By Jill Gooch

Willie (aka Sandy) is one lucky cat!  He was originally adopted from our shelter years ago and somehow ended up at Gwinnett Animal Control.  His microchip led them back to us.  Being a no-kill shelter we always take” our own” animals back, so a volunteer claimed Willie and brought him to the adoption center.

Willie tested positive for FIV (which we later learned was due to being vaccinated at a kitten) so he was not able to go into a room at the adoption center.  After a short stay in a dog building room, I took Willie home to foster since I could keep him separate from the other foster cats. He is an incredibly loving cat who loves to give head butts and sit in laps.

Willie was with me for 3 months when one day the shelter got this email from his true owners:  The short story is Heather and I went to Hawaii about a year ago and left our cat with our neighbors. Shortly thereafter they moved and their number was disconnected and we lost contact with them. By a sheer fluke of the universe someone we know stumbled upon his ad and sent it to us about an hour ago. We're pretty sure this is our Willie (i.e. sandy).  He is sorely missed, and it is an atrocity that he ended up there, considering the people taking care of him had 9 different ways to contact us.

When Aaron and Heather contacted us, we learned his name was changed to Willie since Heather’s mom is named Sandi, and that he was vaccinated for FIV, so he was not a true positive.  Aaron and Heather even sent us pictures of Willie before he was lost to prove his ownership (shown left).

The long lost Willie was reunited with Aaron and Heather at our adoption center on Oct 6^th.  We also updated his microchip registration.  Since then we have gotten a couple email updates that Willie has settled back into life with them and they are so happy to have him back.  Thank you to everyone who made this reunion possible!