Missing dog found 60 miles away gets trim before holidays in Boston

Seven-year-old Casey tucked into double helpings of turkey and vegetables and slept for most of the day, happy to be back home after finally being caught 60 miles away in Newark.

His owner Carole Fossett said they had nearly given up hope by last Wednesday when the call came through to her at work in Tesco that Casey had been spotted by shoppers in Waitrose car park near a railway line in Newark.

Carole said: “I almost didn’t answer the call because it came with no ID but I’m so pleased I did. Sherwood District Council had found our details on Casey’s microchip. I burst into tears and everyone at work started cheering - I grabbed my coat and got the family and we set off to fetch him.

“It was the longest one-and-a-half hour journey I’ve ever had. We’d set up a Facebook page and had posted him missing on various dog lost websites so we had hundreds of followers and when the news broke my phone didn’t stop ringing all the way.

“I was afraid to get too excited because we’d had sightings before and set dog traps but hadn’t been able to catch him. Casey had been staying with a friend in Spilsby while I was moving house to Skegness when he ran off and he’d been seen at the old airfield and running through fields. We were worried that a farmer might shoot him if he thought Casey was worrying sheep.”

When they arrived at the dog pound they were taken to the kennel. Carole said: “When I called Casey’s name he went ballistic. He was crying and howling and licked me all over.

“We were all in tears and so were the dog wardens who caught him. They told us it hadn’t been easy because he’d buried his head at the bottom of the dyke and they couldn’t get hold of him at first.”

Over the weeks Casey had lost half his body weight and weighed only 15.9 kilos. Carole said: “He’d been scavenging and eating something to survive but he was starving. The vet told us to put him on four meals a day and he’s put on three kilos in a week.

“His fur was badly matted, too, and a friend, Cathy Brown of Tufts and Tangles in Boston, sorted him out for me.

“It took four hours but Casey was so good. He was always a nervous dog but since he’s been back he hasn’t growled or anything. He’s come back a different dog.”

Carole says she is so thankful he was microchipped. She said: “I’ve been shocked at the number of dogs who go missing everyday. Being microchipped certainly saved him. If he hadn’t been we wouldn’t have found him.“