She said the person who “took her in” may not have known to check for a microchip.

Willow went missing just 10 days after Ridings moved into her new home in Wellsford last year.

Ridings said she had suspicions about some aggressive dogs in the neighbourhood.

“We thought the dogs had killed her and that they had just disposed of it.”

Ridings and her partner executed an extensive search around the neighbourhood and dropped flyers in mailboxes.

But all attempts to find their beloved cat were in vain.

“We got her from the SPCA 10 years ago on Thanksgiving … she was my Thanksgiving cat.

“To think that we had lost her, I felt like I had let her down, because we’d already rescued her,” Ridings said.

But on Thursday, Ridings received a phone call from a vet in Dargaville who asked her if she had lost a pet.

“He had scanned her microchip, and it was our Willow.

“Is this for real? Because we really thought that she met her demise.”

Ridings said Willow returned home much thinner, but, overall was in good shape.

“Her return has given us some sort of closure.

“I think that was the hardest part, not knowing what exactly happened to her,” she said.

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