‘Unspeakable joy’: Lost B.C. cat reunied with owner after six years

There were plenty of tears, the good kind, on Thursday as B.C. cat owner Chelsea Turner basked in waves of “unspeakable joy.”

That’s because she was reunited with her lost companion, Buddha, an astonishing six years after her furry feline friend disappeared.

“Seeing him now and being with him now is surreal. It’s absolutely surreal,” she told Global News.

“This guy has got to have way more than nine. He has lived at least 1,000 lives. What is it, Buddha is reincarnated forever?”

Turner now lives in Victoria, but the story started when she lived in Kelowna’s Rutland neighbourhood.

“I remember the last time I saw him he was sitting on the front lawn, it was a beautiful day, and I stopped the car because I was on the way to work and I was like, oh, I should put him inside, and I thought, no, its a beautiful day, he loved to lay in the petuias and I said I’ll let him sit in the sun and I will put him in later,” she said.

“And that was the last time I saw him, so I had an unbelievable amount of guilt that I didn’t put him away when I had the chance.”

Turner mounted a big search for Buddha, including following up on a tip that someone in the neighbourhood was grabbing cats and dumping them in the Black Mountain area, but came up empty-handed and eventually believed he was gone for good.

Fast forward six years to May 12, when Romany Runnalls, president of the Okanagan Humane Society, got a call about a cat that appeared to be in distress in — you guessed it — the Black Mountain area.

“He had a lot of fur loss on his hind end, scratches and really skinny, so we were really concerned about his welfare,” Runnalls said.

They were able to scoop the cat up and take him to the vet, where he was treated for overall welfare and nutrition, worms and vaccines, and a painful mouth injury.

They also discovered a faded ear tattoo that showed he was 13 years old.

“When we find an animal that has been previously fixed, looks like it has been owned by somebody, we put it up on our social media and share it around to the different lost-and-found pages,” she said. “You never know.”

As it turns out, Buddha’s distinctive good looks delivered exactly the response the humane society was hoping for.

“Somebody saw this cat and recognized the blaze across its face and the scar on its nose, and the next morning, when I woke up at 6. a.m., I had all these texts,” Runnalls said.

“The minute I saw the notification from my old friend (asking if this was Buddha) I was in a bar, I was at a drag show for one of my friends, and I cried in the bar and ran around in circles,” said Turner.

On Thursday, Turner returned to Kelowna, where she and Buddha were reunited.

The experience left her feeling a rush of mixed emotions.

“A lot of sad there because I missed a lot of his life, but overwhelming joy, unspeakable joy,” she said.

Judging by the purrs, the cuddles and the friendly headbutts, the feeling was mutual.

The experience was moving for Runnalls, too.

“Animals are part of our family, and to be missing that animal for six years and coming to all of your conclusions about what might have happened to it and trying to live with that, to then find out the animal is alive and well is just mind-blowing, it’s so exciting,” she said.

Turner and Buddha are now heading back to Victoria, where there will be another reunion.

“The only thing sweeter is knowing his best friend, my dog, is going to get to see him,” Turner said.

“I am so thankful, I am so happy, the joy I feel is insurmountable. I always said when he first went missing, he wasn’t supposed to go alone anywhere else except with me, an old man in my arms. And now knowing I get to give him the life he deserves and the end he deserves is phenomenal.”

The case is also an important reminder to pet owners to ensure their animals are tattooed or microchipped, with their contact information up to date.