By Alana Mitchelson
A PAKENHAM family has been reunited with its long-lost cat, Tucker, after two long years of fearing the worst.
Ashlee Carey had been in the process of moving house when her three-year-old cat went missing.
“He’s the same age as my eldest son, Cohen, so he’s very special,” she said.
“The kids were so little at the time, so whenever we saw an orange cat, Cohen would ask ‘Is that Tucker?’
“We put up missing posters and searched around our old house but had no luck.
“I thought he’d died.”
Ms Carey had only recently made the decision to update Tucker’s microchip registration – just in case – when she received an unexpected call that he had been found.
Having been lost to the family for two years, Ms Carey was left in shock.
“I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s crazy,” she said.
“Apparently he was found back at our old house. Two girls found him and they told us he’d looked a bit skinny.
“But the girls fed and looked after him for a couple of weeks before they handed him in to see if he was microchipped. So he looked healthy by the time we got him.
“I waited until we got home to surprise the kids. They couldn’t believe it. They’re fighting over who gets to hold him and they’ve nicknamed him Tigger.”
Since the cat’s disappearance, the Carey family had bought a dog, so Ms Carey’s first concern had been how the dog would be received.
“The dog seems to know his place now,“ Ms Carey said.
“I thank the council officer Jess for bringing him home to us and the girls who handed him in.
“They would have gotten attached to him in those two weeks and they could have easily kept him instead of trying to find his owners.”
Cardinia Shire Council’s Jess Azzopardi said that if a cat or dog was seen wandering the streets, residents should call 1300 787 624.
