Roughly a decade ago a curious Nambucca Heads kitty named Panda lost her way.
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Her owner, Sara Garcia, searched for months for her monochromatic housemate to no avail.
“Sara was out for ages, in tears, looking for that cat,” Sara’s mother, Karen said.
“She got all her friends to look too.
“I think that something might have scared her— fireworks or thunder—but it’s so long ago now I just can’t remember properly.”
Years passed with no word and Sara lost hope of ever seeing her faithful feline again.
Sara eventually moved away, spending years in France, before finally settling down in Perth.
For most cases of lost pets, the tale ends there, but this story, unlike the cat, is not so black and white.
Last week, Karen received a phone call out of the blue from the Nambucca Veterinary Clinic saying they’d found Panda.
A local had discovered her wandering on Reed St and brought her in, and the vet clinic had tracked Karen down through the registered microchip details.
Bear in mind, for Panda, the separation has spanned close to 70 cat years.
“The vet told me that she had obviously been looked after very well during that time,” Karen said.
I rang Sara and just said: ‘Guess what?’.
“She was so shocked to hear that Panda was alive and well after all this time.
“But she was also worried that Panda’s new owners now must be going through the same ordeal as she did.
“And we both just want for Panda to find them again.”
Sara is unable to claim Panda from Western Australia.
Karen, likewise, can’t claim her; she’s just recently gone through the trauma of having her two ageing pets put down and doesn’t have the heart to take on another 13-year-old companion.
Similarly, the local who discovered Panda last week is unable to adopt her as they already have an elderly and temperamental cat in residence.
Noone has yet come forward after a full week of searching.
“We don’t even know what Panda’s new name is,” Karen said.
“But I’ve shared it on Facebook and everyone in Nambucca is looking for the owner.”
Panda is currently being housed in the council pound, and will remain there for another week.
After that, she will stay at a rescue house until the time that she is again rehomed.
That is unless her owners come forward to claim her.
‘Panda’, pictured above, has a little black nose and can fetch like a pro.
If anyone has any information about Panda they can contact the Nambucca Veterinary Clinic on 6568 6666.
If the owners of this precocious pussycat happen to read this, they can reclaim her from the pound by calling council on 6568 2555.