No-no the cat was returned to his family after more than three years being missing. (submitted/Laura Brethour)

By Spencer Sterritt

purrfect ending

Nanaimo family reunited with their cat 3 1/2 years after going missing

Jan 29, 2021 | 5:17 PM

NANAIMO — A beloved cat has made it back to his fur-ever home after being missing for years.

“I was elated to hear the news but definitely shocked as well,” owner Laura Brethour said. “No-no had been gone for 1,258 days!”

No-no, now around 15-years-old, was brought into the Nanaimo SPCA by a staff member at the Living Forest Oceanside Campground and RV Park near Chase River. They’d found the cat skinny and living rough as a stray before it warmed to the people at the campground. SPCA staff traced the cat’s tattoo and called Brethour.

She said their six-year-old son was ecstatic to have his cat back, even though he didn’t really remember it since he was two when No-no disappeared.

“He was quite little but he definitely missed No-no. He always used to say ‘No-no come home’ and stuff like that. No-no was his little buddy. Now, he loves that No-no is back sleeping in his bed.”

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No-no’s in relatively good condition after three-and-a-half years presumably living in the woods in Nanaimo the entire time.

“He’s a little stiff because he’s an older cat. He’s skinny and scraggly and he doesn’t have his beautiful mane anymore, but he seems happy and excited to lay on someones lap or their bed.”

The family got another senior cat after No-no’s mysterious exit from their lives. No-no will be introduced to his new senior brother Mornimer over the weekend after receiving a clean bill of health from the vet.

Brethour said No-no was an outdoor cat but there’s no way he could have wandered off by himself from their north Nanaimo home all the way to south Nanaimo.

Leon Davis, executive director of the Nanaimo SPCA, said this is one of the longest times between going missing and being found he’s seen in his time at the shelter. Cats are often found and returned within six months to one year.

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spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt