In December 2014, Glenn Stupar visited the Edmonton Humane Society in search of a cat. He found a 14-month-old calico named Stardust, which he brought home as a Christmas gift for his daughter, Keisha. Stardust was soon renamed Sophie and quickly became a beloved member of the family, though she was known for being spunky and independent.
One morning, however, Sophie went missing.
“I’d always shower, and then she’d be there, meowing at me like ‘It’s breakfast time,’” Stupar recalled. “But that morning, she wasn’t. When I saw the window screen, I realized what had happened.”
Sophie had managed to slip out of a window in the family’s seventh-floor Spruce Grove apartment and find her way safely to the ground. Despite a frantic search, Sophie was nowhere to be found. A month later, Stupar thought he spotted her running across a street, but after that, he assumed she was gone for good.
However, Sophie had other plans.
Seven years later, Sophie and her family were reunited just before Christmas. At least a year and a half of those years had been spent outdoors. The timing of the reunion was almost miraculous.
“I was determined to get her home before Christmas; it’s going to be a Christmas miracle,” said Jess Hood, a volunteer with Community Cats Edmonton. “And it literally is.”
For the seven years after her escape, Sophie’s whereabouts remained a mystery. She was eventually found living in a hole in a concrete wall between a car wash and a liquor store in Spruce Grove, roughly four kilometers from the Stupar apartment building. People in the area had started feeding her, and she became well-known around the loading dock of the nearby Sobeys grocery store. A senior couple, Bob and Maureen Baynes, began feeding her daily for over a year and affectionately called her Flossy.
“They went every day at noon to feed her,” Hood said. “They’d call for her, watch her eat, and just hang out with her. They almost considered her their cat, calling themselves her grandparents.”
In May, a woman who had adopted from Community Cats noticed Sophie and began feeding her as well. After a few months, she reached out to the rescue group, asking if they could help. Hood started visiting the site regularly to check on Sophie.
By fall, Community Cats had arranged a foster home for Sophie, but capturing her proved to be difficult. Hood went almost every day to try and coax her into a trap. She even put up a sign asking people not to feed her, as irregular feeding interfered with the rescue process.
“She was scared of everything,” said Hood. “Any noise or movement would send her running back into the hole.”
Sophie even managed to escape from a trap, a rare feat. “I had to really gain her trust,” Hood explained. After hours of sitting patiently and waiting, Hood finally succeeded in petting Sophie. On December 15, she was able to catch her.
After bringing Sophie home, Hood placed her in a dog kennel, expecting only a short stay before she moved to her foster placement. While cleaning her up, she noticed something surprising — Sophie had a microchip.
Stupar was contacted by a Community Cats volunteer just before Christmas.
“She asked if I ever had a cat named Stardust. It took me a second to remember,” he said. “They told me the whole story of where she had been and how long it took to catch her. It took three months.”
To Stupar’s surprise, Sophie had a microchip. At 10 years old, Sophie had a vet check-up, and remarkably, she was in good health. On December 23, Sophie was brought to Stupar’s home to be reunited with her family.
“It was just so special,” Hood said. “She was a Christmas present. Bringing her home for Christmas seven years later was just so full circle.”
Sophie will now live with Keisha, who has since moved out and gotten engaged. Stupar, who had purchased another cat a few months after Sophie went missing, is overjoyed at the reunion.
While they may never know for sure if Sophie remembers them, the Stupar family has already noticed a change. Sophie, once independent and spunky, is now much more cuddly and affectionate.
Keisha, who now has the rare opportunity to reconnect with her childhood pet as an adult, is ecstatic.
“She’s the ultimate re-gift, right?” Stupar laughed.
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