Every so often we hear about cats who have returned home after being lost far from their home. Scientists typically discount such stories saying that it’s probably just a stray that looks like the cat the people had lost. If you’re a cat owner, you know your cat. That explanation doesn’t hold water.
In the case of Holly, a four-year-old tortoise shell, there was no question that this is the same cat that Jacob and Bonnie Richter had lost 200 miles away. Holly has distinctive features and she also has a microchip implanted that proved the emaciated cat actually found its way home from Daytona Beach to West Palm Beach.
Science has very little knowledge about the navigation system that cats use to find their home. “I really believe these stories, but they’re just hard to explain,” said Marc Bekoff, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Colorado. “Maybe being street-smart, maybe reading animal cues, maybe being able to read cars, maybe being a good hunter. I have no data for this.”
Or maybe cats have a psychic ability – remote viewing or clairvoyance. They can not only see a distant place and its location, but can find their way there. The Richters were camping in their RV near the Daytona Speedway along with 3,000 other RVs when something frightened Holly and she bolted away.
The Richters searched and searched for the cat, notified animal organizations and before leaving literally begged others to return the cat if they found it. Holly made it all the way to West Palm, and was just a mile from home when she staggered into the backyard of Barb Mazzola’s house on New Year’s Eve. She nursed the cat for six days and took it to a vet who found the imbedded chip and contacted the Richters. The name of the helpful vet–Dr. Beg.
Here’s the whole story.
I love these stories, and Math your story is remarkable!!
I strongly encourage everyone to have a microchip in their animal companions. They aren’t expensive, and they save much heartache. Many years ago, one of my blue Great Dane males, “Shadow”, wandered off our property, and we never saw him again. Microchips weren’t available then. No doubt someone kept him. Ae was AKC and gorgeous, the rare “blue” Dane. We advertised in papers, put his picture everywhere for miles. But someone snagged and kept him. In that case, a microchip wouldn’t have helped. But I belive most folks are honest and would have a stray checked. The first thing I did when I brought Storm home in early December was to have her microchipped. And, she won’t be “loose” anytime, ever. Her domain is our privacy fenced backyard. Beyond that, she’s on her leash. We’ll take her to dog parks when she’s a bit older to get her socialized and also to all0w her to “smell the scent” of where home is, just in case. Remember the ancient movie LASSIE COME HOME? Great example of an animal’s instincts for returning to their beloved homes. LOVE THE CAT STORY! Beautiful story, wonderful ending!
This comment somehow ended up in spam, math. Sorry!
Always like these sort of cat (and dog) stories of how they find their way home or to their rightful family – sometimes even after several years.
Yesterday Karin came across photos of cats we had 20 years ago, somehow we had ‘lost’ these years ago and we never knew what had happened to them. So now we have photos again of Bonzo our favourite ever cat – can’t wait to show my son.
I love this story! I call myself the cat Mom of the planet. Cats are awesome.
Cat Mom! Love it.
I saw this story on the news last night. The ability of animals to find their way home is mind-bending. When we were preparing to re-locate to FL from GA, all three of our sons each had a dog. Middle son had a German Shepherd mix that had adopted HIM, not the other way around. Nacoma was a stray that attched himself to our son and stayed. We lived in the country outside Atlanta, in an unpopulated area. Found homes for each dog a few weeks prior to leaving. Nacoma was placed with a family friend who lived eleven miles from our house. He put the dog inside his fenced back yard. By the time hubby got home with the boys, Nacoma was sitting on our porch!! They took Nacoma back, and the friend tied him inside a screened porch. The next morning, Nacoma appeared yet again. The friend called to say he had chewed loose and had torn the screen down to get out. This happened three times, so we finally decided if the dog needed to be with our son that badly, we would bring him with us, which we did. The dog had never been to that friend’s house, and eleven miles is a long way, especially across the countryside. But that dog found his way back to our son repeatedly. Amazing radar these animals have!
Great story, math!
What an inspiring story! I am so glad to hear that it had such a happy ending. It is definitely a cat with distinct markings. Good for the owners for implanting the chip!
Stories with happy endings make my day!