Long Island Cat Lost 10 Years To Reunite With Owners In 'A Children's Story Ending'

LONG ISLAND, NY — Some speculate that cats have nine lives.

But a cat from Long Island has — or will have — at least three like the character, Thomasina, whose story is told in the beloved 1963 Disney classic movie.

About three years ago, kind-hearted, good Samaritan Gary Guiseppone started seeing a shy, fluffy black and white tuxedo cat hanging about around his Miller Place home. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary because feral cats, lost or abandoned domestic cats, and their wild progeny, frequent his neighborhood.

"She was in such bad shape, I didn't think she would survive," he said.

Guiseppone did not see her again until about a month-and-a-half ago when she showed up scrounging for some food.

He thought she had a big piece of skin shedding from her body, but alas, it was only matting as very fluffy cats can't handle their major coats alone. Humans need to brush and de-tangle them, so when a feline like that ends up out and about, there's only so much self-styling that is done.

"It turned out she was just a hairy cat and fluffy, and she shed a million mats off her," Guiseppone said, adding it was almost as if she had "a body of armor underneath the hair."

The matting was so bad that the poor gal was having a hard time walking, but she was being friendly, allowing an invasion of space — she was letting him get close and pet her.

Neighbors had also noticed the cat wandering around.

So, Guiseppone, a feral cat rescuer, hatched a plan.

He set out a Have-A-Heart trap, which can trap a feline humanely.

The way it works: food (of course) is placed inside and once the animal enters, a mechanism releases the hatch, confining it inside. But he didn't do that.

Instead, he set it out for a few days to let her get used to it, and then one day, he set the trap.

The cat was unfazed by her predicament.

"Usually the ferals go in there and they really freak out," Guiseppone said. "She was like, 'Okay, what are we doing now?'"

He had no intention of adopting a cat because he already had two dogs and another former feral cat that he socialized. To that point, he had not even named her. But he figured that he would take her to the Town of Brookhaven Animal Shelter and Adoption Center's vets to see if they could help with her coat.

Guiseppone expected they would shave off the mats and then he would take her home to join him.

He waited for a callback telling him to take her home, but instead, he got a pleasant surprise.

There was no need for him to decide on a name as the cat had one that her human family gave her.

"Mimi" had been microchipped and belonged to a couple who used to live in East Setauket, but have since retired to Valencia, Spain.

The big kicker is that the wayward gal had been on the lam for 10 years.

Richard and Maria Price never thought they would see their "Mimi" alive again, so when they heard she was found, they felt a combination of shock and happiness.

"Oh, my God, she's alive," Richard exclaimed during a phone interview. "I can't believe it."

The two adopted "Mama Mimi" as a socialized cat from an animal rescue group shelter in Smithtown after she was found out wandering the streets in a feral colony. Richard fell in love with her after visiting the shelter on his lunch breaks.

They took her home and she hid for a few months, but eventually settled into her new home.

But about two years later, "Mimi" absconded while Richard's sister was cat-sitting her in Rocky Point while the couple were on vacation.

They looked for her everywhere and blanketed every veterinarian office with her photo.

She was a knockout and would stand out anywhere with her long, voluminous, ebony coat.

But in the search, their minds, like any cat parents, ran wild, just as much so.

"It was horrible," he said. "Cats become your family; just like dogs become your family. And all of a sudden, she's lost.

"Mimi" was the only one of the Price's animals that there was no closure.

"All of our animals, we were with them when they passed away," said Maria, adding that at the time, they felt as if, "We just don't know."

When they moved, they felt like they were “leaving someone behind," Richard said.

"Mimi" will be reunited with Richard next month when he returns to the states, and the couple is working out the details about her transportation to Spain. Once she arrives in Spain, she will join the couple's three other cats.

"We are trying our best to get her back," Richard said. "She's going to have to learn Spanish."

So while "Mimi" didn't quite die and get revived by the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, and then forget her family and live with a reputed witch in the woods like the fictional "Thomasina," she did disappear for a time only to return to her family.

Guiseppone was willing to take "Mimi" in, but was glad that it didn't happen that way.

Just like "Thomasina," she ended up back with her original owners.

"It's a much better story this way," he said.

Richard and Maria said that they had always thought that "Mimi" was a bit street-wise and if any cat could have survived again out in the open, it would be her because she braved it once before.

There is no way to tell what exactly happened to "Mimi" the past 10 years, but it shows that anything is possible.

"Frankly, it makes a great children's story," Richard said.