Homeward bound - missing dog returns after five years
Yorkshire terrier Eddie vanished from Fallowfield in 2011.
A dog missing for five years has been reunited with his family thanks to a microchip that traced him to his new owners just half-a-mile away.
Sandra Wright, 50, from Reddish, Stockport, thought she had lost Yorkshire terrier Eddie when he disappeared from her sister-in-law's home in Fallowfield, Manchester, in 2011 while they were on holiday.
Mrs Wright said: Neighbours were searching the streets, we put up posters everywhere, alerted all the local vets and rescue centres, reported it to police and registered him on all the websites.
We even offered a reward but he had simply vanished. With each week that passed, we knew the chances of finding him decreased. It was awful.''
The trail remained cold until this year when Jeanette Johnson, 57, also from Reddish, took in Eddie, now aged 13, from a neighbour who was struggling to look after him.
She brought him into Manchester PDSA Pet Hospital for a check-up and it was discovered Eddie had already been chipped and was registered missing five years ago.
It led to a welcoming phone call to the Wright family to tell them their beloved pet had been found.
Mrs Wright said: We still had conversations about Eddie - what he might be doing, if he was being looked after, if he was even still alive. But never in a million years did we think we'd get him back after all this time.
Best of all, he arrived home on my daughter's 16th birthday. I printed off one of Eddie's 'missing' posters from the computer for when she arrived home from school, then when she came in and saw Eddie next to it she was over the moon and said it was the best birthday present ever.
We can't know for sure just how Eddie ended up where he did, but he was clearly well-loved during his time away as he's still as friendly and loving as ever. I'm so grateful to PDSA and everyone who helped to get him back to us - it just shows the difference a microchip can make.''
The veterinary charity treats more than 470,000 pets annually across its 51 pet hospitals in the UK.
Helen McEntee, vet nurse team leader at Manchester PDSA Pet Hospital, said: Every year, thousands of pets across the UK go missing. Sadly, many are never reunited with their owners, but microchipped pets stand a far better chance of a happy homecoming.
It is now a legal requirement for all dogs in the UK to be microchipped once they are eight weeks old. And thanks to funding from players of People's Postcode Lottery, PDSA will be delivering 50,000 microchips this year.''