The 2-year-old tabby has become a bit of a man-about-town and Oamaru’s answer to Mittens, the cat who rose to fame in Wellington for his adventures around the city.
Tommy’s loving owners, Jamie Crowder and Inoke Naufahu, bought him as a kitten from Veterinary Centre Oamaru two years ago.
For the first few months of his life, Tommy would go out and not come back for a couple of nights at a time.
A lover, not a fighter, Tommy was not much of a hunter, Miss Crowder said.
He loved people and often slept over at strangers’ houses. He appeared frequently on Oamaru Facebook pages as a "lost and found" case.
But he did not need to be rescued — he was just adventurous, she said.
"He’s always somehow found his way back to us."
These days, Tommy spends most of his days hanging out at the Oamaru Public Gardens, or at home sleeping and playing with the couple’s dog, Cherry. He had been known to go join Miss Crowder and Mr Naufahu when they took Cherry for a walk, following them the whole way.
Miss Crowder had been sent many photos of her cat exploring Oamaru — and said she could write a book about his adventures.
His microchip had proven to be a saving grace many times.
On the odd occasion, Tommy had been mistaken as a friendly stray and dropped off at the vets where his chip was scanned and he was returned to his owners.
In an occasion odder than others, last month Miss Crowder received a call from Northlands Animal Care Hospital in Christchurch, who had Tommy in their care.
"It wasn’t that surprising because he’s just that kind of cat," she said.
What was surprising, was the mystery around his journey to Christchurch — Miss Crowder suspected it was a catnapping.
The woman who brought in Tommy claimed to have bought him off a Facebook page, but the timeline was suspiciously short as he had gone out on the Friday and was scanned in Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.
"I feel really lucky that he was microchipped."
If he had not been, Tommy could have just gone missing and the couple would have assumed the worst, she said.
Though Miss Crowder wished she knew the full story, she felt lucky to have him back.
