You’re never too old for an adventure. A 19-year-old cat named Patches can attest to that.
Patches recently found his way back home after being missing for about three years.
The black-and-white cat belongs to Brittany Farmer. She got Patches in the summertime when he was just a kitten and she was about 6 years old.
“He was s very playful kitten,” said Farmer. “He’s just like a dog. He comes to you when you call him. He scratches at the door. He slept with me a lot.”
As Patches grew up, he would spend his days frolicking outside of his home, located in Carroll County between Greenwood and Carrollton. When he was ready to come inside Farmer’s childhood home, he’d paw at the door.
“Whatever he wanted to do, he did,” said Farmer. “If he wanted to go back out, he’d go to the back door and meow for someone to let him out.”
Patches turned out to be more than just Farmer’s cat. He became the whole family’s favorite feline, including her parents, Bobby and Cheryl Hurst, and her brother, Darrell Blakely.
“We’ve all been really close with (Patches) just because he’s been here forever,” said Farmer, who is now 25. “He basically grew up with me.”
It was a stormy April evening about three years ago when, unknowingly to the then-16-year-old cat and his family, Patches’ yearslong adventure would soon begin.
“Usually if it got really bad outside, we would bring him in,” said Farmer. “It was storming outside one night, and we called him and could never find him.”
Farmer did not know it then, but Patches had already found shelter.
“He had got in the back of my dad’s truck in the space under his toolbox,” she said.
Her father had no clue Patches was in his truck until it was too late. He was driving to work early the next morning. Everything was like any other commute to work until he neared the McDonald’s at the corner of U.S. 82 and Humphrey Highway. Another driver began flashing lights at him.
“My dad pulled over, and he was told that a cat had just jumped out of the back of his truck,” said Farmer.
A search for Patches soon began and lasted for about six months.
“We drove around that neighborhood and never could find him,” said Farmer. “We talked to the Greenwood Country Club, which is right there, just to keep a lookout for him, but we never got any calls.”
Farmer soon began to think the worst.
“I knew he was 16 years old and jumping out of that moving truck like that, I didn’t think there was any way he could survive,” she said, “but there was a way, apparently.”
In the past three years, although it had sunk in that Patches had most likely passed away, Farmer always kept a little hope that maybe her childhood pet had survived.
“For so long, if there were any black-and-white cats, I was like, ‘I wonder if that’s him,’ and it never ended up being him,” said Farmer.
Then, on the morning of Jan. 13, Farmer was scrolling through her Facebook feed when she saw a post by the Leflore County Humane Society that grabbed her attention immediately.
It was posted the day before and said: “This older cat has lost his family through no fault of his own. His owner has gotten sick and no longer able to care for him. He is an older cat that needs a soft place to land. He really doesn't care for the shelter. If you would like to foster or adopt please call us.” The post also featured a picture of the face of a black-and-white cat behind the bars of a cage.
“He really did look pitiful in that picture,” said Vivian Norris, executive director of the Leflore County Humane Society. “I said, ‘If only someone will fall for this cat.’ He would just look at me so pitiful, and I’d tell him, ‘We’ll find you a home.’”
Little did Norris know that Facebook post would reunite Patches with his long-lost owner, who had kept hoping for his safe return home.
“I thought, ‘That looks just like my cat,’” said Farmer. “The only way I could really tell was going to see him.”
The cat brought in to the shelter had been called Oreo. An older woman had been taking care of him and had recently become ill. Oreo was given to someone else who was about to move into an apartment where no pets were allowed. The new owner brought him to the shelter so Oreo could find a new home.
Farmer asked how long the previous owner had had the cat. She was told about two or three years — the same amount of time Patches was missing.
Farmer’s cat had a tear on one of his ears and a skin abnormality on his ear, which she describes as feeling like a bubble.
“I knew if he had a torn ear and the little bubble on his ear, that’s him,” Farmer said.
She went to the shelter, saw the small tear, felt the bubble and knew it was Patches.
“I was shocked when I saw him,” said Farmer. “It was almost kind of surreal.”
Patches now lives at her parents’ home — the home he lived in for most of his life.
“Once I got him home, I think he kind of realized where he was, and he went right back to normal,” said Farmer. “He ran straight upstairs to my old bedroom, and then he jumped in my dad’s lap. He fit right back in.”
Farmer said Patches has the same personality.
“He’s the exact same. He just moves slower, and his meow isn’t quite as big as it used to be,” she said. “But he’s still the exact same cat, and he does everything the exact same way. He comes when you call him and everything.”
Patches is now an inside cat only, and living out his senior years enjoying his days of lounging around and getting lots of pets.
“We’re happy he’s home,” said Farmer. “It’s almost unbelievable. We’re so glad he’s here and glad he’s back home safe.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
