A Massachusetts family says a pet cat who went missing five years ago has returned home after the feline was unexpectedly found.

Elinore Repucci had let her tabby cat Larry out for a walk in August 2013, but he didn't come back after walking out the door. Repucci tells the Newburyport Daily News she and her family spent the next few weeks frantically searching for Larry.

Repucci says she eventually resigned herself to thinking an animal killed Larry, as her home was near the woods.

But an animal rescue shelter in Salisbury, Massachusetts, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from her home, called her Thursday and said they found a cat with a microchip registered to her.

Shelter director Britt Fox Hover says Larry is pretty healthy, but is missing part of a paw.

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Information from: The Daily News of Newburyport (Mass.), http://www.newburyportnews.com