The cat came back — to a Calgary neighbourhood 2 years later
Jade Markus | CBC News | Posted: September 6, 2022 12:00 PM | Last Updated: September 6, 2022
Epsy the cat went missing in 2020 but is now reunited with her owner
Calgarian Wendy Syvret was scrolling her Facebook feed last week when she saw a familiar sight — the furry face of her missing cat, Epsy.
"I thought, 'Boy, that cat looks like Epsy,' you know? What are the chances? She's been gone two years," Syvret told the Calgary Eyeopener.
She said in September 2020 Epsy escaped her backyard in northeast Calgary through a small gap in the fence. Syvret sent a missing cat alert to YYC Pet Recovery, but nothing came of it.
Two years later she came across a post on that same Facebook page.
"It really looked like her and I sent it to my kids … and then I phoned the vet clinic where the absolute angels that picked her up took her," Syvret said. Epsy was found just a few blocks away from where Syvret lives.
"I had her record still, so I read off her chip number and they confirmed it with her chip."
Epsy was in rough condition, with thick matted fur which needed to be shaved, Syvret said. But she credits the goodwill of Calgarians in the area, who she believes kept the cat fed.
The cat has little rounded ears now from frostbite, but Syvret said the vet told her Epsy's organs are working fine.
"She was just amazed at the shape she's in. That she's been outside for two years and yet is in such good shape."
'Knows she's home'
Despite all that Epsy had been through over the years, she remembered her owner.
"Right away she kind of leaned on me when she was rubbing on my purse and then when I got her home … she knew exactly where she was, and she's been coming to me and she has a little trill that she does when I call her," Syvret said.
"She definitely knows she's home."
Sheila Nixon, YYC Pet Recovery Facebook page administrator, said stories like Epsy's are the reason why she and the other admins volunteer their time to keep the page going.
"Stories like this are — when they're gone longer — quite rare. So when one comes, the whole team is very excited and we share the news, and the happy story and pictures of the reunion," Nixon said.
"But we're really happy for any reunion, whether a pet is missing for two hours or two years, we're happy. We're very happy when they're reunited because they really become part of our lives."
Nixon said last year YYC Pet Recovery reunited more than 2,000 lost pets with their owners, though that figure does not include animals that were reunited with their owners the same day they were posted to the page.
Nixon warned Calgarians who may see a cat out and about to not assume it is feral, or doesn't have a home.
"It may well be that it is lost and doesn't know how to get home. Epsy is a perfect example of that."