The Prodigal Kitty Returns: Cat Missing 12 Years In CA Reunited With Family

BLYTHE, CA — Butters the cat was always a wanderer, and one day in 2011 he wandered right out of his owners’ lives, seemingly forever. But last week, the prodigal kitty returned.

Butters made his appearance Oct. 1 in the Blythe backyard of Riverside County Animal Control Officer Dalton Churchwell, who caught the cat and found he was microchipped and had disappeared from his San Diego home more than a decade ago.

Churchwell called Butters’ owners, who had moved to Stanwood, Washington, but were ecstatic to learn their cat had been found.

“I thought he was dead,” Angelo Castellino told KABC, explaining how the cat had learned to use the doggy door and one day never returned.

Castellino has no idea how Butters completed his cross-state journey to Blythe but noted the cat has had a lifelong sense of adventure.

Thanks to a flight courtesy of the nonprofit Animal Solutions Konnection, Butters flew all the way to Seattle to be reunited with his brother, Barnacles. He received an exam and was cleared for travel courtesy of Animal Samaritans.

"Our prodigal kitty has come home," Shelley Castellino told KABC. "I cannot stress enough how important it is to get your kitty cats and your doggies chipped."