When a fur parent loses sight of their fur baby, it breaks their world.
Then they find their babies after a few minutes or a few hours. All is right with the world again.
What do you do when your fur baby goes missing for years?
Do you give up after some time or do you keep searching? What do you do?
Jessie Springer lived in Farmington, New Mexico with her then-nine-year-old dog, Nugget. He went missing one day and, despite all her efforts, Jessie could not find Nugget.
That’s why she was so shocked to get the text that Nugget has been found.
Yes, Nugget was found by Jennifer near her home in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Say what? Oh, and Jessie got the text seven years later.
You read that right.
Nugget went missing in 2015 and he was found more than 1,700 miles in another state in 2023.
“When Jen texted me, I was like, wait, what?” Jessie Springer told WYFF4. “This dog never left my side, so I thought he had like walked off to die because he was already old.”
Well, Nugget was still alive, but he was just another state.
Nobody knows for sure how Nugget got to South Carolina. The staff from Carolina Loving Hounds Rescue (CLHR), who is assisting Jen and Jessie with the reunion, speculated that Nugget may have been picked up by a traveler.
They took in Nugget as a pet and didn’t have him checked for a microchip.
That’s one of the things Jessie is grateful for when she had Nugget microchipped.
Nugget’s microchip helped get Nugget back to Jessie after all these years. How was Nugget found though?
Jennifer was the one who found Nugget. She was sitting on her porch on a rainy evening when she saw a limping Nugget down the road.
Her first thought was to get this dog to the emergency vet to get evaluated and checked for a microchip.
They did find a microchip with Jessie’s information.
Jennifer texted Jessie, who was shocked and happy with the news.
CLHR helped make the reunion happen.
“We have reunited animals that have been gone for a week or a month, but typically within a 100-mile radius, but nothing like this,” Angela Gschwind with CLHR said. “A lot of times people find dogs on the side of the road while they’re on vacation and take the dogs out of town and out of state, and don’t get them checked for a chip. Nine times out of 10 they’re within walking distance from their homes.”
They paid for Jessie’s flight to pick up Nugget and bring him back to New Mexico.
When Jessie arrived at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina, she was met with a welcome party, which included Nugget. She rushed over to give him lots of hugs and kisses.
Nugget was already 16 years old at this time and was a bit confused at first during the reunion. Eventually, he knew this was his momma and he was going home.
Watch the wonderful reunion between mom and furbaby in the video below.
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