Cat Missing For 13 Years Returns Home to Spend Final Days with Family

Back in 2012, Jade Yhnell’s cat, Minx, went missing. One day she was there, the next Minx was gone. Jade had raised Minx from birth, bottle-fed and spoiled like most well-loved cats, and then just before Jade moved from Bristol to Tredegar, the little tabby slipped away.

The family searched for their cat, posted posters, called all vets in the area, and took countless walks around the neighborhood. But nothing turned up. Eventually, life moved on. Jade and her partner settled into a new place and started a family.

Thirteen years later, out of nowhere, Jade received a call.

A veterinary clinic in Fishguard had taken in a scruffy, underweight cat that was found wandering. Although they didn’t expect the cat to be microchipped, they scanned for a chip anyway, as they always do. To everyone’s shock, they found that the cat was, in fact, chipped and that her name is Minx.

Jade says she froze when she heard. Could it really be Minx? After all this time?

She and her husband jumped in the car and drove for over two hours to get there. “I couldn’t stop shaking,” she told reporters. She didn’t know what to expect. Thirteen years is a long time, even in cat years, it’s a lifetime.

But as soon as Jade stepped into the room, Minx walked up to her. She rubbed her face against Jade, purred, and head-butted like she used to. And then she did the same to Jade’s husband. Like no time had passed at all.

Jade and her husband brought Minx home that very day.

Minx had clearly been through a lot. She was thin, and her fur was matted, but she purred constantly. She met Jade’s kids, who hadn’t even been born when she disappeared, and nestled into their laps like she’d always been part of the family. 

“She came back to us for a reason,” Jade said. “I think she wanted to say goodbye properly.”

Unfortunately, it turned out Minx had cancer. Jade didn’t say how long they had with her, but it wasn’t long. For the few weeks they had together, the family made sure Minx had all the comforts in the world. She slept in a warm bed again, had chin scratches, soft food, and little hands petting her head. She purred until the end.

Stories like this are rare, but they aren’t impossible. Cats go missing all the time, and some of them, somehow, find their way back. 

Whether someone took her in or she wandered for years, no one knows what Minx lived through. What’s clear is that she survived, and somehow, she got back to where she was supposed to be.

But if Minx hadn’t been microchipped, there would’ve been no reunion, no last days filled with love. That small chip is the only reason Jade got that phone call. 

It’s easy to forget how important microchipping is, but stories like this drive it home. If your pets aren’t chipped, now is the time to do it. You never think you’ll need it until you do.

It’s hard to believe that this family got their cat back after thirteen years. It’s almost too much to believe. But pets have a funny way of surprising us.

They disappear, and we prepare ourselves for the worst. But sometimes, against the odds, they come back, just in time to remind us how much they were loved.

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