Cat and owner reunited thanks to microchip

Somehow, it seems much more logical that a dog might wander off.

Outside, enjoying the fresh air. Sniff, sniff.

Is that a squirrel?

Gone!

A cat, however, is much more coy. A squirrel you say? I’ll just sit here in the sun and check it out for a while, then decide what to do.

Unfortunately, such was not the luck for Alex Bismore, whose cat, Ginger, went missing for nearly five years.

Bismore was a senior at Everett High School when he went looking for a cat just before his 18th birthday.

He spotted a tiny calico kitten in the back corner of an animal shelter. “As soon as I saw the cat, I knew it was the cat I had to have,” Bismore said.

Bismore, who was living with his grandparents, decided to adopt a second cat named Tiger. As the weeks stretched into months, the two cats became like brother and sister, often playing outside together.

One day, Tiger came back inside. Ginger didn’t.

“We assumed she would come back the next day,” Bismore said. “The next day, we didn’t see anything, or the next day or the next.”

The house, in the Lowell neighborhood of Everett, has trees and a creek nearby.

He and his grandparents searched the neighborhood and checked local animal shelters but couldn’t find her. They feared the cat, about 3 months old, had been taken by a wild animal.

Ginger had a tiny microchip implanted in her body with identification information, so the Bismores still hoped to find her.

But four and a half years passed. “We assumed we would never see her again,” Bismore said.

On Feb. 8, there was a message on the house phone. Bismore’s grandmother, Gladys Bismore, returned the call and was asked: Did you have a cat?

“Well, not recently,” she responded.

It turned out the call was from a microchip monitoring company. When the chip was read with a special scanner, it provided a number that could be matched in a database with the Bismores’ name, address and phone number.

As best as can be pieced together, Ginger had somehow made her way to a home about three miles away, near the Colby Campus of Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. An elderly man living there was caring for several cats.

It’s unclear why anyone checked Ginger for a microchip.

There was one other thing that convinced the Bismores that the cat in question wasn’t just any calico but the real missing Ginger.

Ginger always had a little kink in her tail, “a quirky thing that’s pretty unmistakable,” Alex Bismore said. This cat did, too.

But they wondered if her loving personality had turned more feral during the years she went missing.

It didn’t take long to find out. As soon as she was brought home and bounced out of the carrier, she looked around her surroundings and then moved into a big cat stretch, back legs out, back rounded.

When Alex Bismore walked down the hall to his room, Ginger walked with him and stood expectantly at his door. When he momentarily left the room, there she was at his side.

“It was cute as can be,” Gladys Bismore said. “She’s been attached to him. She definitely remembered him.”

Alex Bismore, who is now 22, said that life is resuming with Ginger pretty much as before, with one exception.

“As far as I’m concerned, she’ll be an indoor cat,” he said. “I don’t want to lose her again.”

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.