Cat Missing 3 Years in Wyoming Reunites with NY Family

Before Annie and Chris Rosales had kids, they had Lily, their beloved rescue cat who was "like our first baby." In 2023, the family packed up their San Francisco life and headed to New York City in an RV with their young daughter, another baby on the way, and two cats.

Their favorite stop was near Cody, Wyoming, where they visited Yellowstone National Park with friends. But as they drove away through Montana, they made a heartbreaking discovery: Lily had somehow slipped out of the RV.

The couple rushed back and searched through the night. They even spotted her once in the early morning hours, but couldn't catch her despite staying an extra day to search.

"It was so hard leaving," said Annie. "But I was very confident that I was just going to be coming right back in like, a week or something."

Months turned into years. Their friends moved away from the property, and though Chris sent a letter to the new owners asking them to watch for Lily, hope began to fade.

Then, two and a half years later, everything changed. Jack and Rebecca Deal had recently moved into a home about 3.5 miles from where Lily vanished and started noticing stray cats on their property.

One cat in particular caught their attention because she was wearing a collar that looked tight. After feeding her for two months without getting close, they finally set a trap in February and caught her.

When they called the number on the collar and texted photos, they expected a local owner. Instead, they reached the Rosales family in New York.

"Right away, I recognize this cat," said Chris. "They weren't expecting like, 'Yeah, we're in New York. It's been two years.'"

"You're like, hysterical, laughing and crying at the same time, because it was just so unbelievable," said Annie.

Sunny's Take

What makes this story so heartwarming isn't just that Lily survived in the wild for nearly three years. It's that the Deals refused to give up on helping a stray cat who clearly once had a home. After Lily escaped the first trap, they got creative with tuna fish, a drop-down enclosure, and string until they finally caught her again in early March.

The couple never forgot their "first baby," even as their human family grew. And thanks to strangers who cared enough to check a collar and make a phone call, one family's cross-country heartbreak finally has a happy ending.