“We didn't believe it at all”: eight years after his disappearance, a family finds his cat on an SPA advert

En 2016, Julie et ses enfants ont perdu la trace de leur chat Yoda malgré des recherches intensives. Capture d'écran Facebook – Julie Canivet

A family from Salon-de-Provence has found their cat eight years after losing it. The animal was rescued a year ago by SPA volunteers.

Accident? Theft? The fate of the feline remains a mystery. Eight years after losing their cat Yoda in Salon-de-Provence, a family found him this summer, reports the Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis on its website.

“We looked for him everywhere”

In 2016, Julie and her children lost track of their cat Yoda despite intensive searches. “We looked everywhere for him. We moved heaven and earth. In vain. It lasted a year like that before we came to terms with it", the mother tells our colleagues.

The family then moved to the Côte d'Azur, leaving behind a great deal of sadness. "Everyone was very sad, especially one of my daughters for whom he was a real playmate", Julie continues.

In 2024, back in Salon-de-Provence, the family is thinking about adopting a new cat from the local SPA shelter. "I see a cat that looks exactly like to Yoda", she recalls. She then goes with her children to the shelter to check, and they confirm that it is indeed Yoda, who disappeared eight years earlier.

Rescued by volunteers

The cat had been rescued the previous year by volunteers in a nursing home. "When he was recovered, his teeth were damaged, his tail was broken… It wasn't funny for him at all. We didn't believe it at all", she adds.

Despite all these years of separation, the cat immediately recognizes the children, as if he had never left. "He recognized the children immediately. It's as if he had never left", Julie affirms.