One morning a few days after Christmas, my sister was in the kitchen getting her family's day started. She heard a noise at the back door and initially ignored it, but was surprised to hear a "meow." She opened the door and in ran a long-haired cat with tabby markings, meowing reproachfully.

Becca's first thought was, "Oh my God, it's Javier!" Javier, her 14-year-old Maine Coon, had died a year before and had been buried in the family's back yard. This kitty wasn't Javier, but she was his spitting image.

My sister could tell that this cat had been outside for some time. Her beautiful fur was matted in several places. At the vet's office, my sister was told that this little lady was an older cat, at least 8, spayed and declawed. She tested negative for FIV and feline leukemia, and was vaccinated and treated for worms. She was terribly thin and weak, but was otherwise okay. Becca took her home and initially set her up in their finished basement with a litter box and food. "Girlfriend" (my 2-year-old nephew's name for her) began to integrate herself into a household of two adults, two kids, two dogs and another cat.

Becca set about trying to find Girlfriend's home. She called the local SPCA but was told that their "lost cat" notices were discarded after a month. Although she repeatedly told the SPCA workers who took her "found cat" report that this cat was a female, she started getting hopeful calls from owners of missing male cats.

Becca also posted a notice on the community bulletin board at the local supermarket. Finally she received a call from a woman who described the family's cat, "Blackie", who had gone missing five months ago. It sounded promising -- the missing cat was shy, and Becca had noticed that Girlfriend was hesitant about coming up from the basement to join her kids when they played or watched videos. The caller and her daughter, who lived only three blocks away, came over straightaway to look at Girlfriend.

Initially the woman couldn't be sure that this skinny cat, now partially shaved, was their beloved Blackie. Blackie and her brother had been cherished members of this family for 15 years and she had gone missing after workmen had been in the house. They had searched high and low for her, and the 4-year-old son who had named her -- who now a sophomore in college -- had been inconsolable.

But the daughter who accompanied her mother recognized Blackie right away, and the family was joyously reunited with their missing cat. They took her home, to the relief of my brother-in-law, who sighed, "There IS a God!" (Carl claims the back door has an invisible welcome mat which only stray animals can see.) A thank-you note with an update on Blackie and a check for the vet's bills arrived in my sister's mailbox the following day.

I asked my sister if I could post a write-up of this story, because I have read so many notes here posted by folks who have lost -- and found -- cats. This grand old lady did make it home to her family after having been outside in the cold Minnesota weather for five months. I like to think that she was guided there by the spirit of another Maine Coon kitty who once lived in that house, and who knew that Blackie would find a safe harbor and a way back to her family.

Copyright © Robin Merica
January 26, 2002

Read Robin's other stories: Patrick the Terror, now Happy & An Amazing, True, Lost Cat Story