A woman who lost her cat in B.C. more than three years ago and then moved across the country to Ontario has been reunited with her orange tabby.
According to the BC SPCA, former Kamloops resident Crystal Maclean’s cat, Ralph, an orange tabby with a white chin, went missing from the house of a friend who was pet sitting him.
Although Maclean put up posters, search surrounding neighbourhoods, contacted the BC SPCA and her local mail carriers, she was unable to find Ralph.
Maclean has since moved away, first to Papau New Guinea for two years and then to northern Ontario, where she lives at this time.
At the same time, Ralph began making new friends in Kamloops.
“When I first saw him, he was in bad shape and his hair was matted,” said Kamloops resident Lynette Nyeste. “I thought he was feral. He wouldn’t let me get near him.”
Nyeste gave Ralph food and water and he eventually warmed up to here, letting Nyeste brush his fur and curling up on her front porch.
Nyeste said she looked online to see if anyone was missing Ralph but wasn’t able to find anything, leading her to believe he was just a cat who lived outside.
She brought him into the BC SPCA branch in Kamloops on Jan. 25 after she wasn’t able to care for him anymore.
The BC SPCA posted a photo on Facebook in hopes of finding Ralph’s previous owner and the rest is history.
“In a wonderful stroke of luck, friends of the owner saw our post and contacted Crystal, who was in touch with us right away from Ontario,” said animal care supervisor Sarah Gerow.
Maclean said she was shocked and elated to find out that Ralph was alive and well.
“He is the best cat ever.”
Ralph’s is scheduled to be picked up from the SPCA in Kamloops and taken to Kelowna airport, where the orange tabby will board a flight to Toronto. There, Maclean will drive five hours from her northern Ontario home to pick up her long lost cat.
The BC SPCA is urging all pet owners to make sure their pets have at least two forms of identification, one of which should be permanent. Identification can include a microchip, a collar with tags or an ear tattoo.
Pets can also be registered online at https://bcpetregistry.ca.
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