Escape artist cat goes missing for 7 years in Canada — then comes ‘Christmas miracle’
In Spruce Grove, Canada, patrons of a local car wash may have noticed a rough-looking feline hanging around.
Fluffy white with grey and orange patches, the cat became known to the community as Flossy, and she called the car wash’s “hidey-hole” her home.
“For over a year, a kind senior couple fed her,” Community Cats Edmonton said in a Dec. 25 Facebook post. “Over time, more people became aware of Flossy, or ‘car wash kitty,’ and we were contacted by a former adopter for help.”
Volunteers with the cat rescue devised a plan to build a relationship with Flossy through food, hoping to one day be able to trap her and provide medical care, the group said.
“The nature of where she was living made trapping challenging — there was always foot traffic, and the ground was uneven near her hidey-hole,” the group said. “Our volunteer put up a sign asking people to stop feeding her, because she was on a food schedule and it was setting back our efforts. Cats need to be hungry to go in a trap!”
But the empty cans of cat food still appeared, according to the group, and after one successful trap capture and then a daring escape on the part of Flossy, they were back to square one.
Months passed, the group said, but eventually the volunteer’s work paid off and Flossy was captured.
The rescue team was surprised when they scanned Flossy for a microchip and found not only that she was chipped, but that there was contact information from Flossy’s previous home.
They gave the number a call, and a member of the Stupar family answered.
“We were able to contact the person it was registered to, who told us that she had fallen out of a window screen SEVEN YEARS AGO! They never found her, and they sadly assumed she had died long ago,” the group said. “Flossy’s name was Sophie, and her family was in absolute shock to get our call.”
“They were over the moon to know she was okay, and so happy to have her back!” the cat rescue said. The former “car wash kitty” underwent a medical exam and was found to be in good health, despite spending the better part of a decade on her own.
Glenn Stupar brought Sophie home in December 2014 as a Christmas gift to his youngest daughter who was 14 at the time, he told CBC. A decade later, Sophie came back to the Stupar family on Dec. 23, he said.
“I got her for her for Christmas and now she’s getting her back two days before Christmas,” Stupar told the outlet. “I joked that it’s the ultimate re-gift.”
Vanessa Freeman, co-founder of Community Cats Edmonton, told CBC it is incredibly rare to find a cat after they had been missing for so long, and Flossy-Sophie’s survival was largely attributed to the community that kept feeding her.
The primary caregivers were a couple who lived nearby and deemed themselves Flossy’s “grandparents,” Freeman said, feeding her nearly every day for more than a year. Nearby business owners, grocery store employees and condo residents also stepped in to care for the lost cat.
“It’s a Christmas miracle!” the group said. “After 7 years of being lost, this kitty was reunited with her family, just in time for the holidays!”
Spruce Grove is a city west of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
This story was originally published January 1, 2025 at 8:59 AM with the headline "Escape artist cat goes missing for 7 years in Canada — then comes ‘Christmas miracle’."
