In an amazing twist of fate, a senior cat that had been missing for 2.5 years was reunited with his family after they saw his pictures on a shelter’s Facebook page.
Jimmy, the adorable 15-year-old tabby, had gone missing in 2015 when a family member had gone to visit friends in nearby High Crest, New Jersey. Jimmy had a habit of sleeping in the family’s parked cars, and they suspect he hitched a ride to High Crest, where he ultimately left the car and got lost.
Two-and-a-half years after Jimmy’s disappearance, a West Milford Animal Shelter volunteer found a senior stray wandering the streets. She brought it into the shelter in hopes of finding it a home.
The rescue wrote a Facebook post about the stray. They then paid to have the post be shown to local people with an interest in animals. In the end, “the post received 26,636 views and 581 shares.”
Four days after finding the stray tabby, the shelter received a message from Susan Zelitsky of Wanaque, New Jersey. She told the workers the stay tabby looked a lot like her old cat Jimmy— but Jimmy had been missing for 2.5 years.
The family talked with the rescue and ultimately decided to go visit the tabby in the shelter. Who knows? It may very well be their beloved cat! The Zelitskies brought a few of Jimmy’s old items— a pillowcase and toy— to see if the shelter kitty would recognize the smell.
When it was finally time for the tabby to meet the Zelitskies, his reaction stunned them all.
“When they opened the crate, I said, ‘Jimmy is that you, bud?’ and he walked over and head-butted me and smooshed his nose into the toy,” Zelitsky told North Jersey. “I immediately started to sob.”
“He started to rub up against us, and when I was rubbing his belly he nipped me, which he always did. He put his head in Dayna’s hands and he started to purr loudly.”
Bob Zelitsky, Susan’s husband and Jimmy’s best friend, approached the tabby. “Her husband immediately said ‘that’s my boy’ and of course everyone was crying very happy tears,” the rescue recalled.
“Jimmy knew his family,” they said. “He got up and gave them head bonks and rolled on his back. Especially as soon as he saw his dad.”
Here he is being reunited with a few other loved ones.
After being separated for nearly 3 years, sweet little Jimmy got to go home with his family that very night.
Susan said, “After 2.5 years, our boy Jimmy has been found. A little frail, a little tired, a little lighter coat, but he’s home and we are over the moon.”
When the Zelitskies youngest daughter came home to discover her beloved cat was back, she was overwhelmed with emotions. “[Jimmy] immediately rolled over for belly rubs, and she cried and cried,” Susan told Love Meow.
“Life is great for all of us.”
Hear the family’s incredible story below!
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