Happy homecoming: Pumpkin reunited with owner

When Jordyn Ceplina stopped at the St. Regis Park on a road trip back in early July it was only supposed to be for a few minutes.

Traveling all the way from Washington to Wisconsin she needed to stretch her legs, grab a bite to eat, and rearrange a few things in her car.

“I went to the back for something and that’s when she jumped out,” recalled Ceplina.

Her name was Pumpkin. A four-year-old striped tabby cat covered with hints of orange. Ceplina was parked near the pond when her cat got loose. She said, “I spent about half a day trying to coax her back to me and to even coax her from the long grass. I even tried going and grabbing her but she kept ducking under some roots.”

With a six-hour drive ahead of her and a tight schedule to follow Ceplina made the heart wrenching decision to try and come back for Pumpkin. She agonized, “I had to go to my hotel in the next state so that I could keep time, so I had to leave her.”

Pumpkin survived the summer on her own, living in and around the St. Regis Park. Eventually she explored the rest of town and discovered sanctuary at the St. Regis Travel Center just down the road.

“I'm sure she smelled food at the back door of the kitchen and started hanging out there and never left after realizing if she meowed loud enough, she'd get fed,” said Crystal Coe, who works in the kitchen at Hucks Grill. Coe remarked, “She was super thin when she first showed up and actually got pretty chubby because the whole building was feeding her.”

“Since she showed up at the Travel Center, I had been sitting outside with her every night I worked and offered her food. She slowly got closer to me and let me just barely touch her a couple times,” Coe remembered. Along with some co-workers they attempted to trap her with a box, but Pumpkin was too quick and too smart.

While Pumpkin slowly became the “Travel Center Tabby” Ceplina was back home in Washington worried sick wishing she had an update on where she was.

Ceplina shared, “This had happened around the end of July. So, all together it was three-and-one-half months before I heard word of her. First a woman from the travel center reached out to me about seeing her.”

Ceplina received a picture of Pumpkin and someone at the Travel Center had notified her of her whereabouts. But Ceplina explained, “We lost contact so I took the photos she sent me and made a new post in the lost pets group. It led to a stream of people commenting on seeing her and ways to help catch her. I know the shop people were trying hard to get her and then some other as well. I finally got a message from a woman named, Crystal Coe.”

“I was the one that took the pictures that were posted on Facebook where she was identified as Pumpkin," Coe said. "The last night she was loose she walked right up to me and let me pet her but I still couldn't grab her. I decided she'd been sleeping in the cold long enough so I went home and got a kennel and a fishing net. I had a co-worker hold a can of tuna to keep her attention while I snuck up behind her and threw the net over her.”

Pumpkin was caught on Monday, Nov. 16 and stayed at Coe’s home until Ceplina’s sister was able to travel to Montana during Thanksgiving weekend to pick her up.

When Pumpkin was finally reunited with her owner, Ceplina expressed “I was so grateful to have her back. At first, she was a little shaken up, but in no time, she was meowing and cuddling with me. She followed me around everywhere and slept on my pillow with me too.”

“Jordyn messaged me a thank you the day after Pumpkin was taken home, I asked how she was doing and she said she went right back to being her old self,” Coe said.

Although Coe is pleased Pumpkin is safe and back at home with her owner, going to work won’t be quite the same now. Coe described, “I work full time and every day I worked I went and spent time with her. So, I figure that's five days a week for a couple months.” She added “I don't see her greeting me by the back door or hear her meows, I do miss it, but I'm glad she's home.”

As a fellow cat lover Coe has two of her own at home. She shared, “One I've had and bottle fed since before he opened his eyes, I can't imagine losing him. I figured Pumpkin was really scared, confused, and I was sure her owner missed her. She tried so hard to interact with people but was too scared to do so.”

Pumpkin was a lucky girl who found trusting and caring people whom got her back home.