Image courtesy of Charleston Animal Society
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — A Mount Pleasant woman who was searching for her missing cat in 2019 was reunited with the cat that was found 25 miles from her home.
On February 25, 2024, the Charleston Animal Society (CAS) announced that a 12-pound cat was found on Johns Island and brought to its shelter. CAS team members soon discovered that the cat, Faiya, had been reported missing in Mount Pleasant five years prior to her arrival.
Faiya had a microchip implanted in her, but her owner's phone number was no longer in use. According to CAS, there was an emergency backup number, which turned out to be the owner's sister.
The animal society called the sisters and they were shocked to find Faye. When Alexandra Tanner, Fayya's former owner, found out, she “just kind of had a head freeze,” she said. After Faiya went missing in 2019, Tanner and her friends spent weeks putting up missing posters, posting them online and going door to door looking for her.
When Tanner and Faiya were finally reunited, CAS said Faiya recognized Tanner and greeted her former owner with a purr as tears appeared in her eyes. “She's a miracle cat,” Tanner said.
CAS said it hopes this story will serve as a lesson to those who microchip their pets and keep the chip up to date with a new phone number and new address.
