LOST MOGGY A REAL CHAMP
WHEN Tina and Suzanne Baum’s one-eyed cat Champ disappeared from their Surrey Downs home in 2015, they believed he was dead.
But more than seven years later, that all changed with a miraculous phone call that reunited them with their beloved furry friend.
Suzanne says it was love at first sight when she met Champ as a stray while working as a veterinary nurse in Massachusetts in the US.
“He was such a lovely cat, he was super friendly. He had an injured eye, so I got him all fixed up and ended up adopting him,” she said. The couple moved back to Tina’s home town of Adelaide in March 2015 – three cats and three dogs in tow.
Champ began to wander further and further from home until, in June 2015, he never came back.
The couple posted messages on local Facebook page Lost Pets of South Australia and contacted dozens of vets. But after weeks of searching, they were was told by a local vet that a “one-eyed orange cat” had been put down.
Then, last month, Tina received an unbelievable phone call. It turns out the stray Champ was taken in by an elderly man, who died two years ago. Then in stepped Gemma Williams, who fostered Champ. But, she had a feeling he was pining for a previous owner. She contacted Lost Pets of South Australia, whose volunteers trawled through seven years of records until they found a post that matched Champ’s description.
Champ lives with Gemma but has monthly visits from his original owners. “I never thought that we would get Champ back in our lives … but we now have him and an extended family,” Suzanne said.