Lost Cat Travels Incredible 200 Miles To Return Home

The Smyth family in Ireland suffered a terrible loss in 2019 when their black cat Blueberry vanished without a trace. The family searched everywhere but Blueberry had gone.

Their family pet went missing from the family house in County Down, Northern Ireland. They lived on the coast, and the fear was that their cat had possibly drowned.

But the family kept searching. Lost cat advertisments were put up in the area around Bangor. The family waited for any news that would help them find their cat.

But years passed and there was silence. No one had seen Blueberry. There was no news that could help them locate their cat. They thought that he could be dead.

Then four years later, the family received an amazing phone call. A vet 200 miles away said “We have your Blueberry.”

In the northern Irish village of Moycullen, a man had found a cat that looked like it was suffering with some pain. It was outside a SuperValu supermarket and very hungry.

The man took the cat to a vet, who found that the cat was in poor health.

As reported in the Guardian, the veterinarian Rachael Russell said “He was very docile but very friendly. He was in a bit of pain, and tense, but still wanted human attention.”

The veterinarian saw that Blueberry had a microchip. But when they searched the chip, nothing came up in a search of Northern Ireland. But when a search was done on Europetnet, a match was found.

Europetnet issues a unique ID for pets that have a microchip. There are local pet groups and international organisations that use these IDs to locate lost pets in 26 countries all over Europe.

When the Smyth family received the call, they were overjoyed. After so many years, they never expected that Blueberry would be found. Hannay Smyth said “We all thought there was no way it was possible.”

Blueberry was reunited with the Smyth family not long after. He was couriered 200 miles back to family house at County Down.

It took a while for him to get used to being back with the family. Hannah Smyth said “He was a bit out of it when we first saw him, but he seems to be back to himself now.”

No one knows how Blueberry travelled so far. Cats sometimes jump in vans and trucks and fall asleep. We don’t know if that is what happened to Blueberry, but we’re glad that he is back with his family.