i found this through yahoo news this morning




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Just as well he can't say where he's been

By CHRIS SMITH


Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 4:20 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 4:05 p.m.
When the phone rang days ago at Melinda Merman and Frank Walburg's home in Santa Rosa, they'd gone more than 13 years without George.

It was June of 1995 when the sturdy, gray, yellow-eyed, personable young cat went missing. To say Melinda and Frank did everything possible to find him doesn't scratch the surface of their efforts.

"I literally traveled from the Healdsburg animal shelter to the Petaluma animal shelter (and all the shelters in between) every two or three days," Melinda said. She wrote and described George to every veterinarian in the phone book.

Nothing, for 13½ years. Then, the recent call.

It was from Northtown Animal Hospital, which Melinda and Frank have used forever. The news: The manager of a mobile home park down Santa Rosa Avenue last week trapped a sickly, scrawny old cat.

Staffers at the county animal shelter scanned him for a microchip, found one and traced it to Northtown, whose staff traced it to Frank and Melinda.

They rushed to George and cried every sort of tear. He'd weighed more than 14 pounds the last time they saw him, now he's barely 6. Frank said they're not sure if George will survive.

But he's back at his family's home off Steele Lane and he's eating pretty well. Frank said that on Monday George jumped at a flicker of light on the wall, like he used to.