When that special cat comes into your life, you form a unique bond with them that can never be broken. Back in 1998 when Jill Petticord was just a little girl, Ralph the cat came into her life. Just a sweet little girl and her precious kitty, the two instantly formed an unspeakable bond. Together they were inseparable, spending their days in each other’s company without a care in the world.

“She carried him around. She did everything with Ralph,” Jill’s mother said.

Until one day, Ralph mysteriously went missing back in 2001. The family searched everywhere, and a brokenhearted little Jill was never the same, hoping and praying that someday, somehow, she would be reunited with her beloved Ralph.

Jill had a dog since then, and another cat, but nothing could compare to the cat that had left an imprint on her heart. As time passed Jill grew up, became a mother, and then one day, completely out of nowhere, Jill’s mother, Rita Korn, received a phone call from the American Rescue League of Iowa that “her cat” had been found. The news puzzled her, thinking “she didn’t have a cat,” so she sent her daughter Jill down to the ARL to go investigate. This is when Jill got that little piece of her heart back that she never thought not in a million years would happen again.

The ARL ran the cat’s microchip, the very same one that the ARL had given him back when he was adopted in 1998–this cat, a stray picked up off the streets, was no other than Ralph.

We are so happy that Ralph can live out the rest of his days in a loving home with the girl who has always loved him from the time when he was just a baby. This story just goes to show you that you should never give up hope for a lost cat. Share this incredible story with your cat lover friends!