A local house cat that went missing a month ago recently returned home after being found almost 100 kilometres away.
Guelph couple, Emily Rutledge and Crystal Chilvers, were celebrating their second anniversary on May 21 when they noticed one of their pets, a five-year-old black cat named Ruby, was missing.
Checking all of Ruby’s usual hiding spots, the couple started to panic when the playful and adventurous indoor cat didn’t reappear at the shake of the treat bag.
“She disappeared during a massive storm, and she had never been outside,” said Chilvers. “She used to sniff the air a lot by the door, so we think she got spooked when peeking out by the door and took off.”
“It was such a roller coaster of ‘Oh somebody spotted her,’ to not hearing anything for a day and then being devastated thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I heard coyotes last night,” said Rutledge. “It was really heartbreaking the whole time.”
Plastering their Cityview Drive neighbourhood with posters and recruiting their neighbours for help in the following weeks, the couple was investigating tips about a black cat matching Ruby’s description a few blocks over when they received a call from the microchip clinic: Ruby was found in Toronto, approximately 90 kilometres away.
“I’m thinking this is a scam, like how would she get all the way to Toronto?” said Chilvers. “We’ve been joking that she went for Pride.”
Missing for 26 days, a Toronto woman found Ruby outside of her apartment building on Front Street, where she fed her and eventually brought her inside for the night before taking her to the vet the next morning.
Twenty four hours, one micro-chip scan, and a car ride later, Ruby was home.
“We took her to the vet, and the only thing was that she was only five kilograms and she’d lost almost two,” said Rutledge. “So she was quite visibly skinny and had an upset stomach, but other than that, they said she was healthy.”
Since returning home, the couple said Ruby has been “the most affectionate cat in the world,” super vocal and eating way more, although she was “very exhausted” in the first few days.
She’s now afraid of the front door.
But one question remains for the couple: how the heck did Ruby get to Toronto?
Despite their best efforts, Chilvers said they’ll likely never know, although theories range from her hitchhiking on a nearby train boxcar and/or vehicle, or being briefly picked up by a stranger.
It’s possible she even walked to Toronto on her own.
In speaking with the Guelph Humane Society, the couple was informed that missing cats are found in neighbouring cities, although not often in Toronto.
“Our theories depend on who we talk to. They convince us one way or another,” said Chilvers. “We keep asking her and she hasn’t told us what happened.”
However Ruby got to Toronto, the couple’s biggest advice to other cat owners is simple: get your pets micro-chipped as soon as possible.
“Even if Ruby had been found in Toronto, they wouldn’t have known she was ours without the chip,” said Chilvers. “I don’t know how else they would’ve made that connection.”
They’re also thankful to their surrounding community, many of whom helped look for Ruby, “even if they were looking in the wrong places.”
