It’s a doggone miracle!
A Philadelphia family couldn’t believe their eyes when their beloved pooch mosied back into their lives this week – almost 11 years to the day he went missing.
A heartless thief had snatched the terrier-type mix — whose full name is 40Cal, but goes by Forty — and another dog out of the backyard at the family’s Mayfair home in May 2015, according to ABC 6.
The other dog returned, but Forty never came home, the outlet reported.
The family, who had desperately searched for him for years, eventually gave up hope and moved to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania – but never forgot their long-lost, four-legged family member.
His owner, Jourdyn, even contacted the company that made Forty’s microchip to update their contact information two months ago – even though she believed the now-elderly dog had likely died, People reported.
Because of that, ACCT Philly — the city’s animal care and control service that found Forty, now a senior, wandering around Saturday night — was able to reach them and share the mind-boggling news.
“I thought it was a joke. It’s just amazing, and I can’t believe after years that he was brought back to us,” Jourdyn told ABC 6, while fighting back tears.
The “overjoyed” owner and her family traveled to Philly the following day and reunited with Forty for the first time in over a decade.
“He’s very old, and he’s going to go home with us and just live his best life for the rest of the time that we have with him,” Jourdyn said.
Animal rescue officials pressed the importance of updating a missing dog’s chip information and encouraged people who find stray pets to have it scanned for a microchip before assuming it doesn’t have a home, according to People.
“Forty was clearly well cared for in recent years, with a nail trim, being quite clean, but he could have gone back to his original family much sooner had he been scanned for a chip,” an animal shelter spokesperson told the outlet.
“Helping a pet in need is commendable, but Good Samaritans should check for owners before deciding to keep an animal.”
