A Calgary woman is celebrating after an incredible reunion with her long-lost cat.
Wendy Syvret is grateful for what she calls ‘the angels’ that helped her little feline friend Epsy survive against all odds.
“She used to come outside, likes to lie around on the deck” Syvret said. “And then one day, she got out through a gap in the fence and she disappeared.”
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That was back in September 2020. Epsy’s disappearance sparked a search through Syvret’s neighbourhood and online.
But it was a search that turned up nothing.
“We all figured that she was gone,” Syvret said.
But then on Friday, Sept 2, 2022, Syvret noticed a promising post on the YYC Pet Recovery Facebook page — someone had found a cat that looked like Epsy.
“I saw that and I thought, there’s no way,” Syvret said. “She’s been gone two years, there’s no way this is my cat.”
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But a veterinarian’s reading of the microchip planted in the found cat brought great news –it was Epsy.
“Someone picked her up and took her to the vet — they couldn’t even touch her, she was in so much pain from the matting of her fur,” Syvret said. “She’s lost the tips of her ears to frostbite, and they ended up sedating her so they could shave her. And then they did the blood work and they said she’s in amazing shape for being outside for two years.”
It was a memorable moment for the online organization that helped Syvret and Epsy get back together.
“Usually pets and their owners are reunited in a day, a month, or two or three months — 715 days is incredible!” YYC Pet Recovery’s Sheila Nixon said. “Plus this cat was a special needs cat.”
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Epsy has limited movement, due to a condition she may have been born with.
“The vet figures she’s got a vision issue, with depth perception,” Syvret said. “She can’t jump — she can’t jump over the fence, she can’t even jump onto the table,”
Still, Epsy was strong enough to survive two years outside before being found pretty close to home.
“She was, like, seven blocks away, but she just couldn’t find her way back here,” Syvret said. “Some angels have been feeding her and they’ve been giving her some kind of shelter. Her feet and everything seem to be good and she’s happy. I wonder how many lives she’s used up in the last two years.”
Syvret says she’ll be fixing the gate in her yard from which Epsy escaped, taking steps to try to make sure Epsy stays where she belongs.
“She’s a little miracle cat.”