Not dogs.. but i guess the same things may apply.

We lost a cat 6 years ago, while clearing out boxes we found his paperwork including his chip numbers. Called up the microchip people to make a long shot call to see if he was ever found.. turns out he was. a year after he went missing. The company had at the time all our correct contact details including home number and address and name of vet we used.
The cat was rehomed via Cats protection league back in 2006
my husband is very distressed as he spent months looking for him in the local area but to no avail.

Where does he stand legally regarding the cat? Hes not an arse and wouldnt ask for the cat back if it was well looked after and happy but he cant understand why he was never contacted and is rather annoyed at this fact.

How terrible id be very angry with the chip company and the cats protection, after all what do we chip our pets for? The cats protection would have a scanner, and would know he was chipped so why not trace it back to you and reunite, instead of rehome.

I had a young cat go missing once and did all the usual to find her, even put posters round the village. One day the chap in the shop told me a close neighbour of mine was buying cat food recently so I popped in to see if maybe she'd been feeding her, thinking she was stray. Turns out she had her locked in a room and had already had her spayed (had only been gone 3 days). She even had the cheek to say I could have her back once I paid for the op.

I was livid - not that I'd wanted to breed her or anything but my own vet had advised me to wait before spaying her because she was very small and he wanted to let her reach her adult size. She was also chipped but I think she must have told her vet some lies.

Anyway I rang cats protection who advised I contacted a solicitor. He told me to write to her saying I'd taken advise and would be suing her for theft and damaging 'property' should the cat not be returned within 7 days.

The morning after she got the letter I woke to find the cat in a taped up box on my doorstep along with a letter telling me I was cruel not to have had her spayed and that she hoped I'd learnt a lesson!

Sorry it's not much help to your question.

CPL scanned him and knew he was chipped as his new owners have him registered with them now.

problem arrose where the number on the file was incorect as it had been changed but the address was correct and has been so for the last 9 years. But they apparently called the number and because it was out of service they didnt bother any more. Didnt send a letter.. nothing.

DH is still very upset as he would love the cat back and had figured him dead.. but going though paper work foudn his old papers and by chance i called up tos ee if anyone had found him.. didnt honestly expect for them to say yes.

If anything this just advocates how important it is to keep your petlog details updated.

!! omg! thats beyond terrible. What an ass

I'm not sure of the legal position but presumably if you can prove ownership - as you can - then you ought to be able to reclaim him should you wish to.

In any event I would write very strong letters to the organisations concerned demanding an explanation or enquiry.  I would also ask for a letter to be sent to the new owners explaining the situation and asking for photographs at least.  As you say - you may not feel it's in his best interests to bring him back to you but quite rightly you are concerned about his health and happiness.

What a terrible situation to be in.  We 'lost' a cat many years ago now but I still think of him often and wonder what really happened to him.  I can remember the ones that died with fondness and affection but this 'lost' one always makes me feel anxious and sad.  I always hope he found his way to a new home but in our case I suspect it's unlikely.  Good luck with whatever you decide

It's a horrible situation, to be honest I would seek legal advice if you want to try to get the cat back, the owner of a missing animal is supposed to do everything they can to find that animal, posters, leaving details with the microchip company, vets, animal shelters etc, which is why insurance covers us to do all of these things.  I'm really not sure if rescues have to do the same and put as much effort in to find the owner it would take up too many resources.

I know you traced the chip details just now, but did you do that at the time, did you contact the company 6 years ago?  If so it is them that have not done their job, it is not the fault of the rescue or the new owner.

So, I would concentrate on the chip company, they owe you a huge apology at the very least.

TBH 6 years on, if the cat has a good owner as much as he was your cat and may legally still be, (I know a dog only has a certain amout of time, not sure on cats) is it worth the upheaval if the cat is settled and happy?

Speak to a legal representative if your hubby is adamant on having the cat back, you may be allowed to visit the cat and decide there on in if you wish to uproot him, I think with cats he would still be yours, but don't quote me :-D not 100% sure, if you didn't do all you could to find him that will go against your favour, but if you did and it is the chip company who did not alert you once you contacted to say he is missing then that would not be your fault so, I guess he/she is still your cat.

It would be terrible for the new (well not so new) owners though, so think carefully.

well if its any conselatiojn we dont want him back... well we do.. but its not fair on his "owners" and probally more so him.

My husband fly posted everywhere, checked vets, did all that stuff beut because he was had recenty moved and other bits like that the papers for hi had been filed away and only today had he found them again (having a major clean out before my mother comes over!!) so 6 years ago he wouldnt have had the number.

we have asked that we find out how he is.. maybe see him just for some closure for my husband but that is pretty much all we can do we think

That is really awful that he was chipped and not enough effort was made to try to contact the owner.
This could be happening a lot, considering how many people now change mobile numbers regularly etc. They should automatically send a letter and try calling if a found animal has a chip.

This was before chipping but my family was at the other end of similar situation.
We rehomed a young cat and few years later received a call that her owner had come to the rescue we got her from (to get a new cat) and spotted a picture of her and demanded to have her back.
We had had her much longer than the first owner but they had pictures to prove she was originally theirs and details of where she was found matched so we had to give her back. I was only young but still remember the day :(
Good on you to think what is best for the cat.
Maybe you could still meet him even now that he lives with his new family, that would be lovely.

years ago a cat appeared in our road running up and down the houses obviously lost looking for its owners..I watched it couldnt bear it any longer so open my front door and the cat flew in past my dogs into my dining room screaming ,,she was starving (I already had cats) I fed her gave her milk and a tray ,nice warm bed and left her to settle. I soothed her she was very loving so came from a home, not a ferrel it was obvious she had recently had a litter and the behaviour outside ..I presumed she was looking for her kittens.We tried to encourage her outside thinking she may find her way home but she would get to the door and run back inside the house.
I put notices up in the local shops , asked all my neighbours if they knew her , rang the CPL and other rescue centres no-one came foreward by this time I had taken her to the vet for a check up she was around 2ish beautiful cat but not a pedigree.
We never looked upon her as ours as we hoped her owners would come foreward..anyways they didnt so we had her spayed and she became 'ours'
loved her to bits called her Mika (we already had 3 cats and a visitor) , then one day my brother was visiting and said there is a bloke ourside tryng to pick up your cat this was over 1 yr later (she was sitting in the sun) I  went outside .. lovely bloke he said to me she looked like a cat he and his girlfriend had lost over a year ago ...my heart missed a beat I tell you... I asked him a few questions turned out she had a litter and the kittens had been rehomed a few days before she went missing ..so she was looking for her babies that day...I told him she had been spayed he was fine about it ..I told him he could have her back as she was his cat ...he went off to fetch his girlfriend ..she was so happy to see her again cried happy tears ....they chose to leave her with us as she was settled and happy I said they could visit anytime ....oh yes and they lived in the next road...wonder why they didnt see any of my posters ...

Sadly we lost her to liver failure at around 10 yrs ...she had a good life with us and knew what she was doing the day she ran into my dining room...

We had a cat brought in as a stray to be scanned for a chip a year or so ago now. Cat had collar/tag on, but only with its name and phone number. Rang number, no answer so left message. Meanwhile, a chip registered on the scanner so rang chip database. Cat was flagged as missing about 8 months previously and details were for an address about 15 miles away didn't match the name/number on the tag...let us a bit baffled.
Contacted the people the cats chip were registered at, confirmed the cats details with them and they were over the moon that their cat had been found. They had also done the usual postering and contacting of usual parties.
Anyway, people whose number was on the tag got back in touch and it turned out they had rehomed the cat from CPL 2 months previously and wanted it back.
Bit of a dilemma now! Our practice took the stance that the people who the chip was registered to would ultimately be the legal owners. After lots of anger from the people who rehomed him, the original owners decided although they would love to have him back, they wanted what was best for the cat and agreed to leave him be in his 'new home'.

It's just baffling how this situation came about as all details were correct on chip so origial owners should have been contacted when cat got admitted to rescue centre!?

Muster sue. That bothers me greatly. It seems animals having a chip does not guarentee they will ever come home. What's the point in paying for this and being told over and over again that this is the only way to gwt your animal back and that it's fool proof... Yet here are two almoat identical cases where someone has ballsed up big time.
I think in your case 2 months is nothing, had we discovered this and him only been in 2 months we would have fought to get him back but years is a different kettle of fish. 

I've often taken strays from the pound and dogwarden stated they had been scanned and no chip had been found. However, scanned them again (I scan everything that comes through my door ;)) and they had chips. So where do you start? It's really vexing as alot of stress could have been saved for those dogs...

This is a great worry, how can the CP get away with doing this?? Do they ring the numbers they have on the chip and if no answer don't leave a msg?? Do they even bother contacting the owners on the chip?
Sometimes when pets are scanned the chip has moved and maybe these people scanning aren't doing a thorough job to try and locate one and just assume no chip in the pet?

I have to say that our vets round here are very good, i moved practices and they checked the chips in them. I had to go to a different vet to complete the initial puppy boosters and they again scanned and checked the chip was correct, which gave me peace of mind too.

>Sometimes when pets are scanned the chip has moved and maybe these people scanning aren't doing a thorough job to try and locate one and just assume no chip in the pet?

At one time not all scanners read all makes of chip. I hope it's changed ...

> At one time not all scanners read all makes of chip. I hope it's changed ...

My scanner is German and about 5 years old. Never had a problem with it but it wont work on some horses so I have them double checked by the vet when I get a new rescue horse in.