A Montreal family is celebrating the return of a long-lost family pet after she turned up at the Ottawa Humane Society eight years after she first went missing.
Indie, now 11, is proof that the cat came back — it just took a bit longer than expected.
The black and white tuxedo cat has been reunited with her family after being found by a passerby and brought to a humane society 165 kilometres away from home.
It was a happy discovery for her original owners, who were surprised when they got the call.
“I was shocked, to say the least. It was a big surprise, but a happy surprise,” Grant Pretorius says.
“I used to call her Houdini, ’cause you never knew where she was going to turn up.”
But she performed the ultimate disappearing act when she went missing and was not seen again for eight years.
Pretorius says despite putting up posters and searching the area for several weeks, he could not find her.
“I assumed the worst, and I never got closure,” he says.
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Since going on her grand adventure, Indie has returned home to a new feline friend; Pretorius’s partner, Amanda Cristina Meco, also owns an 11-year-old cat, named Koda.
Meco says Koda will have to get used to another cat in the home.
“She likes to always have the spotlight, so to share is going to be a little bit of a challenge, but she can do it,” she says.
“Eventually, they’ll become friends and start cuddling.”
Indie’s discovery is also a first for the Ottawa Humane Society.
“Often times, we’ll be able to reunite animals who’ve been missing for a couple of weeks, a few months, but to see an animal who’s been away for several years, in fact eight, is quite unusual,” Stephen Smith says.
Though little is known about what Indie was up to all these years, Smith says they suspect someone else was caring for her.
“She came into our care and was fairly well cared for, and also very friendly too,” Smith says.
The human society connected Indie with her original family by scanning her microchip.
“Whenever someone does find a stray cat, we always recommend they take it to a veterinary clinic to be scanned for a chip,” Smith says.
“There’s a lot of ways you can help that animal potentially get a home and find out if they have a family that’s looking for them.”