A few years ago my mom’s cat, Zoey, went missing. This was a few months after one of her kittens, Petunia, went missing and never came back.

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Enter Zoey

My mom lives in a small town in rural Saskatchewan where pets don’t necessarily have the same value as they do in most other places. According to them, they are just animals not pets. And in the case of roaming cats, a nuisance. My mom is polar opposite, loving all her animals unconditionally.

Zoey came to my mom as a tiny kitten. My cousin found her abandoned by her mother in a barn. And she was too small to make it on her own as it was winter in Saskatchewan. The bitter cold ensured that she would not end up surviving for very long.

My mom has always loved her animals, instilling her love for them in both myself and my daughter. She had just recently lost her beloved cat Chubby, who had travelled with her from Ontario back to Saskatchewan. That is a separate story in and of itself. She was heartbroken, and swore she would never have another animal again as it hurt too much when they inevitably passed over to the rainbow bridge.

When Zoey showed up, my mom was very skeptical of keeping her. She had just recently lost Chubby, but still had my cat growing up, Carmichael. But my mom has a huge heart and decided to keep little Zoey instead of abandoning her to an undecided fate.

Crazy Little Kitten!

That crazy little kitten Zoey soon won over my mom though. She was a WILD kitten, the wildest my mom had ever seen which is quite the feat given the number of animals she has had over the years! She tore through the house creating chaos in her wake, scaled the curtains and caused disaster after disaster! I met her when she was still tiny, and she had so much personality and will to live that you could not help but fall in love with her!

She eventually outgrew the craziness and became my mom’s most loyal companion, particularly as Carmy went to join his buddy Chubby at the rainbow bridge during that time. She is my mom’s cat through and through. Zoey is dependable and always there when my mom needs her. They have an undeniable connection which is endearing to watch.

The Usual Routine

Being an indoor/outdoor cat, she usually sticks relatively close to home and shows back up at night for her supper and cuddles. One night in September, she did not come back.

Zoey Goes Missing

No sight of her the next day. Or the day after that. My mom was panicked.

We all know the dangers of letting a cat outside and that they can have much shorter lifespans than cats that remain exclusively indoors. But my mom believes that cats should be allowed to experience the outdoors. Her mind went all sorts of places. Was she hit by a car? Did coyotes get her? Or maybe even a bear?

Night after night passed. No Zoey. There were many tears shed. Many sleepless nights waiting to hear her at the door. Many days calling and searching the town and yards. Bending down to check culverts. Petunia had gone missing just a few months earlier, so everyone feared the worst.

A True Miracle

It was now December. Everyone had given up hope. Zoey was gone. Hopefully she had passed quickly and painlessly or was living comfortably with a new family. It was getting bitterly cold. And my mom was still grieving her and her little black and white face with the crooked pattern.

My phone rang one night when I was out at a client dinner close to Christmas. My mom was in tears, hysterical, I could barely understand her. After over THREE months, Zoey had shown back up at home! She was HOME! No one could believe it!

Back Home

Somehow that little cat found her way back to my mom! Her partner pulled into the driveway from work and did not even recognize her she was so beat up. He thought it was a stray and let it into the house. As soon as my mom saw her she KNEW!

Zoey jumped right up into my mom’s arms with what seemed to be some of her last bit of strength. She was so skinny at that point, starving, and had a deep gash across her nose. My mom said it looked like she would not have survived much longer on her own.

Unconditional Love and An Unbreakable Bond

We think that someone trapped her and drove her out to the country and dumped her to fend for herself. It is a miracle that she made her way back home! I believe that the bond between my mom and Zoey is what gave her the will to make her way back. And who even knows what she had to endure to get back! It is rural, and there are coyotes, bears, wolves. Saskatchewan in the winter is serious business, food would have been scarce.

That cat was showered in love. A vet visit showed she was ok. She was home! I cannot imagine the will it took her to get back. The loyalty and determination that shows the strength of the bond that we have with our pets. The unconditional love that they have for us. We will never know how she did it and what she had to endure.

She has developed a few quirks after her adventure that remain to this day. She will steal food and begs. But she tends to stick relatively close to home these days and is now starting to get on in her years. She is loved. She is safe.

There have been many stories of cats and dogs finding their way back to their owners across long distances. And now we have experienced this for ourselves. The bonds that we build with our animals is truly incredible. And all they ask from us is to love them back.

The post The Importance Of The Bond We Build With Our Pets first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.