Woman’s missing cat found 10 years later, more than 1,000 miles from home

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) - A Kansas cat owner got quite a shock when she received an email about her missing cat, which had been gone for 10 years. Even more surprising - it was found in North Carolina.

Carol Holmes spent Aug. 19 thinking of her father, Bob. That day would have been his 94th birthday - and that day she got an email about another Bob she was missing, KWCH reports.

“It was surreal. It really was. I was just so stunned,” Holmes said.

“Bob” is also the name of Holmes’ missing cat. She’d named it after her beloved father. Bob the cat disappeared from Wichita 10 years ago. Now, he’s resurfaced in North Carolina, and Holmes has no idea how he ended up there.

“I wish that Bob could talk and tell us the story of what happened during these 10 years,” she said.

Someone in Fuquay-Verina, North Carolina, found Bob, took him to a local veterinarian and had him scanned. That’s when Holmes was notified - 1,200 miles away in Wichita.

“It’s very unusual to find a cat after they’ve been gone nearly a decade,” Holmes said.

She said she’s thrilled Bob has been found, and she’s working with a volunteer group called Imagine Home to get him back to Kansas because, of course, there is no place like home. She said the group told her Bob could be back as soon as Sept. 1.

Holmes needs to raise the funds to have him fully vetted and get an inter-state travel certificate. She has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for his return.