The cat came back! Northern B.C. feline finds way home after 5 years

Sometimes you find a pet. Sometimes the pet finds you.

ButPrince George resident Lutrecia MacDonell knew from the start they'd foundeach other.

"He came into our yard and lives in 2008," said the North Carolina-born senior. "I was digging up weeds, diggingup rootsand I was missinghomeand I was thinking: Oh God,just give me an angel."

"And then this black cat appeared!"

Seven years later, MacDonell would be hoping for another miracle after Noir simply disappeared into the night and out of her life for what would turn out to be five years.

MacDonell says when she first encountered Noir it was love at first sight.

"He's amazing becausehe starts followingme around and staying where I am and decided he needed to be inmy lap.My husbandsaid no cat.No cat in the house.And the next thing you know we have a cat in the house."

The colour of night, Lutrecia and John MacDonell named the mysterious feline, "Noir."

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His history quicklycame to light. Anearby family had moved and abandoned its cats.Adopting Noir was easy. With a tell-talekink in his tail and "beautiful eyes,"Noir wasthecat's meow.

"He cuddles into your neck and loves to be rocked and he's just like a baby." she gushed.

'I have no idea exactly how this happened''

Fast forward to November 2015 and a situation more thanfamiliar to those with furrycompanions.Noir wascuriously scratchingat the door on a windy, early morning beforedawn.

John lethim out andNoirdisappearedinto the dark.

The family put up postersaround the neighbourhoodand a sign on the front lawn, searched and wandered, called out and held out hope.

Winter turned to springand spring to summer, then fall. Twenty seasons and five yearsflewby.

"I said: 'I'm sure he'sdead.' And my husband said: 'you just don't know that.'"

The catcameback ... with a five yeardelay

In February 2021, MacDonell was searching for another angel.

"I really needed something at that time," she said.

Turning75 years old and stressed by an upcoming trip to Vancouver for surgery, MacDonnell heard the family's phone ring.

"I could not believe the call atall."

The B.C. SPCAhad found a black catwith a tell-tale kink in his tail wandering near the Prince George Airport. Luckily, an ear identification tattoo tracedNoir right back to the MacDonells.

The day after Lutrecia'sbirthday, Noir came home.

"It was a gift," MacDonell said.

Noir wasn't really worse for wear. Hungry but not starving. Those beautiful eyes were still bright, she says. But what he saw and where he went for all that time remains a mystery.

"The SPCA kind of thinks he was just wandering around ... living in barns and maybe families feeding him, but there's no way to know what this cat had done in five years," said MacDonnell.

Lutrecia and John are asking anyone who may have spotted Noir over the years, or helped him, to reach out and fill in the rest of the story.

Now, the little wanderer rarelyleaves Lutrecia's side.

"Does he rememberus or is he just comfortable?" she wonders. "It's hard to know but I'd liketo believe he remembersus."

"I guess he was meant to beours."