Ashley Aleman and her family, who currently live in Watsonville, California, were not expecting to see their brown female tabby cat, BooBoo, ever again.

BooBoo went missing four years ago.

I'm going to lose it, I'm going to break down and I'm going to cry. - Ashley Aleman , BooBoo's owner

"We gave up looking and when we got this phone call it was completely out of the blue, nothing that we had ever expected," Aleman told CBC News.

This month, BooBoo turned up in Morriston in Puslinch Township, just south of Guelph, Ont., and was turned over to the Guelph Humane Society (GHS).

"We thought that maybe BooBoo was originally from California and the owners moved to Canada and forgot to change the microchip information," said Melissa Stolz, the animal program and intake coordinator for the GHS.

"But when we found out that no, they were all still in California, they lost the cat in California and somehow this cat ended up in Canada, is just baffling."

The GHS called Aleman on March 17.

Stolz has been working with Aleman to get BooBoo back home over the past two weeks. Stolz said luckily the owner information in BooBoo's microchip stayed the same, so GHS was able to get in contact with the family.

How did BooBoo end up in Canada?

How BooBoo ended up in Canada, however, may always remain a mystery.

Aleman said that BooBoo had a habit of getting in people's cars and suspects that may have been how BooBoo's journey started.

Stolz said there have been cases in the past where cats get on a transport vehicle and accidently get transported over the border. Another possibility could be that someone found her as a stray in California, moved to Canada and lost her.

"This cat came in very good shape and it's hard to believe that she hasn't been taken care of for the past three years," she said.

GHS is currently working to reunite Aleman and her family with BooBoo. Aleman said her mother will fly from California to Buffalo, New York, to meet a GHS animal protection officer who will have BooBoo.

"I already told my husband, you better prepare yourself because I'm going to lose it, I'm going to break down and I'm going to cry, because it was a hard thing to lose her," Aleman said about how she will feel when her mother returns with BooBoo later this week.

"We are still in the same exact house she actually left us in so we are hoping it will be a little remembering for her."