Ava was found near Dawson Creek after escaping from her family's car in Cache Creek.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ BC SPCA

A lost cat was finally reunited with her family with the help of the BC SPCA a year and a half after it went missing and more than 800 kilometres away from where it first escaped.

Ava the cat escaped from the car while her family was travelling through Cache Creek on the way to visit a relative.

Her family searched for their beloved eight-year-old pet and was heartbroken thinking they would never see her again. They had adopted Ava when she was just a seven-week-old kitten, according to a BC SPCA press release.

Her family stayed at the spot where she went missing searching desperately for her until about 4 a.m. They called her name and shook a bag of her favourite treats hoping she would come back to them. Her guardians thought that Ava may have hitched a ride on another vehicle that had been waiting nearby because she was nowhere to be seen, the release said.

More than a year later, a Good Samaritan found an injured stray cat taking shelter from the extreme cold under their deck and brought her to the BC SPCA South Peace Branch in Dawson Creek, the release said. Dawson Creek is roughly 840 km away from Cache Creek.

The cat was wearing a breakaway collar and had a bandana tangled under her arm, which created a deep wound. She was matted and had permanent damage to the tips of her ears from frostbite. SPCA staff rushed her to the vet. Her wound was stitched up and she was given pain medication to keep her comfortable as it healed.

This cat had an ear tattoo linking her to a vet clinic in the Lower Mainland. SPCA staff contacted the vet clinic and got in touch with the cat’s guardians, who were overjoyed to hear that Ava had been found after 16 months.

Ava was able to be reunited with her family because she had permanent identification in the form of an ear tattoo. Pets with ID have a greater chance of being returned to their guardians if they happen to get lost, the SPCA said in the release.

Make sure your pet has a microchip registered with the BC Pet Registry plus an ear tattoo and collar with the correct address and phone number.

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