Missing Peabody cat found in Revere after 6 years

By some miracle – and microchipping – a cat was returned to its Peabody owner last week after six years missing.

In August 2015, Margaret Kudzma’s cat, Mini Max, got through a loose screen window and fell from her third-floor condo. Kudzma tried everything to find him, according to the Salem News: posters, online announcements, newspaper ads, yard searches of the neighborhood, and night-vision cameras, even hiring a pet detective and pet psychic.

Kudzma joined local rescue groups, and even started her own, The Rescue Business, to protect and care for homeless cats.

On July 27, she got a call from a Wakefield veterinarian, Dr. Samantha Simonelli, who had treated a grey and white cat brought in by a Revere family. Simonelli scanned Mini Max and found a microchip containing Kudzma’s name and contact information.

“All I heard was ‘gray and white’ and I had to put the phone down,” Kudzma told the Salem News. “We’re all still in shock.”

Mini Max made it about 11 miles from Peabody to Revere, Kudzma told the Salem News, where he’d been fed by a family for a while before moving into their home. Now, Mini Max is getting a full checkup and x-rays to identify any injuries from his time in the wild or the jump six years ago.

Mini Max was only one when he went missing, Kudzma told Daily Paws, so she wasn’t sure he would recognize her. However, when they were reunited, Kudzma immediately recognized the black dot on his nose.

“It was a miracle,” Kudzma told WCVB. “I’m so glad that this doctor scanned him for bringing him back home on Tuesday. Yes. I’m so happy.”

Though losing her cat was devastating, Kudzma has done a lot of good while searching for Mini Max. She initially created a map using Google Maps to track all locations with sightings of a grey and white cat, which led her to discover just how many feral cat colonies there were in Peabody.

“I was shocked how many cats live right under my nose,” Kudzma told Daily Paws.

That’s when she founded The Rescue Business, and began feeding and rescuing feral cats while educating the residents that feed them. Many cats were saved in the search for Mini Max – Kudzma told WBZ the organization has returned over a hundred lost cats to their owners.

“Thank you everyone who helped in this search,” The Rescue Business posted on Facebook. “We are so happy and eternally grateful!”