Missing for three weeks, Northern Colorado family finds cat 170 miles away in Colorado Springs
A family in Wellington, a town just north of Fort Collins, is cuddling their family cat a little closer after it somehow ended up more than 170 miles away from home. Amber Harris said her cat, Nimsey, somehow survived a three-week 170-mile journey before being saved by the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.
Harris said Nimsey, a 3-year-old cat they adopted, went missing three weeks ago from their Wellington home. Their son mistakenly left the door open to their home and the cat was able to slip out.
"We canvased the neighborhood, blasted her all over social media," Harris told CBS News Colorado's Dillon Thomas. "(We heard) nothing, no signs anywhere of her. So, we were like, 'she's gone.'"
The family reported Nimsey as missing to the Larimer Humane Society and had even left her litterbox outside in hope of bringing her back. However, with I-25 and busy frontage roads near their home, and the threat of hawks and owls in the area, Harris said she feared her cat was gone forever.
Then, while at work one day, Harris answered a phone call from a number she didn't have saved. The phone call was from the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region in Colorado Springs. The woman who called was letting Harris know that Nimsey was found alive in Colorado Springs and needed to be picked up.
"My coworkers said my face went red. I was like, 'what?'" Harris recalled.
The woman on the phone asked Harris if she could pick the cat up that night.
"I asked her if this was in Loveland or Fort Collins. And she said, 'oh no, this is the Humane Society in Colorado Springs,'" Harris said.
An arrangement was made to pick Nimsey up from Colorado Springs the next day. Harris's husband and her son went to pick up Nimsey and brought her home. However, nobody knows how Nimsey got all the way to Fountain, a town south of Colorado Springs.
"We have no idea how she made it down there," Harris said.
One theory is that Nimsey may have made her way into the car of a friend of a neighbor who lives in Colorado Springs and had recently visited. Harris said she couldn't envision Nimsey walking all the way to Fountain without being hit by a car, attacked or claimed by someone else.
Luckily, Nimsey had a microchip that allowed the humane society to easily find an address and phone number for the Harris family.
"This story is the perfect example of the importance of microchipping animals, and why it is so important and the best solution for us to return your pet to you," said Cody Costra, spokesperson for the humane society.
Costra said it is also important to always have your vet update your pet's microchip if you ever move or switch phone numbers.
"She was purring immediately when I picked her up," Harris said.
The family said they can tell Nimsey is as happy to be home as they are to have her back.
"She's back to stealing mini muffins and killing spiders. It is definitely a lot more homey with her back," Harris said. "She is just a really great companion to have around."
