France: a cat reunites with its family eleven years after running away

Garfield was just a little kitten when he decided to explore the world. Aged around 1 year, he ran away from his adoptive family's home in 2014 to wander the streets of Saint-Denis-lès-Bourg, in Ain. “We looked for him, but we never saw him again,” Maryline tells France 3 after finding her cat.

And yet, “the cat lived only 2 kilometers from his home all these years” report our colleagues from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. For more than ten years, the feline got used to living without a roof over its head, being fed by local residents. But none of them seemed to ask questions and take the stray animal to a veterinarian to identify it.

It was only eleven years after his escapade that the animal protection association Le clan fél'Ain collected the animal. Following the usual protocol, she discovered that Garfield carried a microchip allowing him to find his family. What was the surprise of Maryline and her children when they were called by the association a few days ago!

“We managed to catch him and hold him. But it's paradoxical. It's not the same cat at all. We had a young kitten, when he ran away, he must have been 1 year old and we found an adult cat,” Maryline testified to France 3.

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Blueberry Wendling is a journalist in the digital editorial team. After a bachelor's degree in Sociology at the University of Paris, she obtained her master's degree at the Academy of Media and Journalism at the University of Neuchâtel. She has worked for La Région, Le Temps, Watson and L'Illustré.More info

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