missing for 5 years

Question
My 11 year old cat went missing 5 years ago. 2 days ago we were told the animal police here in holland had him. he`d been in an appartment with a man living close to us. he was in a bad way. mouth infection. skinny and dirty. escaped bye jumping into a tree from a balcony 4 floors high. Luckilly we`d had him chipped so when the man tried to claim him back, he could`nt. I think he remebers us but am not sure. is that possible??? many thanks

Answer
Caroline,

Wow! How lucky you were able to get him back after so long. Most of the people are not so lucky, especially after 5 years! That is a great example of why microchipping is important!

The cat will remember your voices. Cats go by voice and smells for recognition, not sight. It may take him a little while to settle back in, but he will. That is a traumatic experience for an elderly cat! Keep him close and give him LOTS of love and kitty treats!!

Your cat is approximately 60 years old in human years and being prepared and knowledgeable about older cats will make things easier for the cat and for you. For future reference I am including some very good links about elderly cats:
(Copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar):

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

http://www.messybeast.com/towards-end.htm

http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcat.htm

I am VERY happy you got your cat back!! I hope this helped.

Tabbi