Lost pet returns to happy family

My family experienced the most amazing miracle Wednesday night, and I wanted to share it with you.

We lost one of our cats last year in August. All of our cats are declawed. We came home one day to realize a screen was popped out, and we were missing one of our kitties. His name was Olimar.

My son was devastated. I remember leaving work early the next day to hike the fields around our house for hours, calling his name. Every weekend for about a month or two we would walk and hike, calling for him. We searched several shelters ongoing for months to see if we could find him- nothing.

We live where coyotes are very active and see or hear them on a daily basis, so naturally we assumed the worst.

This past Wednesday, Aug. 15, I received a call from one of my neighbors. She asked me if I had all my cats. We now have three, since we rescued one in December. So I counted my kitties. Yup, we have all of them.

Then she proceeds to tell me that one of neighbors found one in the gutter and took it home and gave it to another neighbor since she was allergic to cats. The story goes on that this cat is declawed, front paws only. I told my neighbor that I would just check it out and reminded her that I lost a cat about nine months ago.

At this time I was just putting my daughter down for bed. I got her up, shoes on, grabbed my son and walked down the street. My son believed it could be Olimar. I tried in the best way possible not to get his hopes up and that there really couldn't be a way that this cat is "Ollie."

Well, when we got to this other neighbor's house, I started thinking about Olimar's departure and realized it was exactly a year ago and low and behold- it was him! I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. My son talks about this cat all the time and is still is in mourning over it, and here he has him back. I feel as if a dead person came back to life and now is in my house.

Last night he crawled into my bed, and I can't believe how fortunate we all are for having him back into our lives. A true miracle.

Come to find out, Ollie has been sleeping between a garage down the street and the gutter all this time. Jennifer Harshfield Moorpark