It is the worst nightmare of any pet owner. One moment you are enjoying life with your forever companion, when suddenly you look around and realize that they've vanished. The distress turns into grief as the hours turn into days and you worry that you will never see your little buddy again.
But we should always hold onto hope, and never doubt a furry family member's ability to track you back down. Here are a handful of happy "tails" of pets managing to find their way back home!
Laser The Beagle
When Laser got free off his leash after being spooked by a fireworks display at the family cottage, the LePage's were worried that they would never see him again. When they returned home, they did their best to reach out to people in the area, but to no avail.
But six weeks later, Laser lived up to his name and used his ancestral tracking skills to find his family after travelling 50 miles home. What is even more amazing is that the LePage's had only adopted their pup a month before his amazing journey!
Alfie: Case Of Missing Identity
Sometimes you have to think you have truly lost before you can move on. That's the way it was with Angelo Petrillo when his orange tom cat. Alfie went missing one night and a few days later a cat was found hit by a car in the community.
Petrillo thought for sure it was his own, and even held a burial service for 'Alfie'. Flash forward nine months later when the Petrillo's had moved to a new house, and they receive a phone call from a friend in his old neighborhood. Alfie was back and trying to get into his old home!
There's nothing like getting a friend back after so much time, but it's even more incredible when they come back with a few stories to tell...
Kuzya The Wondercat
You would think it could only be a big, strong dog that could survive the elements of a treacherous country, but sometimes the dainty house cats we know can surprise us! Such is the case with Kuzya, who was on vacation with his family in Eastern Russia when he decided to do some exploring of his own. When it came time for the family to return home, they were heart broken.
That is, until three months later when Kuzya returned home, after travelling 1,300 miles across Siberia. He had a few cuts and scratches, looked a little mangy, but this intrepid kitty truly went the distance.
Moon The Siberian Husky
Huskies are known for their high level of intelligence and loyalty to their owners, but every now and then, one seems to go above and beyond. Moon was a two-year-old Husky that enjoyed camping with her owner, Doug Dashiell, in Northern Nevada. They were out in the back-country, about 80 miles from home, when Moon came off her chain and chased something into the woods.
While this wasn't too unusual (anyone with a Husky knows they love to run around), after a few hours Dashiell began to worry. When he had to return home the next day, he thought that was the last he would ever see of Moon.
He was wrong. She trekked over 80 miles of desert, rivers, and even mountains to find her owner, and she hasn't run off again since!
Thought these were unbelievable? How about these next pets that literally crossed continents to cozy back up onto their owners laps!
Bucky The Black Lab
This is the real-life version of the classic movie Homeward Bound, a true story of love and dedication between dog and owner. When Mark Wessels had to move from Winchester, Virginia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, he was told that his new home was not dog-friendly. He decided to temporarily leave his Labrador Retriever with his father in Winchester.
"I wanted him to be up in Virginia where my dad has all this other property and he would've been happy," said Wessells.
But Bucky wasn't having any of it. The dog soon disappeared from the property and everyone simply assumed he had run away or had been stolen. When a black lab turned up in Myrtle Beach, the local shelter checked his microchip. Sure enough, 500 miles later, Bucky had found his partner.
Where Willow Went
When Chris and Jamie Squires lost their beloved cat, Willow, from their home in Colorado, they tried to hold onto hope as long as they could. They took all the right steps; putting up posters, contacting local animal rescue centers, but after months and months of time had gone by, they accepted that she could just have easily been a victim of a coyote attack.
So it goes without saying that they were astounded when they got a call five years later from Animal Care & Control, in New York City! The story is that a skier found the lost cat and decided to take it home to the Eastern Seaboard, but the Squires didn't mind. They had their Willow back!