Story highlights Cat taken to animal shelter, microchip found and owners contacted

Willow is in "good health," set to reunite with owners in Colorado

A furry feline named Willow, who was last seen five years ago in Colorado, was found this week roaming the streets of New York.

Country kitty turned metropolitan cat, Willow was discovered by a pedestrian on East 20th Street in Manhattan over the weekend and brought to Animal Care and Control of NYC, according to Julie Bank, the animal shelter's executive director.

Willow tested positive for a microchip, and her Colorado owners, Chris and Jamie Squires, were later contacted, according to Bank.

"Willow is in good health, kind of chunky," Bank said. "Clearly she has been taken care of or enjoying the New York City food."

How Willow traveled from Broomfield, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, to New York -- a distance of more than 1,600 miles -- over a span of five years is a mystery.

"Someone maybe picked her up in Colorado and brought her here; sometimes animals get here oddly, like on the back of a truck," Bank said. "Some people are joking that she is a city girl and wanted to see the sights."

Calls to the Squires were not immediately returned.

As for Willow, plans are being made for her to reunite with the Squires, Bank said.

For now, she will stay with a foster family until health certificates are filed and she can make the journey back home, though perhaps not as memorable as her travels to the Big Apple.