I dont know where to begin, but I will begin with I LOVE YOU GUYS! LOTS OF BIG WARM HUGS & THANKYOUS to you and your team.

By now you have probably been contacted by Sue the lady who posted the ad on the 17/05/03 regarding finding a Chocolate female cat...........and that cat is my beautiful baby doll Anise, who went missing (believed taken) in July LAST YEAR....YES LAST YEAR!!!. Actually I thought that my ad wouldve been deleted as sooooooo many months had passed.....and I am indebted to you all for leaving it there. PETSONTHENET was a last resort for myself and friends in December 2002, another friend of mine actually told me about your site, and said "hey you've got nothing to lose" and BOY wasnt she on the button. Hope came and went and then the miracle arrived.  Anise and I are now catching up on all the hugs, kisses, cuddles and love that we have both missed out on for nearly 11 months! It has now been just over 7 days that she has been with me and we have a long road ahead of us....getting her used to her name again, getting her used to sunlight, getting her back into peak conditi! on.......and we are just going to take it slowly....and with loads of love and patience and perserverance WE WILL MAKE IT....the things that didnt change during this time apart is her ooodles of affection, her talkative nature (a little husky at the moment) and her personality.

I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and indeed there were a number of things that happened on 17/05/03 that one cant right off as coincidental......Miracles Do & Will Always Happen, I am very very very very BLESSED and I believe that the time and effort you put into any animal is reflected in their behaviour...in this story....a story of unconditional love, hope, faith and determination.....on both our parts....she was on her way back to me and an Angel named Sue, found her, took her home, feed the weary traveller gave her free lodging for the night and at the same time found me!!!!......and all of this couldnt have happened without the help of PETSONTHENET.

With Love
Sally
(Names of both owner and cat were changed to "Sally" and "Anise", nor have photos of "Anise" been published  as per "Sally's" request for privacy)

 

Charlie's incredible story of survival                     
SUCCESS!  Charlie came home just over 24 hours since he was last seen. Our neighbour witnessed him being run over by a Ute and unfortunately Charlie ran away, we called for him that night for two and a half hours with the help of fellow neighbours (till just past midnight) but he still didn't come home.  The next morning we got up at 6am and continued to call him. At lunchtime I came home from work to give him another call and then after work we tried calling him for the next hour.  We placed an advert on your web site and also sent out fliers with Charlie's details around the neighbourhood.  We still didn't hear anything about him and I must admit all hope was fading as the neighbour said he didn't think Charlie would have survived such an impact as the the Ute would have made.

Then at 5am the following morning my partner woke me up to say did I smell something, I didn't of course, so she said she just buried her head in the pillow and tried to fall asleep, she woke up again from the smell and looked around - she thought one of our other cats had been in some garbage or something rotting. She looked down on the ground and noticed one of the cats (she thought Simba) but remembered how odd it seemed that he wasn't sleeping on the bed with Cam and us, then a slight moment, as if trying to drag his body made her sit up and turn the light on to discover Charlie had dragged himself home.

His left back leg was only attached by a little piece of skin and from his waist down his fur had come off along with a lot of skin, and due to the fact that he had been missing for over 24 hours, plus the heat of the day, his skin was dying, which was why he was smelling really bad.  We rushed him to the emergency vet and there continued to help him become as comfortable as possible.  He was given pain killers and antibiotics (due to the infection developing in the right back leg still attached) and we were told he had a good chance of living, but it all depended on whether we could save the right back leg, but he was definitely going to lose his left leg.

The vet was amazed he came home, he said most animals with this injury would have curled up and died, but Charlie not only made it home dragging his legs, he managed to climb SIX steps to be able to get inside the house and drag his way down the hall and into our bedroom.  There he lay just waiting quietly while we slept.  That day within a few hours Charlie's leg was amputated, he stayed overnight at the vets to make sure there was no complications.  He is back home with us now and he has been recuperating for the last week, he was taken back yesterday to the vets because his skin is dying around the wound from the amputation and his attached right leg, we are waiting for it to fall off and then he'll go back for further surgery to graft some more skin.

We are very lucky to have Charlie home, and I don't think I could have a better Christmas present. He is still very quiet and when I tried to take him to a neighbours to see them, he was very sacred of the road. The other cats have taken his presence in different ways, Cam and Cheeky are always around him, licking him and keeping him company, Simba seems very sacred and continues to sniff him quickly then move away.  

All in all, very are a very happy family to have him home, and I hope Charlie knows how much we missed and love him.

Liam


Douglas found after six weeks via CPL and petsonthenet
Thanks to petsonthenet and the CPL (Cats Protection League) Douglas is now home safe and well, and wouldn't be if it weren't for the wonderful practical service you offer. This is not the first time that Doug has had a very good turn of luck, as my partner and I rescued him eight years ago from the SPCA, just before his number was up.

This time however he was very lucky to have been looked after firstly by a kind woman two streets away from us, who then handed him on to the Cats' Protection League (CPL), and it was Fenella from the CPL who spotted my ad the next day.  We collected Doug that same day and he is now purring and looking happy, albeit from under a bed!  He is definitely looking happier than when we first moved to our new house, from where he ran away, and had been missing for six weeks, so we are very lucky to have got him back.

Many thanks for making it possible to find Douglas.

Nicky Owers

PS. We had tried other avenues in the preceding six weeks, but it was the proverbial needle in the haystack, so yes, posted ad on the 30th and hey presto, Fenella called on morning of the 31st December. 


Elmo, lost five days in a drain 
Thank you so much for the wonderful advice on your site. Thanks to this and persistence, we found our mischievous little boy. After printing and delivering flyers (500 around the neighbourhood); checking in with everyone on our street (a great way to meet the locals); calling SPCA's, vet clinics and courier companies; posting flyers in supermarkets and video stores, and wandering far and wide calling his name - we found him two houses down in a storm water drain.

Our neighbours informed us they had a cat, which they didn't think was ours, living under their house. It didn't sound like Elmo, but we decided to check. After confirming that he was indeed a lot older than our kitten, we set out to deliver more flyers. My fiance insisted on feeding him before we left (which annoyed the hell out of me - we had our own kitten to find). She knew he wasn't Elmo, but out of some deep sense of hope continued to call him while she offered biscuits. Out of the blue she heard metallic 'meowing.'

I could hear Ush scream for me to help - why couldn't she just leave that damn stray alone and help me find Elmo. Her yelling increased, as did my frustration, leading me to a 'rhynoric' charge to stand atop a man hole.

There was Elmo, we lifted the grate end enveloped him in cuddles and kisses. He certainly ate heartily that night after five days in the labyrinth of tunnels.

Many thanks
Josh


Boy reunited with his beloved Jinxie after 6 weeks.                 
Yes! After six weeks we have our much loved Jinxie home. 

When we moved to our new home we expected Jinx (known as Jinxie - it's easier to yell a two syllable word at feeding time) to go walk-about after he was released from "house arrest" as on our previous move he had gone for four days and then casually turned up for breakfast one day.

After a week we began to feel anxious and phoned the SPCA, cat shelters, local vets, did a mailbox drop and, of course, placed an ad on Pets On The Net. A couple of days later a lady about a kilometer away called in response to the mailbox drop. She had just seen a cat that looked just like Jinx in a bush reserve near her home. I drove there immediately and called for ages but no Jinxie. For all I knew it wasn't even him, but I returned several times and called to no avail.

Weeks went by. My eight year old boy who loves him dearly bought a special can of gourmet catfood for Jinxie's return and that can haunted me every time I opened the cupboard.

Six weeks after he'd gone missing the same lady called again and asked whether he was still missing. She'd just seen this cat again. I zoomed up there and she showed me where she'd last seen the cat. As I walked closer I saw two ginger ears pointing above the grass. "Jinxie?" I called, hardly daring to hope. "Meowrrr?"

Then it was like those movies as we both ran to meet each other. When I brought him home my little boy was in raptures when I got him out of bed and told him he should open up that special can of catfood!

Jinxie has lost a lot of weight, but aside from that is healthy andhappy. He follows me like a shadow and calls to me if I leave the room. I can hardly believe we got him back and that the lady who found him had kept my phone number all that time. Today I am delivering a huge box of chocolates to her house, but nothing can thank her enough for the return of our Jinx.

Thank you so much for offering this service. 

Many thanks
Purrs
Elli & ^..^ Jinx



Missing Missy reunited by petsonthenet a month later on the other side of town!
(See the Womans Weekly Story on Missy's reunion via petsonthenet.co.nz!)
We live in Howick and on the 17th of December our cat “Missy” went missing. 

I rang around local vets, the SPCA and posted flyers. 

Our local vet recommended trying “pets on the net”.  We posted a missing add and checked the site daily. 

Days and weeks went by and still no cat. On the morning of the 14 January (as we were about to leave on holiday) I looked on “pets on the net”. I noticed they had a cat matching the description of ours. I clicked on it and saw the picture of Missy. 

A quick drive to Mt Albert confirmed it was our cat Missy. 

We were told that between Christmas and New Year she had been seen at a cemetery in Mt Albert. She was skinny and looked terrible. A lady felt sorry for her and took her home, the next day she went to the neighbors and decided that’s where she wanted to

be. They fed her for about three weeks. We are so grateful to them for looking after Missy and putting a picture of her on pets on the net. 

It just shows what a useful service (pets on the net) is.  We are so happy to have Missy home.  Thank you to everybody involved in the save return of our much loved family pet.

Many thanks, Cherie



Lily  - lost three months, found 65 kms away from home...
On 14th January I lost my lovely Burmese cat, Lily. 
I came home from work one day and she wasn't there. She knew my routine pretty well so was almost always home to greet me. I immediately had a sinking feeling. When she hadn't shown up a few hours later I knew she was not just out and about. I was distraught.

Notices around the neighbourhood, ads in the paper and on your website, flyers, visits to the SPCA, phone calls to local vets, door knocking at neighbours and friends helping me walk the streets calling her name over the following days and weeks ... and nothing.

The grief over her loss was terrible - I am still amazed how much her disappearance affected me and how hard it is to explain to someone else why you are so devastated over a cat. But she had been a part of my day - every single day. She followed me around the house, 'talked' back and forward to me in the typical Burmese chirrups, slept on my bed, woke me in the mornings by licking my nose, drove me mad chewing the corners of all my photo frames and through my cell phone chargers (I went through 3!), and she smooched, cuddled and purred her way into my affections.

I think the hardest part was not knowing what had happened to her. I've had pets die before and been grief-stricken but able to move on. But the ebbing hope is horrible to go through and the thoughts of what could have happened to her were hard to block out.

Its now exactly 3 months later, and last Thursday I set off on a sea kayaking trip for Easter with a dozen other mad paddlers over to Great Mercury Island off the Coromandel Peninsula. It was a very eventful trip in many ways. I got food poisoning the very first night (along with another companion) and spent the first 24 hours running between my bunk and the bathrooms. When finally well again, the first trip out paddling resulted in a rescue off the rocks for one of my fellow kayakers and some anxious moments for the rest of us. On Easter Monday (the day of our scheduled return home) we woke to 35-40 knot head winds and no way to get off the island.

I wasn't all that sorry to get to spend another day on a beautiful island away from the city ... at first. But at 10am I checked my cell phone messages. A young woman's voice on the other end asked me if I had lost a cat as she had found one near her parents place wearing a collar with the name 'Lily' and my cell phone number on the tag. It couldn't be?!! I instantly burst into tears. Everyone else thought someone must have died. After a few moments to calm myself I called the girl back. Her name was Sarah and when she heard my excitement she was just about as jubilant as I was to have found my cat. All of what she was saying didn't sink in at first, as I all I could think was "she's found!!". But after a couple of minutes I realised Sarah was trying to point out just how far away she was. She was in Mercer - approximately 65kms from home!

Suddenly I wanted to get off the island as soon as possible! But patience had to prevail as there was no let-up to the winds. Despite hours of talking through all of the options, we were stuck. A long day of card playing, talking and reading followed. I went to bed as soon as seemed reasonable and woke at 5am. Not known for my early morning starts, it was a shock for all to see my boat loaded up and me out on the water paddling for the mainland at 7.30am!

Sarah had brought Lily back to her home in Auckland and we were finally reunited that afternoon. She was quite thin, her face had a number of scratches, her ears were curled and infected around the edges and she was very subdued... but otherwise intact. A trip to the vets confirmed that, with some medicine, food and lots of TLC, she would be fine.

She was very pleased to be home and slept very close to me all night. I had no complaints when I was woken this morning by licks on the nose. It is amazing to have my lovely cat home after all this time.

I hope I haven't bored you with my story. I read every success story on your website that I could when she first disappeared. I hope that this one will also give other lost pet owners some hope.

Best wishes
Stephanie

See other Success Stories due to ID tags and view petsonthenet's range of quality ID tags for your pets! (all sales of ID tags support this free service for lost and found pets...)
 

Shoba shows up hundreds of kilometres away...
Thank you for your interest in our baby girls big adventure. I love your website and have been and will continue to visit it.

Here's how we found her.

It was Friday 19 Dec when Shoba wondered from home. I had left the gate open to mowe lawns, on Friday 19 Dec. My son and I with friends began dropping flyers in nearby streets and retail shops that afternoon. Calls came and I acted as quickly as possible but to no avail.

At approximately midday on Wednesday 24 Dec, Christmas eve after arriving home from yet another flyer drop I received the call. A lady saying she had seen my flyer with pictures on it in the video shop, knew who had my dog.

She was brief, but did say that this person only lived one street from me and had, had my dog for a few days. She would get this person to call me.

I was in tears knowing that my pet was only one street away and that whoever had her did not attempt to find out if she had been reported missing. I had posted flyers in the street and driven it several times since her disappearance. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the call

The person, a lady, said they had tried to locate an owner, but had no luck. She then went on to say she no longer had my dog. She had handed her to animal control, on Monday. I was pleased and concerned because I had been in daily contact with animal control and had been told, she had not been found.

It was then this lady asked "Which animal control are you calling". "The local unit in Papakura" I replied.

She then told me she had handed her to Animal control in Taupo. I was silent for a short while and did ask if she lived in Papakura.

She did, however had gone to Taupo for the Christmas holidays and taken my dog with her, because she did not know what to do with her. On arriving in Taupo her father advised her to hand the dog over to animal control. Reasons, who knows? But I am very grateful.

I called animal control in Taupo immediately, and after I gave them a thorough description of Shoba, they confirmed they had my dog.

My son and I, our friends and family were over the moon. Most happiest was my husband currently working overseas and unable to be home with us for Christmas. Not having him and Shoba home at Christmas would have been too depressing.

We prepared our vehicle with her bed and blanket laid for her in the back of our 4x4. Grabbed her collar and lead. Prepared snacks and water for her journey home, contained in the family chilly bin.

My son and I were up before the birds on Christmas day, singing, Christmas songs on our way. Before we knew it we were collecting Shoba from Taupo dog pound at 9.00am. She was in good spirits and was as excited as us to see each other. Christmas Day is definitely a very special day for us now.

My one regret as an owner was not having Shoba wear her collar with her ID and registration. OF course, that is a thing of the past and Shoba received a new collar from Santa, she wears it proud. There is a God and Santa if definitely Real. 

Very happy Mariu-James family, Papakura.


Tom, blind cat, 16 years old - reunited via petsonthenet and SPCA! 
Thank you very much for this wonderful service. We have very gratefully got our dear old cat back because of our ad on petsonthenet.co.nz. Some kind person had picked him up nearby and thinking his crying meant he was sick had taken him to the local vet. They in turn had contacted the SPCA who saw our ad and matched him to us immediately. They even very kindly bought him home. I can't thank them or you enough.

Many thanks
Jan Elliott


FAST SUCCESS STORY
Smudge found just one hour after ad on petsonthenet.co.nz!!
"I cannot believe how wonderful this site has turned out to be. Due to the story in the NZ Woman's Weekly when our much loved Corgi disappeared, I remembered the story, flyers were posted, SPCA and Pound were notified.

Finally put the ad on petsonthenet.co.nz and within 1 and yes I do mean 1 hour, a woman rang to say she had seen our dog and it was now just down the road. 

I can not tell you how grateful I am for your site. He might be little but our Golden Retriever would have continued pining as they have been together since they were puppies.

Jennifer Woods


Trapped in a couch for three days - Kelly's amazing survival story
Here is the success story of my cat Kelly . This is my siamese cat "mister Kelly" looking thinner but otherwise ok after being "lost' for 3 days. After going out Friday night he didn't arrive home Saturday. We put notices in all the neighbours letterbox's but still he was not to be found. He is a cheeky cat and very vocal. He would make himself at home in another house providing they had a cat he could sit with. 

At one such house he used to visit, new neighbours had moved in. We checked to see if he'd been there. A search was done with no luck. With no bodies on the road and the weather very hot it began to look as if he'd possibly died trapped somewhere.

Monday night [3 days later] the new neighbour arrived. Kelly had been found. In an unused bedroom there was an old couch. The neighbour found some poo in a potplant! This was the room which contained the couch. They moved the cushions and a paw was sticking out from the back. We don't know if he was traumatised or stuck in this couch but he never made a sound.

We were lucky to find him and it does pay for neighbours to do a thorough check. Kelly is home now and eating twice as much but his nightly "jaunts" have been curtailed for awhile. 

Sylvia   
                     

Loki the cat caught in a gin trap and took four weeks to hobble home
Our lovely but adventurous 1yr old boy Loki went for a wander outside and never made it back for dinner.  We instantly knew something was up when he didn't come home for the night.  

The next day we made up flyers and dropped them in letterboxes all over the neighbourhood, called the SPCAs and vets, and placed a lost ad on petsonthenet.  There was no reply, no one had seen him.  We checked the streets, just in case, and wandered through the bush.  There was no sign of him.  Although we still held out hope that Loki would come home, as time went on, it began to look less likely. 

Then all of a sudden, 4 weeks to the day since Loki went missing, I heard a meow at the door.  I opened it up, and a skinny black ball of dirty fur was sitting outside.  It looked so small I didn't think it could be Loki.  Then he hobbled inside and I saw why it had taken him so long to get home - half his front left leg was missing, possibly from a possum trap, though we'll never really know!

If only cats could talk!  It had taken him 4 weeks to make it back to us.  He was severely dehydrated, had burned all his muscle for food, and was anaemic, having lost quite a bit of blood.  Despite all this I've never heard him purr so loudly as when he was with us that night.  We rushed him to the after-hours vets, who said it was a miracle that he survived.  We are just pleased to have him back.  

He is still residing at our vets, a little over a week later, but is putting on weight nicely. He still needs an operation or two to fix his leg and a wound on the back of his neck, but is already playful again.

While this may not seem like a typical 'success' story, it shows how badly lost pets want to make it home to their loved ones, and how long they can survive under pretty extreme conditions.  He could have just given up at any time during those 4 weeks when he was injured out in the bush, but he obviously wanted to make it back to us and his sister, and we are so happy to have him back. 

It is also a reminder to us all of why gin traps should be banned.

Angela and Loki



"Pele" returns after being trapped in a ceiling for 3 weeks... 
Back on 28th April our beloved cat, Pele, went missing. Exactly three weeks later, she's back home. Out of the blue a neighbour called to ask if Pele was still missing as they had a black furry cat trapped in the ceiling space above their garage. The moment I walked in their garage and called Pele's name, she responded and I knew it was her. After a bit of coaxing we got her out. There's no sign of injury at all but after three weeks she is of course very, very thin and that first meal disappeared in seconds !! I'm amazed she's survived, she must have reverted to her basic instincts of survival. It's interesting that her claws are incredibly sharp and we found a couple of feathers on her !

When Pele went missing we were devastated. In your web site we found not just great advice but great comfort because we felt we were doing all we could. Whilst she was not found from the ad on your site, she certainly was found due to the steps your site lead us to take. Our neighbour had our flyer (of which we delivered about 200) still on their fridge and was able to quickly contact us while she was still there. Apart from this it was heart warming to see how positively people responded to our flyers. Some called with sightings (which didn't end up being Pele) but others actually just called with stories of support about how they'd lost pets and how they'd returned.

We'd given up hope after about a week or two and were actually preparing a symbolic goodbye to Pele by burying her favourite things. I guess we've now learnt to never give up. Ironically the night before I dreamt she was found and that morning our 1 year old son got up shouting "meow" which he used to do every morning but hadn't done since Pele went missing. Omens?

Weeks ago, I read success stories on your web site. I never dreamt I'd be writing one. Thank you so much for the work you put in to your web site. With your help our family is back together. Thanks again for your efforts on your brilliant web site. 

Thank you so much
Sandra, Andrew, Pele and family

Vecchio went missing from Balmoral, found in Mangere - reunited via petsonthenet
Vecchio, our dark brown Burmese cat, went missing from Balmoral on Thursday 30th of May. He is very friendly, likes to walk to neighbouring streets and has been found in other people's cars, so we feared the worst. We carried out your checklist for missing pets; placing an ad on your site, putting notices in mailboxes, knocking on doors in the neighbourhood and ringing local Vets. Most of the long weekend was devoted to our search and by Tuesday we were very sad - apart from one false alarm, no one had seen Vecchio since his disappearance.

Then at 12:18 on Tuesday an e-mail arrived via the link on your website from Liz and Patricia at the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant. Veccio had arrived there tired and wobbly from lack of food but otherwise unharmed. They fed him and gave him royal treatment, while tracing us via the SPCA and your very effective website. How Vecchio got from Balmoral to Mangere we can only guess but I'm sure a ride in a car is part of the story. After a checkup at the Vet, Vecchio is dividing his time between purring, eating and sleeping. As for us - we just can't
stop smiling.

Thank you all,
David S.            .