Cat Sails to Spain

Sandi, a ginger moggie went missing on one of her usual evening strolls from her home in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Retired businessman Tim Austin is Sandi’s relieved owner. P&O ferry crew found Sandi under a lorry when they were unloading the Pride of Bilbao ship. The crew took Sandi to a local vets where she was identified thanks to her micro chip. The P&O staff took Sandi back to England with them on the cruise ship. They let her have an exclusive cabin with an en-suite. She travelled in luxury with meals of salmon, chicken and milk. Crew members visited her every hour on the 36 hour trip back to Portsmouth.

The ship’s captain, Alastair McFadyen even visited the stowaway. Brian Rees, P&O spokesman said Sandi was treated like a VIP on her return home “Sandi dashed out from under a lorry as the crew were preparing to disembark the vehicles. We don’t normally carry animals on this route so they were incredibly surprised to see him. He was checked over by a vet who was able to establish that he had come over on the ferry from the UK. He was treated like a VIP on the return journey and given an en-suite room with a sea view. He dined on chicken, salmon and milk and was fussed over the whole way. Staff kept a close eye on him, gave him cuddles and kept him comfortable – they were sad to see him go. We are pleased we were able to help reunite him with his owners.”

Sandi’s owner Mr Austin said ‘Sandi is such a lovely, friendly cat and it was completely out of character for him not to return in the morning. He is well known around the town so we thought if we put up some posters people may recognise him and let us know if they found him. When we didn’t hear anything for a few days we thought he may have been caught by a fox or run over. We were heartbroken and started to give up hope. But we got a phone call out of the blue to say he had been found hundreds of miles away in Spain. We were stunned. Thankfully he had been micro chipped so it was possible for the agencies involved to contact us. He would probably have been put down otherwise.”

E&L cat insurance strongly recommend for you to micro chip your cat. The story highlights the positive effects of having a micro chip. E&L cat insurance will protect your cat financially and pay for advertising and reward for lost or stolen cats. Premiums start online from £3.60. Visit www.eandl.co.uk/cat.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236294/sea-faring-ginger-cat-returns-home-sailing-Spain.html, 16th December 2009