Pet Owners Reunite With Missing Cat 12 Years Later Who Wandered More Than 200 Miles

By Inside Edition Staff

First Published: 10:18 AM PDT, October 12, 2023

As luck would have it, Butters the cat wandered into the yard of an animal services officer who immediately scanned him for a microchip.

Butters the cat slipped away from his home in San Diego, California, in 2011 and never returned. But 12 years later, Butters returned to his owners in a reunion no one saw coming.

Angelo and Shelley Castellino searched in hopes to find their furry family member but eventually gave up.

“We had a dog door and Butters was the first one to figure out how to go in and out,” Angelo says.

After over a decade since his disappearance, Butters' owners received a call that their beloved cat was alive and well more than 200 miles away.

“The gentleman said, ‘I have your cat Butters,’ and Angelo was like, ‘really Butters,” Shelley says.

Butters had been found in the desert town of Blythe, California. He had wandered into the yard of an animal services officer who immediately scanned him for a microchip.

“Luckily, that owner even, 10, 12, years later had updated information” Riverside Co. Animal Shelter animal services supervisor, Alison Chavez, says.

Angelo and Shelley now live in Seattle, so Animal Services volunteered to fly the feline all the way to his new home.

Pet Owners Reunite With Missing Cat 12 Years Later Who Wandered More Than 200 Miles