Owner reunited with lost kitty -- after 6 years
Even though they're using it as an advertisement for a service, this is a really touching story of a long lost kitty -- and I mean REALLY long lost -- being reunited with his person.
When her cat, Dopey disappeared six years ago, Donna Lane-Mills gave up hope her beloved family cat would ever be found. But thanks to AKC Companion Animal Recovery, the kitty's back.
Because of a microchip, he was found at a shelter 20 miles from Lane-Mills' home in Sacramento, Calif.
Dopey had somehow found his way to another town 40 miles away and was adopted by an elderly woman. When she recently passed away, the cat was brought to the local shelter, where personnel there decided to scan the now 9-year-old cat, because due to his age, he would most likely be euthanized.
“When I checked my voicemail at work I received the most unexpected message,” Lane-Mills said, in a release prepared by the Kennel Club. “They let me know that Dopey had been turned in to a shelter. I had to listen to the message twice. I thought there is no way, Dopey’s been missing for six years.”
But hearing the description of the orange tabby cat with droopy eyes and long legs, Lane-Mills was convinced it was him. Dopey was born at Lane-Mills’ home in 2000, one of 7 in the litter, and was named by her children.
“He was a favorite of my youngest daughter who was just 6 years old at the time of his disappearance,” Lane-Mills recalled. “She was crying herself to sleep at night saying, ‘I miss my Dopey.’ We thought he had been hit by a car.” After his disappearance the family posted fliers around their rural neighborhood and spent weeks calling vets and shelters.
Dopey has become something of a poster boy for microchip services.
Lane-Mills said Dopey was happy to see her at the shelter, “purring like crazy." The family reunion also included other pets, that according to Lane-Mills seemed to remember Dopey -- “Spencer” the 17-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier mix and “Inni” their 15-year-old cat.
“He’s still the same sweet kitty we remembered,” Lane-Mills said. “He’s just a little bit more mature.”
Photo of the lucky Dopey courtesy of American Kennel Club.
