Cat owner's despair as claim made on missing pet
Fred, pictured with brother Gino, disappeared from his Shropshire home in August
At a glance
Fred vanished from his Market Drayton home in August
Owner Beryl Edwards received a change of ownership request from a microchipping company
Due to data protection, she said, the company could not tell her who was trying to claim her cat or where he was
Police are now involved as Ms Edwards tries to find her cat
- Published
A woman whose cat went missing has been told new owners are trying to claim him.
However Beryl Edwards, from Market Drayton in Shropshire, has been denied any information about her cat's whereabouts due to data protection rules.
Ms Edwards received a request for a transfer of Fred's ownership from a microchipping company last week which she immediately declined.
The distraught owner has contacted police, who are treating the matter as a potential theft, to try and get her cat back.
Gino has been living alone since his brother Fred vanished
Ms Edwards adopted Fred and his brother Gino from an animal shelter in September 2021 before he "just disappeared" last summer.
She registered him missing but heard nothing more about what had happened to him.
"And then out of the blue last week I get an email saying we’ve had a request – somebody wants a transfer of ownership," Ms Edwards said.
"Can you imagine the range of emotions from, ‘Fred! He’s alive, he’s OK’ to ‘transfer of ownership? What’s this all about?’"
When she contacted the microchipping company, Identibase, she was told it could not share any information that would help her find her cat.
It offered to pass on her contact details instead but "the prospective new owners didn’t get in touch at all," she said.
She has since been told the people trying to claim ownership of Fred no longer have him but is still in the dark as to where he is.
The cats have lived together since they were kittens and Ms Edwards said Gino was missing his brother
From June 2024, it will be law for all cats to be microchipped.
Stefan Blakiston-Moore, from Cats Protection, said most of the time it led to positive outcomes for lost cats.
"In most cases, if your cat becomes lost and is found we will be able to scan it and get it back to you," he said.
"It is a very complicated situation with the case of Beryl’s cat, there can be these complications that come up but generally this isn’t the case. In most cases when a cat is scanned it’s got a very good chance of getting back to its owner."
Ms Edwards contacted West Mercia Police which said it was treating the matter as a potential theft.
“We are following up on a number of enquiries and at this stage are treating the matter as a potential theft," it said.
The BBC has contacted Identibase for comment.