Cat Goes Missing for 5 Weeks—Then Owner Hears a Thump at the Door

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
A story online has proved that families of missing pets always have reason to hope.
After five agonizing weeks of searching, a family's despair turned into relief when their cat, Pepper, mysteriously reappeared at their door. The reunion, shared in a post to Reddit, has received over 8,000 upvotes and prompted others to share their own stories of unlikely missing pet returns.
"We went out day and night looking for her, posters, social media...This Sunday (five weeks to the day!) I hear a tiny thud and a mew at the door," u/420scoobertdoobert69 wrote in their post. "And there she was, only half of her body weight (from 10 pounds to 4.4 pounds) but otherwise unharmed."
A missing cat poster is stapled to a post.
A missing cat poster is stapled to a post.
StockSeller_ukr/Getty Images
The relief and happiness of finding a lost pet resonated with Redditors, many of whom shared similar emotional experiences.
"I'm so happy for you! Probably the best feeling I've ever had (aside from the birth of my child) was the moment I found our little Calliope after she was missing for five days," one person wrote. "She was old and deaf and already very skinny when she went missing, so we had little hope after the first few days. But, I kept going out every night with a flashlight and eventually she was just there, not even ten feet away from the basement door.
"Scooping her up and bringing her in gave me the most overwhelming feeling of relief and joy. She was very thirsty, hungry and smelled like pine."
While Pepper returned in relatively good condition, there were some curious anomalies. The poster noted that Pepper now has a missing fur patch on top of her head and one on her front legs. "It legit looks like someone waxed her leg for the summer," they wrote. This detail sparked speculation among commenters about where Pepper might have been during her extended absence.
One commenter shared a strikingly similar story of their own cat: "The same thing happened to my cat about eight years ago! Was missing for about five weeks until one of the neighbors managed to lure him down into their basement...He was so skinny and dehydrated! He's 10 years old now and is still scared of going outside unless it's just on the front porch with one of us out there with him."
Pepper's miraculous return has no doubt brought relief and happiness to her owners. The family is now focused on Pepper's recovery, following a refeeding plan to help her regain her strength and weight.
Newsweek reached out to u/420scoobertdoobert69 for comment via Reddit.

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