Unfortunately during one trip, Ashes had accidentally slipped out of the truck as they were passing through Springfield, Ohio. The cat was spooked by unfamiliar surroundings and ran off into the bushes. Matthew was devastated and searched frantically but eventually gave up and returned back onto the road.
He kept looking for her over the course of two months and tried his best to rearranged his routes so that he could return to the last spot in Ohio where Ashes was last seen. He kept returning in hopes that one day he would find Ashes. Unfortunately, the cat was nowhere to be found.
When Matthew probably thought that he would never see his cat again, a stranger changed their fate. Thankfully, a passerby named Kimberly spotted Ashes in 13-degree weather months later in the same spot she went missing. “He was trying to not put his feet down on the ground, it was so cold,” Kimberly said.
The woman rescued Ashes to her car and brought him to the animal rescue organization called Lollypop Farm. Luckily, Ashes had a microchip, so Lollipop Farm was able to return Ashes to Matthew after they scanned her microchip. The employees were shocked when they found out that Ashes was 1,465 miles from home.
“Our Admissions Team immediately scanned for a microchip, as they do with all incoming pets. Not only did he have one, but he had an owner who had registered him under a Texas address that was over 1,465 miles away! This was one cross-country kitty,” said the organization.
Matthew was relieved to find out that his beloved feline was safe and sound. He immediately planned to meet him and rearranged his driving schedule and drove to New York. He burst into tears as he hugged Ashes.
Ashes immediately recognized his human dad and reciprocated with affectionate head-butts and cuddling. “Ashes knew him, and was immediately affectionate,” the shelter said.
During the reunion, he held Ashes tightly in a warm embrace and called it his “Christmas miracle”. Mathew said, “It’s my Christmas miracle. It’s that microchip – without it, I wouldn’t have ever gotten him back. The women that found him saved his life, but the microchip brought him home.”
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More info: lollypop.org | Facebook
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