The Cat Who Came Back: Patches, Believed Killed In Mudslide, Shows Up 3 Years Later

Patches is reunited with Norm Borgatello, her late proprietor’s accomplice, on the Animal Shelter Assistance Program in Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Dec. 31.

Jillian Title/Animal Shelter Assistance Program through AP

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Jillian Title/Animal Shelter Assistance Program through AP

Patches is reunited with Norm Borgatello, her late proprietor’s accomplice, on the Animal Shelter Assistance Program in Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Dec. 31.

Jillian Title/Animal Shelter Assistance Program through AP

A calico cat named Patches had belonged to Josie Gower, one of many 23 individuals killed within the mudslides that hit Santa Barbara, Calif., in January 2018. Patches was thought to have died too.

“We had kinda lost hope,” Briana Haigh, Gower’s daughter, advised NPR. Her mother’s a number of cats had slept in her storage, which was destroyed through the catastrophe.

But in December, Patches was discovered alive and roaming across the similar space she disappeared in.

“It’s a nice thing to hear that, after that many years, you can get a little bit of joy out of something that was quite horrific,” Haigh mentioned.

“I mean it’s obviously not as bad as losing the house and Mom, but it was pretty horrific to actually lose them as well, that kinda connection to her,” Haigh mentioned.

Just weeks in the past, Patches was taken in by the Animal Shelter Assistance Program, an area shelter within the Santa Barbara space. Staff say they had been in a position to determine her due to a microchip registered underneath Gower’s identify.

“It’s a great mystery to us about where she’s been for the last almost three years,” mentioned Becky Morrill, a employees member on the shelter.

The shelter acquired in contact with Haigh, and shortly after, Gower’s accomplice, Norm Borgatello, was in a position to take Patches again dwelling with him. Borgatello had been residing with Gower earlier than the mudslide occurred.

He was reunited with Patches on New Year’s Eve.

Morrill, who was current for the emotional second, mentioned the cat approached Borgatello instantly and acknowledged him.

“I think Norm was a little teary; we were a little teary. I don’t think Patches cried, but she was happy,” Morrill mentioned.

“It was a great moment and very poignant, right, because it’s both a wonderful reunion but a reminder of a very terrible loss for Norm,” she added.

Since returning dwelling collectively, Patches follows Norm round the home and likes to curve up behind him on the sofa.

To Haigh, the cat’s reemergence is like getting a bit of her mother’s dwelling again, calling it “a nice end to 2020.”

“I think it just warms the heart a bit,” Haigh mentioned. “I know my mom would be really happy. And I think it is quite strange that it came about right before the three-year anniversary.”

“Almost like a little message from Mom,” she added.