Missing cat reunited with owner 14 years later got second chance to say goodbye

T2 made full use of his nine lives, that's for sure.

In fact, Thomas Jr., the little orange tabby that escaped from a Stuart home after Hurricane Jeanne and, because of a microchip was reunited with his owner 14 years later, probably borrowed a few from his reserve.

We'll never find out exactly how T2 passed the time all those years, but one thing's certain: The final weeks of his life must have been some of the best ones.

More: Cat missing for 14 years reunited with owner at Humane Society of the Treasure Coast

On Friday, T2's owner, Perry Martin, of Fort Pierce, called me while driving home from Tri-County Animal Hospital, the same veterinary clinic that notified Martin that T2 had been found. He hoped to find out the extent of the cat's injuries and how he could make him comfortable at home.

"Even though T2 was back with me, sitting around on my lap, he was in a lot of pain," he said.

Martin had to make the difficult decision to put T2 to sleep.

T2 was paralyzed from the hips down, Martin said. He had developed a way to shuffle so he could drag himself around easily. T2 also had a growth in his eye, and the inside of his mouth was pretty infected, which probably affected his eating.

Still, Martin was overjoyed the two were reunited.

"What animal can get that second chance to say goodbye," Martin asked. "It doesn't happen."

The miraculous 14-year reunion of Martin and his cat captured not only the hearts of Treasure Coast residents but also raised the spirits of people around the world.

Doreen Poreba, who handles public relations for the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast — the nonprofit shelter where Martin and T2 eventually were reunited — said she fielded calls and answered emails from news agencies in Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom, all wanting to share T2's story. She spoke with The Associated Press, Tribune News Service, the New York Post, MSN and U.S. News & World Report as well as the digital publications for People, Today, Woman's World and PetMD.

The Dodo, an online publication that focuses on animals and animal welfare issues, also featured a story about T2 and Martin. Its Facebook page has 18 million followers.

"This was an amazing reunion," Poreba said. "But the reason this happened is because of a microchip."

Deidre Huffman, the humane society's adoption manager, said the shelter contacted the manufacturer of T2's microchip, who then was able to tell them which vet clinic purchased the chip.

"We were incredibly lucky," Huffman said. "Sometimes it's a dead end, but Mr. Martin's current phone number was listed."

Keeping owner information updated is equally important, Huffman said.

Also, a pet with a microchip shows proof of ownership.

If a pet is stolen or if someone takes in a stray animal and never has it scanned for a microchip but then, one day, decides to check, there's proof of the rightful owner, Huffman said.

"If you find an animal, take it to get scanned," she added. "You also can contact animal services and they'll come to you to scan for a chip or take the animal in. That way, you know you're not holding on to someone's beloved pet.

"It saves so much time and heartache if you just reach out."

A few guardian angels appeared to have been watching over T2 during that last two weeks of his life, namely a Stuart family that lives close to where T2 is believed to have gone missing in 2004.

Lisa Wadsworth and her two children, Lauren, 13, and Quin, 11, took care of T2 for five days after he wandered onto the doorstep of their Stuart home March 5. He got his first bath, which, Wadsworth said, he really loved. He also got to eat wet cat food. (If you've ever owned a cat, you know that to them, wet food is pretty much the best thing ever.) T2 also received lots of rubs and cuddles.

Finding T2, Wadsworth said, was divine intervention.

"Why were we picked?" she asked. "Somehow, he knew we were going to help him."

More: Stuart family cared for missing cat eventually reunited with owner after 14 years

On Tuesday, Martin and I chatted about what we thought T2 might have been doing for 14 years.

Maybe T2 was the ultimate dumpster diver, scrounging around inside for the best restaurant scraps that he'd carry back to his fellow strays at the colony. Or, maybe T2 was fortunate to have several owners, kind people who fed him every few days when he meandered into their lives.

Then, at night, perhaps T2 got together with other lost or abandoned cats and, in their own language, told tall tales about the adventures each of them had that day.

But Martin has a different theory.

"For him to have maintained his personality, for him to be so trusting and friendly, he had to have been loved by someone," he said. "I'm betting he lived with a family for some length of time or he would have reverted back to his natural instincts of just surviving and breathing.

"Someone had to have intervened and taken care of him."

Maureen Kenyon is TCPalm's trends reporter, keeping Treasure Coast residents updated on hot topics and happenings. Do you have a story to tell? Want to start a conversation? Send an email to maureen.kenyon@tcpalm.com, call 772-221-4249 or follow her on Twitter @_MaureenKenyon_.