Cat missing for two-and-a-half years is reunited with family after being found just 10 miles away when his owner saw a photo of her kitty on Facebook

A New Jersey cat that went missing more than two years ago is finally back in the loving home where he belongs.

Jimmy, a brown tabby, disappeared after being let out of his Wanaque home on September 13, 2014.

Owner Susan Zelitsky told The Record it wasn't unusual for Jimmy to spend time outside, and on the night Jimmy went missing, she said her husband let the cat out but when she called for him to come back in, he was nowhere to be found.

'He would go to the front door like a dog when he had to go to the bathroom, but he would always come back and meow at the door to come in,' she said. 

She and her family searched and put up posters, but couldn't find their beloved cat.

Zelitsky said she never really gave up searching in the months that followed, and she would sometimes call out for Jimmy when she walked the dog.

'Not only me, but my kids and husband, too,' she said. 'If I saw a cat that looked the same, I would wonder.'

But it turns out, the cat was nearby all along. The West Milford Animal Shelter Society said Jimmy was found 10 miles from home in the town's High Crest section during the March blizzard.

Because he liked sneaking into parked cars through open windows, his family thinks he accidentally hitched a ride out of town. 

Zelitsky said a friend on Facebook posted the shelter's picture of the cat.

A post was placed on the Lost West Milford Pets Facebook page shortly after Jimmy was brought to the shelter. It received nearly 27,000 views and 600 shares.

The next day, Zelitsky went to the shelter and Jimmy started to rub against her. He nipped her when she rubbed his belly, which he always did.

'When they opened the crate door, I said, 'Jimmy is that you, bud?' and he walked over and head-butted me and smooshed his nose into the dog's toy,' she said to NorthJersey.com.

'I immediately started to sob. He started to rub up against us, and when I was rubbing his belly he nipped me, which he always did. He put his head in Dayna's hands and he started to purr loudly.'

'I was convinced it was my boy,' she said. 'I called my husband and he came to the shelter. When he saw Bob, he did the same head-butt.'

'My younger daughter came home from work and he was laying on my bed, and she said, 'Who the heck is that?' ' Zelitsky said. 

'I said go close, and he immediately rolled over for belly rubs, and she cried and cried. My older daughter was a bit skeptical and worried how the kitties would react, but after a few days of Jimmy being up to his old habits, she was all in.' 

Zelitsky said the cat was very familiar with the layout of her home, and has been doing many of the things he had done in the past, like sleeping on his favorite dining room chair.

'If it wasn't for the wonderful people at WMASS, we would have never had this happy reunion,' she said.

Originally published on Daily Mail