Shadow, a 3-year-old short-haired cat, is a member of Jack and Mary Lou Kimberley's family. The couple got her as a kitten in 2017. In early August, their little family was put to the test when Shadow went missing.
"I let her out at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning, watched her meander around the site here and she didn’t come back," said Jack.
According to the Kimberleys, Shadow will usually return for breakfast, but she never did. The couple spends summers at a campsite on Martha's Vineyard and Shadow had never gone missing before.
Jack and Mary Lou were quick to make "missing" fliers with Shadow's face on it. They alerted animal control, but seven weeks later and Shadow was nowhere to be found.
“It was just extremely hard not to have her," said Mary Lou.
"It was painful. It was painful," added Jack.
Just as the Kimberleys were losing hope, Shadow was finding hope. More than 150 miles away, in Ellington, Connecticut.
"We knew she had to belong to somebody," said Kristen Dyment.
Dyment found Shadow near her home in Ellington. She noticed that the cat looked extremely skinny and decided to take Shadow inside of her home to care for her.
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Dyment and her family called around to local rescue agencies, trying to find Shadow's owner. Eventually, she was able to make an appointment at Fenton River Veterinary Hospital to check the cat for a microchip.
Shadow was taken to the vet on Friday. The vet determined that she had a microchip. They scanned it and were able to retrieve her owner's phone numbers.
“The first words out of the young lady's mouth were, 'we have Shadow,'" explained Jack. "I couldn't respond so I handed the phone to Mary Lou."
Mary Lou and Jack got on the first available ferry and reunited with Shadow.
"The family is whole again," said Jack.
"The family is whole again."
Jack Kimberley
"Microchipping works very well. The way it is supposed to," said Bailey Krasinski, a vet tech at the hospital.
"Have it done. The process works," said Jack. "And we are just so grateful."
How Shadow made her way from Martha's Vineyard, an island, to Connecticut is still a mystery. They believe she snuck into a camper that was returning to the Ellington area.
"If cats could talk," said Mary Lou.
Shadow was not injured, but she did lose a lot of weight, about one-third of her body weight. Jack and Mary Lou said that she is adjusting well at home. They are incredibly thankful.
“It is a warm and fuzzy story and it makes you feel good. People do the right thing," said Mary Lou. "And we got our kitty cat back because of it.”
