<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><u></u><a href="https://www.fark.com/goto/12668686/www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Three-hour-drives-reunites-cat-with-owner-17640853.php%3Futm_source" target="_blank" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: rgb(149, 79, 114);"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: black;"> "She was all tears. It was definitely her Coco, and she was thrilled to get her home and take care of her." Welcome to Caturday</span></a><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">.</span><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of <i>Our Midland</i> at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Three-hour-drives-reunites-cat-with-owner-17640853.php?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark">https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Three-hour-drives-reunites-cat-with-owner-17640853.php?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark</a></div><div><br></div>————————————————</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><h1 class="articleHeader--headline" aria-labelledby="Rebekah Miller drove 3 hours to her native Midland to claim a lost cat that had been her childhood companion" style="grid-row-start: headline; grid-column-start: headline; grid-row-end: headline; grid-column-end: headline; margin: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: "Lora Regular", system-ui; font-size: 46px; line-height: 1.17391; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0.44999998807907104px;">Three-hour drive reunites owner with cat</h1><h3 class="articleHeader--deck" style="grid-row-start: deck; grid-column-start: deck; grid-row-end: deck; grid-column-end: deck; margin: 12px 0px 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: "Source Sans Pro Regular", system-ui; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0.44999998807907104px;">'Coco' had been at Midland shelter for 2 months</h3></div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white;">After two months of her cat Coco being away from home, a three-hour drive was well worth it for Rebekah Miller to be reunited with her grayish shorthaired domestic earlier this week.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Someone had found 15-year-old Coco outside in October and had brought her to the Humane Society of Midland County shelter on East Ashman.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">No one came to claim Coco during the shelter's standard seven-day stray hold period, and no one after that had wanted to adopt her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white;">But a happy ending was still in the works.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Miller had grown up in Midland, and part of her childhood included Coco. After Miller moved away six years ago, now living in Gobles, near Kalamazoo, Coco continued to live in Midland with Miller's mother.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">When Coco went missing in October, Miller's mother thought the cat might have died, said shelter director Beth Wellman. But eventually, Miller tracked down Coco at the Midland shelter on Tuesday, where the staff had named her "Mimsy."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Now, Coco is safe and sound and living with Miller in Gobles.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"(My mother) didn't want to tell me (at first) that (she thought) Coco had passed, because I've had a rough few months," Miller explained. "I had lost my dog; we had to put him down."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Miller said Coco has always been an indoor/outdoor cat, so she was hopeful that Coco was still around somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"So I immediately started looking at some of the (online) forums and came across her picture on the shelter website," Miller said. "I talked to my husband and said, 'Hey, I've got to go (to Midland) to check.' He said, 'Yes, you do.'"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">As soon as Miller saw Coco in her kennel at the shelter, she knew it was Coco. And Coco recognized Miller as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"She knew who I was, even after all these years of just visiting my mom's house," Miller said. "I started petting her. There are certain things that she does not tolerate. Petting her stomach is one of them. So just to make sure, I went ahead and tried to pet her belly. That's when she got sassy with me. Then I knew.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"I cried a lot. They were happy tears. They were also sad tears," Miller said. "I feel bad for not taking her with me (when I moved away from Midland). Unfortunately I wasn't in a place where I could take her. My mom said, 'I'll keep her. She'll be fine here.' And my mom took very good care of her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"I let my mom know (that I found Coco). She's relieved. She never thought somebody would pick her up. We've never had this issue in the almost 15 years she's been alive," Miller continued.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Miller added that she is very grateful that the Humane Society in Midland is a no-kill shelter and that they took very good care of Coco.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Miller said Coco is doing very well and is getting acquainted with the Miller family's 135-pound Great Pyrenees/German Shepherd mix.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Wellman emphasized that when an older pet comes up missing, pet owners should not assume that the animal has "gone away to die."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"More often than not, someone found (the lost pet) and took them to the shelter," Wellman said. "We encourage people to always look for their pets when they go missing, even if they’re elderly."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">And Wellman urges people to get a microchip for their pet to enable shelters to track down the owner. Coco did not have a microchip. The Midland shelter offers microchips for $20.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"Without a microchip, it is very rare for a lost pet to be found," Wellman said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The Midland shelter is currently participating in the Bissell "Empty the Shelters" initiative through Dec. 11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0.44999998807907104px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"So all our animals have very reduced (adoption) fees (during that time)," Wellman said. Some animals are free to adopt, some are $25, and some are $50. Some animals are free. Some are $25, some are $50. All are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.</span></p></div><div>————————-</div><div><br></div><div>Photo . . .<br><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/MoscowCares/Caturday/Caturday_121022.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/MoscowCares/Caturday/Caturday_121022.jpg</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; background-color: white; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Rebekah Miller is reunited with 15-year-old Coco at the Humane Society of Midland County shelter on Dec. 6, 2022. </span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: white;"><br></span></p></div><div>————————————————<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>