Cat Reunites with Owner 6 Years After Going Missing Amid Calif. Wildfires: 'He Knows He's Home'

Ozzie the cat was presumed dead after going missing during the 2017 Nuns Fire in Kenwood, California

After six years away from his family, a cat has returned home.

Ozzie, the brown tabby from Sonoma County, California, has found his way back to his Kenwood home thanks to a microchip after disappearing during a wildfire in 2017, per KTVU.

According to The Press Democrat, Ozzie went missing when Duane and her husband Michael evacuated a friend's home due to the approaching Nuns Fire. The couple had fled to the home with their two dogs and four cats after evacuating their own house due to the same wildfire.

When Duane went to evacuate her friend's house, all six of her animals were accounted for, except for Ozzie. When it was safe to return to the area, Duane returned to her friend's neighborhood and searched for Ozzie for months.

"I walked all over and left word with neighbors, but as the months went by, I just resolved myself that there was no way he could be alive. He had only a few teeth and was not a hunter," Duane told The Press Democrat.

Unknown to Duane, Ozzie survived the fire and spent the past six years living independently, not far from his original home. He survived thanks to the kindness of several strangers who regularly fed the cat.

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Eventually, a Good Samaritan, who thought Ozzie might be too friendly for a stray, brought the cat to Forgotten Felines, where he was scanned for a microchip, Pip Marquez de la Plata, the animal rescue's director, told The Press Democrat.

After a scan found a microchip under Ozzie's skin, Forgotten Felines used the information on the chip to locate Duane and call her with the miraculous news that her cat was still alive.

"It's unbelievable," Duane told The Press Democrat. "He's been through a second fire. He's been through rain, freezing cold, any number of elements out there. And he's pretty damn good, and I think he knows he's home."

"You hear about these stories," she added, "and I just couldn't believe it."

At first, Duane thought it was too good to be true.

"I can’t get too excited because I thought he had been found with other people in the past, and it hasn’t been him,” Duane said she told herself after hearing from Forgotten Felines.

But when Duane went to reunite with the cat, it was clear it was her Ozzie.

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He "started purring, and he talked to me the whole way home," Duane said.

Ozzie is now spending his days indoors, getting used to domestic life once again.

"There's a little time that he's going to need to transition," Duane said, "but he's well on his way."

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