We picked up this big guy in August 2008.  He had been removed from a foreclosed home.  The best guess is that he had been left in that house for upwards of 2 weeks with no food or water.  

 

I posted him on our Petfinder site and the next day I received an email from a gal who said she thought that this kitty was her husbands cat.  "It was a long story",  she said, "but the gist of it was that the cat had walked out the front door and had not been seen in 2 years".  She and her husband had never given up hope of finding him.  Everytime they saw a picture of a cat with the same unique coloring as their cat "Simmi", even if the cat was in another state, they would check it out.  They wanted to come over and see the if this kitty was Simmi. 

 

They came to my home on a Friday evening, and sat in my adoption room for 2.5 hrs comparing old photos of Simmi to the cat sitting in front of them.  They thought he looked like their cat, but then again he didn't.  They kept saying that something was not quite right around the chin and the cheeks, but then they said it could be because he was 2yrs older and obviously his prior home didn't treat him well.  In the end the wife said she had a feeling it WAS him, so they took him home. The next day he had a date with the Vet.  

 

At first the Vet guessed the cats age to be around 7yrs old, but after a closer examination she thought he could be as old as 15yrs. He was declawed, he had a few missing teeth, he needed a good cleaning, and a few teeth were so badly infected they needed to be removed.  As the vet continued to check out the cat she noticed that at some point the cat had major expensive surgery due to FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease) which left him with no penis.  She made the comment that it didn't make sense for someone to leave behind a cat after they spent so much money to keep him alive.  The couple by this time was in tears.  You see, their cat Simmi is 15yrs old, he is declawed and he had the same major surgery done on him a year before he went missing.  By the time the Vet visit was over, there wasn't a dry eye in the Vet office.  Simmi had found his family. 

 

All things considered Simmi is in good shape.  He had 3 severely infected teeth pulled, (which is why his face and jaw didn't look right to them).  Their search for Simmi is over and everyone is so happy.  Dad wakes up every morning with Simmi laying on his pillow purring away.  The wife said that when they got home from the vet visit, Simmi checked out the house and then he went to his favorite sleeping spot and slept for 2 days. 

 

I witnessed a miracle that evening. I could go on and on with all of the different pieces that had to come together to make that miracle happen on that day and at that particular time, but I'm sure that at some point in your life you have witnessed a miracle yourself.  It is life lifting, it is magical and so unbelieveable as to take your breath away.  I love happy endings.  Reuniting old friends can't get any better than this.

 

Cheri

Director of

AJ's Best Friends Rescue