Microchips reunite families – Roman knows!

12 April 2016

Family and pet reunited after four years, thanks to tiny chip

A beloved tabby cat who went missing without a trace four years ago has been reunited with his family, thanks to a tiny microchip.

Little Roman’s heartbroken family issued appeals in newspapers and on social media after he disappeared in April 2012. But despite their best efforts they could find no trace of him.

After four years, in which the Thompson family, from Birmingham, moved house and welcomed another child into the world, they had given up hope of ever seeing him alive again.

“When Roman went missing we were all devastated,” said Rachel Thompson, who works as a physiotherapist.

“The last time he was spotted was in the pub beer garden near our old house. He was a regular visitor there and was loved by everyone.

“When he didn’t come home we put up posters and contacted local vets but we didn’t hear anything. Our other cat really missed him. After a while we feared the worst and thought he must have been run over or had an accident.”

The next four years were a very busy time as Rachel, who was pregnant at the time Roman went missing, welcomed new baby Kaitlin. They also moved to a new home in Kings Heath, Birmingham with husband Liam and older daughter Carys.

So it came as a bolt out of the blue when the Thompsons received a phone call from vets at PDSA’s Aston Pet Hospital, who said they had Roman in their care.

Rachel said: “I was in complete shock when they told me. I told them ‘it can’t be him, he’s dead’.

“We raced to PDSA and sure enough it was him. It’s unbelievable really, he goes missing for years and then turns up 13 miles away. I can’t thank PDSA enough for reuniting us as a family.”

PDSA Senior Vet, Rebecca Thorne, said that Roman (6) was brought into the hospital by a man who had befriended him over the past few months.

She said: “The gentleman brought Roman in to us as a neighbour had seen him get hit by a car. We carried out x-rays which showed he had no major injuries but kept him in overnight to monitor him.

“After scanning his microchip and checking his details we discovered he was missing. Thanks to the information we were then able to get in touch with his owner.

“It’s amazing that we’ve been able to reunite them after all this time. It just goes to show how important it is to get your pet microchipped. Without it, the Thompsons would probably have never seen Roman again.”

A microchip is a tiny radio chip, about the size of a grain of rice. It can be implanted underneath a pet’s skin during a minor procedure. Thanks to funding support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, PDSA will be implanting 50,000 microchips this year.