The miracle reunion of missing cat with owner

Excusing the cliche, I've been on an emotional roller coaster, but it does have a happy ending.

A little over two weeks ago my cat went missing and I had feared the worst.

I had got him as a rescue kitten, he was the most inquisitive of his litter and the foster carers had given him the moniker of Curio. So recently when he did not come home for dinner I was dreading the outcome, had curiosity actually killed the cat?

I'd heard all these fantastic tales of cats finding their way home, but it did not allay my fears for two reasons.

Firstly, my mind always races to the worst possible outcome. I spent the following days having flashes of the most horrific circumstances possible as to what might have happened to my dear boy.

And secondly, I live somewhere cold, really cold.

It wasn't just that my cat had disappeared for the first time in his life, but that bordering on 16-years-old he was stranded somewhere outside in minus 11 degree temperatures.

I walked the neighbourhood a lot, I drove all around town and couldn't find him.

I had asked in my neighbourhood, plastered a recent photo of him all over social media - that was graciously shared far and wide by other people who love animals, but nothing.

Not a comment, not a sighting, not a thing for more than a week. It was like he had vanished.

For lack of a better phrase, a ghost.

I accept we all have to farewell our beloved pets at some point, but the unknown had been eating me up for almost two weeks and I was bracing to officially say goodbye.

Then miraculously a kind and lovely lady posted online that she had been feeding a white and brown cat for months and now another cat had shown up in the last few days. She included a picture of a dishevelled black and white cat.

I found her phone number online and called frantically to find out where she lived. She gave me an address and the second I put down the phone I drove there.

He was there, hiding in the bushes. Needless to say I scooped him up for a big hug, bundled him into the car and immediately returned to our warm home for a hearty feed.

Though I got to joyously share his safe return with co-workers and friends I was still left pretty emotionally drained. My boy was home, but I'd still gone through that grief.

It's not all bad though. I had just enough energy to curl up in bed and read a good book, with my cat joyfully purring next to me, where he belongs.

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