Charlie Finds His Way Home

 

Bryce Setran and his cat Charlie have beat the odds, thanks to a tiny piece of technology. Every two seconds, a family companion like Charlie is lost. Tragically, many of these cats and dogs never make it back home. But thanks to a small non-removable piece of identification, Charlie's story has a happy ending.

On a warm summer day back in early August, while Bryce was out of town, six-year-old Charlie slipped out an open door and vanished.

Distraught, Bryce scoured the neighborhood for weeks, posting flyers and checking with neighbors to find out if anyone had seen Charlie. But Charlie was nowhere to be found.

So Bryce turned to PAWS for help. Our knowledgeable staff recommended that he try a humane cat trap, which has a high rate of success in reuniting lost pets with their guardians. But the trap remained empty, and Charlie was still missing.

Luckily, Charlie had an advantage over other missing pets. He was equipped with a microchip—a small, non-removable form of identification about the size of a grain of rice, containing a personal identification number and, most importantly, Bryce's contact information.

A week later, as if by fate, Charlie was brought to PAWS as a stray. When staff members scanned him for a microchip, they were overjoyed to find that he had one, and that the information was current. They contacted Bryce, who rushed in to claim his long-lost friend.

After more than a month apart, Bryce and Charlie were finally reunited, and it was all thanks to a small microchip.

 Learn more about microchips and pet safety at paws.org