After a month filled with heartbreak, hope, and determination, Strawberry Shortcake is finally home.
For weeks, the team at Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelter in Cumming searched day and night, “refusing to give up.” They set traps, reviewed hours of trail camera footage, spoke with neighbors, and clung to hope even when there were no sightings.
Then came the call they’d been praying for. A woman who lives about a mile from the site of the October traffic accident that involved the van in which Strawberry Shortcake and the other cats were riding called and said a small cat had wandered to her home.
Rescuers dropped everything and raced to set traps. And before long, a hungry little cat stepped inside – and when they saw her, their hearts nearly burst. A quick trip to the Veterinary Emergency Group confirmed what they hoped all along: it was Strawberry Shortcake.
Despite losing 20% of her body weight, she’s otherwise healthy, happy, and soaking up all the love (and food!) she missed.
The reunion comes after one of the most devastating moments in Furkids’ history.
A transport van carrying 37 cats to a partner shelter in Vermont was involved in a multi-vehicle crash in Jackson County last month. Nine members of one family, riding in a van themselves, were killed and several people injured.
In the chaos, the cats’ cages were crushed, and the frightened felines fled into nearby woods. And now, all 37 have been found and are safe.
The Furkids team says they’re “completely shattered” by the loss of life and the pain of that day, but deeply grateful for the small miracles that have followed – like Strawberry Shortcake finally finding her way home.
She is safe. All of the cats are accounted for.