“I searched and searched” Hollywood woman is reunited with her missing cat Sam after 11 years

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – It has been more than a decade since Jennifer Ravenel’s cat, Sam, went missing from her small Hollywood farm. The two were recently reunited – and it’s thanks to a microchip.

Ravenel adopted Sam in 2011 after hearing a kitten near a pasture in the crook of a tree. The two were instantly connected. “He was my lap kitty […] he was always in the house and just followed me everywhere I went around the yard,” she recalled. “We live on a little farm, so he was always at the barn- he went everywhere I went.”

Then someone brought a dog to Ravenel’s home which scared Sam, and he spent more of his time at her barn. “Then he didn’t come to the barn one day,” she said.

Sam had disappeared.

“I searched and searched and asked everyone, but nobody saw him,” Ravenel said.

Eleven years later, Sam was reported as a stray and brought to the Charleston Animal Society. He was found to be microchipped, which helped the animal shelter connect Sam with his owner.

Ravenel said she thought she was being pranked when she received a call from Charleston Animal Society telling her that Sam had been found.

“I never dreamed that I would see Sam again,” she said. I am just speechless that I have my cat back.

The reunion between Sam and Ravenel was made possible because the pet was microchipped.

Aldwin Roman, Charleston Animal Society’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said that getting a microchip should be on every pet owner’s checklist. “Without that chip, this beautiful reunion probably wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“Microchip your animal because you never know,” added Ravenel. “Eleven years.”

Sam has been settling in at home on the small farm and Ravenel said everything is going great.

“Since Sam’s been home, he hasn’t wanted to go back outside,” she said. “He is mostly staying on the foot of my bed.”