Woman searches for owner of dog she found home for in '93

Info still listed on microchip
 "Woman searches for owner of dog she found home for in ’93"
Donna Ferres is looking for the home of this dog found wandering along Santa Barbara Boulevard. Sixteen years ago Ferres found the same dog, then a puppy, lost in her neighborhood. She had a microchip implanted in the dog for future identification and she has come back after all those years, lost once again.

A Fort Myers woman has an incredible story she hopes will have a happy ending, especially for an 18-year-old pooch that desperately needs the public’s help. Sixteen years ago Donna Ferres found a puppy wandering around her neighborhood. Ferres had the puppy spayed, vaccinated and a microchip surgically implanted for future identification purposes. Ferres eventually found the puppy a good home, and went on with the rest of her life. Until she got a call Thursday from Lee County Animal Control, which said the dog had been found wandering around Cape Coral. Though Ferres had successfully found the dog a home nearly two decades prior, the pet’s owners never had the information stored on the microchip changed. Ferres was shocked when she saw the dog for the first time. “She was old and I didn’t recognize her body so much as her face,” she said. “She still has the same cute face.” Having helped the dog, a terrier mix, in the early stage of its life, now Ferres wants to help the dog locate its owner. Ferres said the dog is plagued with bad eyesight, hearing and hips, and it is probably only a matter of time before it passes away. “I just want the owner to have closure, and to be the one to decide when it’s time for her to go. She is old and she really misses them,” she said. The dog was found by animal services Thursday, running along Santa Barbara, though Ferres did not know the exact location on the boulevard where she was found. Ferres speculates that the dog did have a caring owner and was not abandoned. She attributes this theory to several pieces of evidence, including dental care and a scar along the dog’s leg that indicates expensive knee surgery. Ferres thinks the animal got out, became disoriented and could not find her way back home. “I doubt very seriously that someone released her,” she said. “She’s very social, knows children ... think she’s been in a family where there’s children and other dogs.” Now Ferres is reaching out the community, hoping that someone somewhere will recognize the pooch and alert her owners. For more information on the lost dog, contact Ferres at 768-1310.