< Back to front page Text size – +

Cat missing for nearly a year reunited with Lexington owners

E-mail|Link|Comments () March 8, 2010 06:50 PM

By Stefanie Geisler, Globe Correspondent

If only Sparky could say what he's been up to for the better part of a year.

The sleek coal-black feline scampered to freedom -- and the unknown -- from his Lexington home last spring while his owners were visiting friends in Boston. After Sparky fled, Addie Mathews, 19, posted flyers and scoured the neighborhood for the then 7-month-old kitten.

''There was no sign of him,'' she said. ''I was just really hoping that someone had taken him in, because he's a really friendly cat.''

Several weeks ago, a black cat was discovered in a bank-owned Boston property. The owner had been foreclosed on, and the animal had been left behind. Sparky was brought to the MSPCA in Jamaica Plain on Feb. 28.

When an adoption center counselor scanned the cat, a microchip was found -- and to Mathews's surprise, she was reunited with Sparky that day.

''It's amazing,'' Mathews said. ''We missed him so much. It's just great to have him back in the house.''

Although he is missing a portion of his tail, Sparky hasn't changed much, Mathews said.

Microchips are now common, an MSPCA spokesman said.

''At the MSPCA, every dog and cat that is adopted goes home with a microchip,'' Brian Adams said. ''Basically, they're about the size of a grain of rice. They're implanted just under the pet's skin, usually near a shoulder blade.''

When adoption centers and shelters wave a scanner over the pet's microchip, a number pops up. A quick phone call to the company that produces the chip yields information about the pet's owner.

''I'm very thankful,'' Mathews said. ''If it hadn't been for the microchip, we probably never would have been reunited with him.''