A purr-fect reunion

When her phone rang Thursday morning, Betty Turner saw the word "Kootenai" on the Caller ID, and assumed it was the hospital about an appointment.

Following the usual pleasantries, the voice on the other end said, "We have your cat."

Turner was puzzled. Her cat, Seko, was sitting in front of her.

Then, it clicked.

"You've got Neko?" she asked.

"We do," the voice said.

Turner, stunned, was soon crying. Neko had disappeared nearly 14 months ago from his Coeur d'Alene home.

"I had given up hope that I would ever get him back," she said. "All I've done is cry for the last half hour because I couldn't believe it."

She believed it Thursday afternoon, when she drove to the Kootenai Humane Society, walked inside and saw the orange Bengal in a cage.

When Neko heard Turner's voice, he slipped his paw through the tiny bars, reaching for the woman who owned him nearly 10 years, and relied on him for comfort following her husband's death.

"He wanted out," a happy Turner said.

Neko got out and was soon with Turner and on his way to the vet for a quick check. He was "awfully thin," but had survived more than a year on his own.

Neko went missing in late November 2011. Turner believes someone trapped him, along with several other neighborhood cats reported missing in the same area, and dropped them off in the country.

Fortunately for Neko, last week he wandered onto the isolated property of Bob Schini, who lives at the east end of Fernan Lake, a good 10 miles from Turner's home off Dalton Avenue.

He first saw the thin cat on his porch six days ago. It ran off, but continually returned. He left food out for it, and soon, they became friends and it took up residency in his garage.

Schini wanted to find its owner, because he knew the pain of losing a pet. When he was a boy, his hunting dog was stolen, and he never saw it again.

"It was devastating to me," he said. "I told my wife, some child probably lost that cat."

The retired doctor called the Kootenai Humane Society, and was given the OK to bring it in. An hour later, he got a call. Thanks to its microchip, they found the cat's owner. Turner called, too, and offered many, many thanks, amidst the tears of joy.

"Remarkable," Schini said.

Dori Peck, KHS director, said every animal adopted there is microchipped, the cost included in the adoption fee.

KHS charges $35 to microchip an animal, except on Microchip Monday, when it charges $25.

She said only 1 out of every 50 homeless cats is returned to its owner if not chipped.

"So it is critically important to do this in case they get lost," Peck said.

Turner did just that when she adopted the cat at KHS in 2004 and named it Neko, which means cat in Japanese.

They bonded. Neko, she said, was funny, an "in-your-face cat.

"He wants to be there at all times," she said.

When Turner's husband Gene died Oct. 17, 2011, it was Neko who eased the pain.

"He made me laugh every day. I needed that," she said.

But just a month later, Neko disappeared, along with several other neighborhood cats.

Turner was distraught. She called the humane society and veterinarians. She posted fliers. She placed ads. She searched. No sign of her beloved pet.

It was a crushing blow.

"I was just lost," Turner said.

She later adopted another KHS cat and named it Seko. As the months slipped by, she doubted Neko would ever come home.

"I really didn't think I'd ever seen him," she said.

Until Thursday. It was Neko, all right, blind in his right eye.

Turner said 11-year-old Neko will resume sleeping on the bed, she'll spoil him with treats, and he'll have a brother now.

But there will be one new house rule.

He won't be going outside.

"He's going to be an indoor cat totally now," she said.