12-20-2009, 01:23 PM
I ran across this news article and had to share with other furkid lovers:
Last week Gayl O'Donnell got a phone call that left her absolutely speechless.
On the other end was someone from her vet's office with sensational news.
O'Donnell, who lives in Lake Wylie, S.C., couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Missing since the late 1990s, her orange tabby had shown up in the Asheville shelter, some 2 1/2 hours away from his original home.
Gayl tried to process what she was hearing. “Oh, my goodness,” she said. “I lost this cat 12 years ago.”
“Isn't that amazing?” said Brandi Hand, director of communications for the Asheville Humane Society. “We scanned the cat, and it had a microchip. We knew someone else must have owned it, because it was declawed.”
The microchip serial number was registered with the South Carolina veterinarian's office, which called Gayl.
The story of Sonny the superfriendly tabby began in 1997, when Gayl and her boyfriend drove to Gastonia to dine out.
“When we came out of the restaurant, there was this little yellow cat about 13 weeks old in the small grassy area near the door,” Gayl said. “It was meowing and smelling all that food. I thought, ‘Oh, he's so cute,' and I picked him up and he started nudging me under the chin and purring.”
Gayl commented to her boyfriend the cat was hungry and in danger. “He was going to get run over following people out to the parking lot,” she said.
“You're taking some little kid's cat,” her boyfriend said when she announced she was going to keep the kitty.
“I don't think so,” Gayl said.
“There was only one neighborhood nearby, and I picked the kitty up and drove around asking all the kids and neighbors if they'd seen him.”
No one had. This meant one thing. The cat was now Gayl's.
“I gave my number to a neighbor just in case but never heard from her. I kept the cat and named him Sonny because he was really a ray of sunshine. I took him to the vet and had him neutered and went ahead and had them put in a microchip.”
For almost a year, Gayl and Sonny were quite the pair. Sonny also befriended a husky two doors down, whose owners hated cats.
“Sonny ended up stealing their hearts,” she said. “He was the only cat they ever liked.”
But you must understand, Gayl said, that Sonny was extremely lovable and smart.
She thought they'd have a lifetime together. Later that year, around Easter, she vacationed in Florida, putting her boyfriend in charge of Sonny.
When she got home on a Monday, the cat was gone.
He'd last been spotted for his Sunday feeding.
Gayl was devastated. The cat wore two collars, including one with tags. She couldn't figure out what happened to Sonny and went from shelter to shelter, even on cable TV, to find her beloved feline.
“I was sick for three years,” she said, “I never got over him. There was no closure. I searched day and night calling out his name.
“I cried myself to sleep many nights, and throughout the years always wondered what happened to Sonny. Where is he? It was such a mystery.”
Then on Dec. 12, she got a call from her vet. “The Asheville Humane Society called, and they have Sonny,” she was told.
“I was quiet for a minute,” Gayl said. “They gave me the number. I was in disbelief.”
Gayl called the shelter, wondering what kind of shape Sonny would be in.
She discovered they were about to put him up for adoption. When they inserted a microchip, the other one was already in place.
That fated phone call came around 3 p.m. Friday. By Saturday morning, Gayl was at the shelter, staring at the cat she lost 12 years earlier. No one at the Asheville Humane Society had ever come across a case like this. Most reunions occur within two years or less, Hand said.
Gayl pressed her face to the cage. “I said, ‘Hey Sonny,' and he put his two paws through the door. I opened the cage, and he nuzzled me like he always did. I was fighting back tears.”
While thin and covered in fleas, Sonny proved healthy and the same cat she always knew. He still loved to run and follow the smells of food.
“He was a little ball of fire and is still going strong.”
Gayl has solved part of the mysterious disappearance. An officer at Animal Control told her the agency was called to pick up a stray at an Emma area mobile home park. She's still stumped as to how her cat ended up in Asheville.
Pausing to fight back tears, Gayl said the two have resumed where they left off.
“He's still nudging me under the chin,” she said. “This is like a Christmas homecoming. Like Sonny, come home.”
STORY HERE
Too bad he didn't keep a diary of his 12 yr adventure!
Last week Gayl O'Donnell got a phone call that left her absolutely speechless.
On the other end was someone from her vet's office with sensational news.
O'Donnell, who lives in Lake Wylie, S.C., couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Missing since the late 1990s, her orange tabby had shown up in the Asheville shelter, some 2 1/2 hours away from his original home.
Gayl tried to process what she was hearing. “Oh, my goodness,” she said. “I lost this cat 12 years ago.”
“Isn't that amazing?” said Brandi Hand, director of communications for the Asheville Humane Society. “We scanned the cat, and it had a microchip. We knew someone else must have owned it, because it was declawed.”
The microchip serial number was registered with the South Carolina veterinarian's office, which called Gayl.
The story of Sonny the superfriendly tabby began in 1997, when Gayl and her boyfriend drove to Gastonia to dine out.
“When we came out of the restaurant, there was this little yellow cat about 13 weeks old in the small grassy area near the door,” Gayl said. “It was meowing and smelling all that food. I thought, ‘Oh, he's so cute,' and I picked him up and he started nudging me under the chin and purring.”
Gayl commented to her boyfriend the cat was hungry and in danger. “He was going to get run over following people out to the parking lot,” she said.
“You're taking some little kid's cat,” her boyfriend said when she announced she was going to keep the kitty.
“I don't think so,” Gayl said.
“There was only one neighborhood nearby, and I picked the kitty up and drove around asking all the kids and neighbors if they'd seen him.”
No one had. This meant one thing. The cat was now Gayl's.
“I gave my number to a neighbor just in case but never heard from her. I kept the cat and named him Sonny because he was really a ray of sunshine. I took him to the vet and had him neutered and went ahead and had them put in a microchip.”
For almost a year, Gayl and Sonny were quite the pair. Sonny also befriended a husky two doors down, whose owners hated cats.
“Sonny ended up stealing their hearts,” she said. “He was the only cat they ever liked.”
But you must understand, Gayl said, that Sonny was extremely lovable and smart.
She thought they'd have a lifetime together. Later that year, around Easter, she vacationed in Florida, putting her boyfriend in charge of Sonny.
When she got home on a Monday, the cat was gone.
He'd last been spotted for his Sunday feeding.
Gayl was devastated. The cat wore two collars, including one with tags. She couldn't figure out what happened to Sonny and went from shelter to shelter, even on cable TV, to find her beloved feline.
“I was sick for three years,” she said, “I never got over him. There was no closure. I searched day and night calling out his name.
“I cried myself to sleep many nights, and throughout the years always wondered what happened to Sonny. Where is he? It was such a mystery.”
Then on Dec. 12, she got a call from her vet. “The Asheville Humane Society called, and they have Sonny,” she was told.
“I was quiet for a minute,” Gayl said. “They gave me the number. I was in disbelief.”
Gayl called the shelter, wondering what kind of shape Sonny would be in.
She discovered they were about to put him up for adoption. When they inserted a microchip, the other one was already in place.
That fated phone call came around 3 p.m. Friday. By Saturday morning, Gayl was at the shelter, staring at the cat she lost 12 years earlier. No one at the Asheville Humane Society had ever come across a case like this. Most reunions occur within two years or less, Hand said.
Gayl pressed her face to the cage. “I said, ‘Hey Sonny,' and he put his two paws through the door. I opened the cage, and he nuzzled me like he always did. I was fighting back tears.”
While thin and covered in fleas, Sonny proved healthy and the same cat she always knew. He still loved to run and follow the smells of food.
“He was a little ball of fire and is still going strong.”
Gayl has solved part of the mysterious disappearance. An officer at Animal Control told her the agency was called to pick up a stray at an Emma area mobile home park. She's still stumped as to how her cat ended up in Asheville.
Pausing to fight back tears, Gayl said the two have resumed where they left off.
“He's still nudging me under the chin,” she said. “This is like a Christmas homecoming. Like Sonny, come home.”
STORY HERE
Too bad he didn't keep a diary of his 12 yr adventure!