BooBoo the cat went missing in Watsonville, Calif., in August 2014. Nearly four years later, the brown tabby appeared in southwestern Canada.
How the missing cat got there remains a mystery, but her owner, Ashley Aleman, has a hitchhiking hunch. Aleman said that BooBoo had a habit of hopping in strangers' cars, and she suspects this is how the cat ended up nearly 3,000 miles from home.
Lucky for this traveling feline, she was microchipped.
"The magic of the microchip is that people can be reunited with their pets – even four years after they've disappeared," said McBride, who warns to never assume an animal is a stray. "Always suspect that is someone is looking for them."
Aleman created a GoFundMe to fund BooBoo's return.