NZ Women Discover They’ve Been Unknowingly Sharing A Cat For Almost A Year

I swear to God, something in its geography or the magnetic field or some shit just makes New Zealand inherently much more adorable than the rest of the world. I don’t know what it is – maybe there’s something in the water – but that place is magical.
I can just tell in my bones that if this story were to have happened in Australia and two Australians figured out that they both thought they owned the same cat, it would have immediately turned into a ‘Neighbours From Hell‘-style ‘A Current Affair‘ story. But, luckily, this took place in NZ, where everything is a delightful fairytale.
Meet Mychaela Groombridge and Shirley Bishop, who for nine months have been unknowingly sharing a cat. The cat, which Groombridge knows as Crazy Horse and Bishop knows as Simba, had been leaving between the two households for nine months.
While Bishop is the original owner, Groombridge ‘adopted’ him, believing him to be stray:
“He just started hanging around […] so we started feeding him.”

“He was really smoochy and crying, like talking to you. And, he just made himself at home. Just jumped up on the couch, curled up and pretty much moved in.”

Bishop was under the impression that Simba was just off doing his own thing:

“He’d go away and go to the bush across the street, quite often go away for a couple of days.

“He’ll just go wherever he wants to go. He usually comes back to our place at night, about dinner time, has a cuddle, has a feed, wanders around and then goes back out.”

This incredible double life all came undone for Crazy Simba when he came home to Groombridge with an injury. After taking him to the vet to get the wound treated, they also scanned him for a microchip – finding none. 

Bishop, however, was a bit alarmed to find her cat returned to her with stitches and a bald spot:
“I went down the vet to see if they could shed any light on it.

“But because of the Privacy Act, they weren’t allowed to tell me who took him, all they could tell me was the name of the street.”
After posting a callout to social media for info about the identity-confused cat, Groombridge got in contact with Bishop and they discovered that, in addition to sharing a cat, they had also worked together in the past:
“Shirley used to work upstairs in the office. She phoned me this morning and I told her what happened, where he’d been and he was at our house.”
Like absolute legends, they amicably decided to continue sharing Simba / Crazy Horse, each continuing to call him the name they know him by:
“It’s fine. I’m sure he’ll answer to both. Just to know he’s safe and he’s loved. Then we’ll share him. That’s fine.

“It’s turned out to be a happy ending.”
Amazing.
Source: Stuff.co.nz.
Photo: Fairfax / Simon O’Connor.

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