Lost cat makes an improbable return home, three years later

The cat came back, but it wasn’t the very next day.

In fact, it took more than three years for a lost cat to make its way back to one Saskatoon woman.

When the feline was wandering around a couple’s yard for a few days, they brought it to the SPCA and helped reunite the family.

Jacolen Richardson, an adoption counsellor at the SPCA, said the pair brought in the cat and staff at the shelter scanned the animal’s microchip.

That brought up the owner’s profile and they were able to make the reunion happen, which Richardson said melted the hearts of everyone present.

“It was one of the best moments of my entire life, honestly,” Richardson said, describing the moments when the owner, Nikky, came to pick up her cat, named Walter White.

Richardson said it only took a few moments for recognition to set in.

“It slowly donned on (the cat) who (the owner) was, and the scared kind of melted out of him and he turned to just a puddle of goo and wanted back in his mom’s arms. She scooped him up, and it was so heartwarming, I cried, she cried, everybody cried,” she said.

“As soon as she started calling his name, he recognized her and let her scoop him right up like nothing had ever happened,” she said.

Richardson said the family searched for Walter for a year, offering rewards for his return and visiting the SPCA every other day to see if he had been returned, but to no avail.

The family mourned the loss of Walter until receiving the call just a couple of days ago.

Richardson said she’s reunited families with animals who’ve been gone for six months to a year, but never as long as three years.

They were only able to do it through that microchip, which Richardson said is the best and easiest way to return animals to families. She encouraged everyone to get their pets microchipped and register them.

“Accidents happen. Disasters happen and your critter can get away,” Richardson said.

If the animal is not registered, Richardson said it becomes much harder to get them back to their families, and the lost pet could potentially be put into a new home.