'Stray' Alberta cat missing for eight years found and reunited with owner
After eight long years, one lucky Alberta cat owner was reunited with her furry friend earlier this week, thanks to the work of an Okotoks veterinary clinic.
Southern Alberta Veterinary Emergency (SAVE) recently took to Facebook to share a heartwarming reunion between a cat named Katherine and her owner.
“Katherine was brought to us by a local woman who found her wandering alone in a rural area just outside of Okotoks. She appeared tired, thin, and weathered, clearly a cat who had been fending for herself for quite some time,” SAVE said when speaking with Daily Hive.
The team discovered she had a microchip, but it came back as unregistered. SAVE’s lead client care representative didn’t stop there and managed to find out that the microchip had been implanted at Calgary Humane Society, and they had all the information to make the reunion possible.
SAVE says that reunions like this are extremely rare. “We often see short-term separations, days, weeks, occasionally months, but an eight-year reunion is almost unheard of in our field. The fact that Katherine survived this long on her own, stayed friendly and social, and ultimately made her way back into the right hands is nothing short of remarkable.”
SAVE posted a video of the reunion, and it is nothing short of heartwarming. Users were quick to flood the comments with just how sweet they thought the video was.Â
“I’m not crying, it’s allergies,” one user said. “Who’s cutting onions…,” another replied.Â
Others praised SAVE for its help in making the reunion with the cat possible. “That is such a special reunion, thanks for sharing and caring for all the sweet animals, someone said. “Without rescues and rescuers, this couldn’t have happened!” another added.
“No longer a stray. She’s home, safe, and finally back where she belongs,” the post added.
As for the team at SAVE, it was quite the reunion for them to be a part of. “It was one of the most emotional reunions our team has witnessed. The moment Katherine heard her owner’s voice, she began meowing loudly, almost urgently, as if she recognized the sound immediately… There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, our staff felt incredibly privileged to witness that moment.”
You can view SAVE’s post below:
There was a good cat news story over in neighbouring British Columbia earlier this year, too, with a beloved tuxedo cat named Luigi being found after going missing for more than two weeks on board a BC Ferries sailing.