Pocatello woman’s lost cat found in California
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)– After a harrowing series of events a Pocatello woman's lost cat was found in Wildomar, California, nearly 900 miles away.
Nicki Banks, a Pocatello area therapist, said her cat, Rey, went missing the morning of Sunday, July 21, after being let out into the yard to play.
"I normally let Rey and Ren, my two cats, out for about an hour each morning," said Banks. "This particular morning, I was trying to be nice, and I let them out a little longer–I went to call Ray and just shake the little treat bag, and she wasn't coming back."
After searching her neighborhood and the nearby foothills, Banks said Rey was nowhere to be found.
Banks turned to local animal shelters and lost pet Facebook groups where she put up photos in hopes that someone would spot the cat.
On Thursday, July 25, Banks got a call from Animal Friends of the Valley, a shelter she didn't recognize.
"She starts giving me directions and I'm like, I have no idea where that is," Banks said.
The shelter was in Wildomar, California. They said that Rey was found the night before near some storage units and accessed Banks' contact information through Rey's microchip.
After some investigation, Lisa Castle, client services representative for Animal Friends of the Valley, said that she believes the cat snuck into one of Banks' neighbor's moving vans as they were packing their things on Sunday.
"It's not unusual," Castle said. "We have had this happen before in our facility where a cat or an animal got out from a moving van."
A friend of Banks is on vacation in California. They plan to pick Rey up from the shelter and fly to Salt Lake City with them. There, Banks and Rey will be reunited.
Both Banks and Castle say that Rey's story is a testament to the importance of getting your pets fitted with a microchip and keeping the contact information on the chip current.
"The only way they would have found my information is because she's chipped," said Banks. "Microchip your pets for exactly this reason."
