Harley was reunited with his petmom recently after 2 years, when he was found 12 miles from home by a woman who won his trust, got him into a carrier and took him to the vet, where a microchip scan identified him and helped him to get back home.
Melissa Pennington adopted Harley in 2007 and she never expected to see him again after he disappeared in November 2013 and did not return. She thought he must have died because he had chronic kidney problems, but he somehow beat the odds and survived.
Melissa spoke with Herald-Mail Media for a story on Harley’s unexpected homecoming, telling them that Harley had been an indoor cat but he liked to sit on the porch. He snuck out of the house on that day in 2013 when he disappeared.
Melissa searched for Harley for 6 weeks before giving him up for dead. He had nearly succumbed to kidney disease twice before, so she figured he had finally lost his life to his condition.
“I had no idea he was out there prowling and surviving on his own,”she told the Herald-Mail.
This past Labor Day, Trisha Bair noticed a black and white cat she described as being “skin and bones” hanging around her home. After feeding home for a week, Trisha was able to get him into a carrier and take him to her vet’s, Mid-Atlntic Veterinary Hospital, where he was scanned for a microchip. Trisha was pretty sure he had once been someone’s pet and was not feral.
“He was just so sweet. I knew he had to have a home somewhere. I would want someone to do the same for my animals,” Trisha said.
Trisha said when she spoke to Harley by name after learning it, his eyes “got big, and he perked up.”
Melissa got the call telling her that Harley had been found on September 17. She was at the vet 10 minuted later, eager to bring her boy back home.
Harley will not be given the opportunity to get outside again. He is settling back in to life at home but Melissa says he is more independent that before.
“He was always a good cat. We’ll get him back to where he was before,” she said.
Watch the Herald-Mail video report on Harley’s homecoming:
