Missing Idaho cat found in San Francisco, reunited with family after mysterious disappearance

By Tim Fang

A family from Idaho is again complete after being reunited with their cat after she was found in San Francisco, more than 600 miles away from home.

San Francisco Animal Care & Control told CBS News Bay Area that the feline, named Pepper, went missing from her home in Boise in early October. The shelter said she bolted out of her house and disappeared.

Earlier this month, a Good Samaritan found Pepper wandering in the city’s Mission Bay neighborhood. She was brought to Animal Care & Control, where a microchip scan traced the chip back to her family in Idaho.

How Pepper made the 645-mile trip from Boise to San Francisco is a mystery, but the distance didn’t matter to her owners.

After getting the call, her family drove through the night to reclaim their beloved pet.

“She let out this huge meow…you came and got me, it was so great. And then she talked to us all the way home, all about her adventures,” Lindsay Jensen told CBS News Bay Area. “I wish we could understand, but it was great.”

Jensen said her cat was emaciated when they found her. With some extra love and care, Pepper has gained a pound and a half since her ordeal.

“She just sticks real close to us now,” Jensen added. “She was a wild, crazy, run around the house-type kitten and I think this traumatized her a little bit. She’s just been sticking close to my husband and I.”

Pepper’s family said the moral of the story is for pet owners to microchip their animals so they can always find their way home.