<p>Animal shelters as well as vets have devices for checking for microchips–just make sure you update your address and phone when you move!
We had a cat who always was a roamer and when we moved he disappeared. We figured he was probably adopted (or he adopted someone else) because that’s just the kind of cat he was. Two years later out of the blue he showed up on our back porch fat and happy for a visit and then disappeared again.</p>
<p>gouf78, yes, of course vets and animal shelters will routinely check for a microchip when a lost animal is brought in and yes, it’s really important to update the address. The reason I mentioned homeagain is that they provide an extra service in alerting people living in a broad area that there is a lost pet and will provide a description of the cat or dog so that people will keep an eye out for the animal. Since the audience is made up of pet owners who have chosen to microchip their own pets, I’d guess they’d be a great resource. I know I look carefully when I get an alert in my neighborhood.</p>
<p>How funny that your cat turned up after 2 years! When I was much younger and in college, my housemates and I had a cat that adopted our off campus house as her own. One day the cat disappeared. We looked and looked but couldn’t find her. About a month later, she showed up, followed about a day or two later by her concerned new owner. We have no idea how many homes she’d had before she found us in the first place but this was clearly a cat who knew how to take care of herself and who owned her people rather than the other way around. We let her go back to the new owner but she made it her custom to travel between the two houses.</p>
<p>If our cats are chipped where do we update our address when we move? Is there a website?</p>
<p>Good to hear Chedva – I’m still hoping our cat will find its way back home. </p>
<p>UCDAlum82 – yes there is a website. I had to call the vet to get the name of the company, which I did, (it was Home Again) and I updated all of our contact information, and paid a nominal fee, not sure what for exactly, but they do offer services such as creating a lost poster, and tips for finding a lost pet. And now I am getting alerts about other lost pets in the area.</p>
<p>gouf – too funny. We inherited a cat once, when our neighbors moved, and it co-existed happily with the cat we had at the time. Then we got a kitten, which it didn’t like, and it disappeared. A few weeks later, I saw it walking near the house, and I got excited and called, “Kitty!” It stopped and looked at me, and then turned its tail and walked away. Snubbed!</p>
<p>We called him the “neighborhood” cat. When we moved we found out that he visited (and was fed regularly) at three other homes all of which considered him “their cat”. We had to decide who would keep him (we won because of the kids). He had adopted lots of people.
He used to go on walks with us and regularly would walk with the kids to the bus stop. Great cat.</p>
<p>Sounds like there are lots of cats like "Six Dinner Sid’ out there…</p>
<p>[Six-Dinner</a> Sid, Chinaberry.com](<a href=“http://www.chinaberry.com/p/Six-Dinner-Sid.cfm]Six-Dinner”>http://www.chinaberry.com/p/Six-Dinner-Sid.cfm)</p>
<p>Actually, he looked a lot like “Six Dinner Sid”!</p>
<p>Thought this article might be of interest re lost cats (with microchip):</p>
<p>[After</a> eight long years, lost cat is home - Houston Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.chron.com/life/pets-cats/article/After-eight-long-years-lost-cat-is-home-3979370.php]After”>http://www.chron.com/life/pets-cats/article/After-eight-long-years-lost-cat-is-home-3979370.php)</p>