Cats really do have nine lives…
Three years after a pet cat supposedly died in a massive mudslide in January 2018, she was found less than a quarter of a mile away from her home.
Patches, a calico, managed to avoid being swept up by the debris while her owner, Josie Gower, unfortunately perished in the tragedy. 23 people died in the deadly Southern California mudslides.
Her other owner, Norm Borgatello, survived the deadly mudslides. He believed for three years that Patches had died, but then received a call telling him quite the opposite.
The Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP) in Santa Barbara, California, picked up a stray cat and, upon scanning for a microchip, realized she was registered to someone they knew very well.
“It was a shock to discover, upon scanning her microchip, that she was, in fact, the long lost Patches,” ASAP said in a statement on Facebook. “Josie and her partner Norm (who miraculously survived that fateful night) were long-time supporters of ASAP, and when we discovered that Patches’ microchip was registered in Josie’s name, we were able to contact their family and facilitate a reunion no one thought possible.”
“[Borgatello] was overwhelmed when he came to pick her up on New Year’s Eve, as though he’d seen a ghost. And in a way, it was almost like he had,” continued ASAP.
ASAP said it is unclear what Patches had been doing over the past three years since her disappearance but that it was clear both Patches and Borgatello were thrilled to be reunited with each other.