Tenerife Cat Oreo Reunited After 7.5 Years
A cat named Oreo, missing for seven and a half years in Tenerife, was reunited with its owner thanks to a microchip.
It sounds like something from a Christmas movie, but this incredible story actually happened in Tenerife just this week. In June 2018, a black cat named Oreo vanished without a trace from La Laguna. Months turned into years, and the hope of ever seeing him again slowly disappeared. Or so everyone thought.
Seven and a half years later, by a stroke of luck, Oreo reappeared in Varadero–Radazul, part of the El Rosario municipality. Volunteers from the CER (Capture, Sterilization, and Return) project had been watching an apparently abandoned cat roaming the area for a while. When they finally caught him to be sterilized, no one expected what they were about to find.
When they scanned him, they got a huge surprise: Oreo had a microchip. This is quite rare for cats, and in this case, it made all the difference. The microchip showed he had been reported missing since 2018, and his family had been searching for him all that time. Thanks to the quick work of the CER project's vet and the help of Clínica Veterinaria 3 de Mayo, Oreo's owner, who now lives in Bilbao, was found.
Disbelief quickly turned into overwhelming emotion. Just two days after getting the call, his owner was back in Tenerife. The reunion was full of emotion, with glances, gentle touches, silence, and tears saying more than any words could. Against all odds, Oreo was finally going home, proving that even after nearly a decade, happy endings really do happen.
The El Rosario City Council has publicly thanked the CER project volunteers and veterinary staff. They highlighted that this story also serves as an important reminder: microchipping animals saves lives, helps reunite families, and makes miracles like Oreo's possible.