A month after going missing, Squishy the cat is found 80 miles away in SF



GALLERY: Keep clicking to see companies that let you take pets to work, and maybe keep them closer to you than Squishy was. less Squishy was reunited with his owner last week after being found 80 miles away from his home.

GALLERY: Keep clicking to see companies that let you take pets to work, and maybe keep them closer to you than Squishy ... more Squishy was reunited with his owner last week after being found 80 miles away from his home. Photo: Courtesy Of The SF SPCA Photo: Courtesy Of The SF SPCA Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close A month after going missing, Squishy the cat is found 80 miles away in SF 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

The Lathrop, Calif. owner of a cat named Squishy is overjoyed after she got word that her pet was alive and well — despite being found miles and miles away on the streets of San Francisco.

Squishy was reunited with his owner last week because of the efforts of a feral rescue volunteer for the San Francisco SPCA. As the shelter tells SFGATE, volunteers regularly bring in feral cats to be spayed or neutered before being returned to their outdoor neighborhood.

This feral cat, however, was "very friendly," as SF SPCA spokesperson Krista Maloney tells SFGATE. When he was scanned for a microchip — something else the shelter staffers check for — they found he had gone missing a month ago from his home in Lathrop, nearly 80 miles away.

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"We found out this cat had been missing," Maloney says, adding, "We have no idea how Squishy got to San Francisco."

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Maloney also notes that this is a key example of why it's important for dog and cat owners to microchip their pets and keep the contact information kept on the chip up to date.

"The two had a very happy reunion and Squishy is now back home where he belongs," reads a Facebook post documenting the rescue return. "Please microchip your pets!"

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

