Long road to get Abbey home

Emma Treadaway is reunited with her cat Abbey. Photo / Doug Sherring

Family thanks a bit of luck on Facebook and a microchip for return of beloved pet

An international cat-hunt has ended with a wandering migrant moggy back in the arms of her relieved family.

Sixteen-year-old Abbey vanished six months ago from the home she shared with Emma Treadaway, her husband Damon and their two young sons. The family had moved from Papakura to Clarks Beach, at the southern end of Manukau Harbour, when Abbey disappeared.

But the move wasn't Abbey's first. In 2002 the Treadaways paid $1000 to fly their beloved pet from London to Auckland after they decided to return from their OE with a little extra baggage, Emma Treadaway said.

"She's just a short-haired moggy, nothing special, but we couldn't leave her behind. She was our baby."

Abbey was carrying something too, a microchip embedded before her adoption from the Battersea Dogs' Home.

Treadaway said she had given Abbey up for dead when the SPCA called last month to say she was in their care.

The SPCA picked up the geriatric puss after she was spotted hanging around a dairy in Drury, 30km from the Treadaways' new home.

The organisation scanned her microchip, but it prompted more answers than questions.

The microchip was not on New Zealand's database, so an SPCA staff member contacted the international database.

The Treadaways' name popped up but the address was, obviously, out of date.

Updating the family's details on the microchip database had been "one of those things I meant to do, but never got around to", Treadaway said.

That's when a bit of luck occurred - a Google search found the staff member shared a Facebook friend with Damon Treadaway.

Contact was made and a slightly worse-for-wear Abbey was soon reunited with her family.

The cat the family sometimes called "a real Pom, because she's snobby" showed her appreciation, Treadaway said.

"She was purring and let us give her cuddles. She even walked past the dog without giving it a swipe."

SPCA Auckland executive director Bob Kerridge said Abbey's story was a reminder of the value of microchipping and keeping details up to date.