggie Welz, who had been without her beloved feline for more than a decade.