After over seven years, a missing tabby cat and its owner have reunited.
Julio was microchipped by his owner, however managed to avoid being caught for seven years and four months.
This past weekend, Julio turned up at the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society and his owner was contacted immediately when the microchip was scanned.
When Julio was located, he was in rough shape. He was suffering from malnutrition, some infections, and vision issues in his one eye.
This heartwarming story of being reunited with a lost pet also stresses the importance to pet owners to microchip their animals.
Lynnette Bain, Executive Director for the Humane Society, says they quickly located his owner.
"We were able to scan the cat for the microchip and find the registered owner, and there was only one person that was registered to this cat. And we reached out to them, this person was still local, all the contact information was still current because that's really important to keep that information current, and she was just in shock."
Bain says it was an emotional day for Julio's owner.
"She was overjoyed, and just in shock and disbelief, and had kind of given up hope on Julio. And hearing that he was alive, she was just overjoyed and was in right away to come and get him, and get him into their vet to take a look because there's a lot of treatment that Julio needs to recover."
She says Julio has a long road ahead to recovery.
"Some pain, dehydration, malnutrition, so she's got a lot of rehabilitation work to do with Julio. He might need surgery on his one eye, so she's got to figure out that and see if the cat could handle surgery. But right now though the focus is on getting him healthy, and lots of snuggles."
Julio went missing at the end of November 2017.
The Humane Society will be hosting a microchip clinic this evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a number of appointments available between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Those who are interested can book an appointment on the Humane Society website.
-with files from AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show