What began as a feelgood story has turned into a catfight between two women who claim ownership of a feline originally named Bob.
Bob is a 14-year-old tuxedo cat who made headlines late last month when he was found in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, after being missing a decade ago in Kansas, WRAL-TV reported.
Now, Alex Streight, who found the cat 10 years ago when she lived in Wichita, wants to keep the feline, who went missing from the Wichita home of Carol Holmes, according to the television station.
Both women lived in Wichita at the time the cat went missing, about six months after Holmes adopted him, WRAL reported.
Bob was a 4-month-old kitten when Holmes adopted him from the Kansas Humane Society, according to The Wichita Eagle. He joined Holmes’ other cats, Winston and Copper, and enjoyed frolicking in the backyard, the newspaper reported.
Until he ran away.
“He ended up going missing,” Holmes told the Eagle. “One day he just didn’t come home with the other two.”
The cat had been microchipped, so Holmes hoped that he would be found.
Enter Streight, who said she found the feline outside.
“He was in horrible shape,” Streight told WRAL. “I fed him, kept looking for (the) owner. I posted in the Wichita groups, but I never found anyone.”
Streight said she took the cat to her local veterinarian but she never asked if Bob had been microchipped.
“No, they didn’t say anything about a chip. I was 27 at the time and pregnant,” Streight told the television station.
Streight said she moved to North Carolina in 2015 and took Bob, who she had renamed Maui, WRAL reported.
Last month, Holmes received a pair of emails. One was from the chip provider and the other was from a veterinary clinic. Bob had been found, the Eagle reported.
Streight’s neighbor had taken the cat to Five Points Animal Hospital in Fuquay-Varina for an examination after she found him roaming around the area, WRAL reported. Scott Wilson, a practice manager at the clinic, confirmed that the animal was indeed the cat Holmes lost a decade ago.
“When I saw the photos (from the neighbor), I knew immediately,” Holmes told “Good Morning America.” “The first photo of (Bob) on the porch where he’s got his head kind of down, I knew that was him.”
“She responded back,” Wilson said about Holmes, according to WRAL. “She was excited she found her cat she had been looking for him for years.”
Wilson told the television station that the animal hospital asked Streight to produce records of the microchip to prove the cat belongs to her, adding that it was the only way to prove ownership. While Streight had records from the vet, she had never microchipped the cat.
When Streight went to the clinic, she learned that the cat had been taken to Animal Control and that she would be unable to take the feline home, WRAL reported.
“The cat is in protective custody where an investigation will begin,” Jennifer Federico, with Wake County Animal Control, told the television station. “The cat is safe and isolated.
“Microchipping proves ownership, so we have to take that into consideration, and launch a full investigation.”
Streight disagreed.
“It’s just absurd to me that anyone would think to take someone’s pet away from the family that he’s been with for 10 years,” Streight told WRAL. She told the television station that she plans to fight to keep the cat she has had for a decade.
Meanwhile, Bob is expected to be reunited with Holmes in Kansas on Sept. 23, the Eagle reported.
“I always wondered if Bob would even remember me,” Holmes told the newspaper. “You know, recognize my voice or scent.
“I don’t know, but we’ll see.”