Those of us who rescue cats all have some pretty interesting stories. But Margaret Kudzma and her kitty Mini Max have an extremely unique one all their own!

Their story begins years ago, on August 5, 2015, when Margaret was giving medicine to a sick kitty she was fostering. Hearing a noise in the bedroom of the condo they called home, she went to see what was going on. She discovered an open window with a missing screen.

We don’t know if Max simply pushed the window screen out or if the screen simply popped out. But it was definitely a traumatizing experience for Margaret.

Mini Max had begun his own life on the streets though too. Kudzma had found the four-month-old kittens who were all born under a building in her Peabody, Massachusetts home. She took them home and nursed them back to health. The bond she shared with them was special, but with Mini Max it was different.

She did all the things frantic family usually does when looking for a lost furbaby. Margaret posted missing cat flyers in her neighborhood, went door-to-door searching her neighbor’s gardens, and posted online. She even set up a night-vision camera and worked with a local pet detective who uses a search dog to find lost pets.

But sadly, all of that was to no avail.

Her fostering and trapping kept her busy as she found homes for the cats who came her way. But in some ways, this was still a sad situation made worse for her with each new feline. After all, there was no Mini Max to play with at the end of the day.

Max is microchipped, so they continued to hold out hope that he would be discovered and his chip scanned. And on July 19, 2021, almost six years after the fluffy feline’s disappearance, Margaret received the call she had been waiting for.

Her boy was coming home.

Six years after his disappearance, a very hungry Mini Max showed up at a house in Revere, close to Kudzma’s home in Peabody. The caring homeowners had given the starving cat a meal. The next morning they took him to the vet, who immediately contacted Kudzma after scanning the cat. This SHOULD be the standard practice when a stray cat is brought to any vet. And responsible owners should always update their contact information with the microchip company.

Mom and furkid were reunited the following day.

Purrhaps a “welcome home BOX” would have been better? *wink, wink*