A Lost Cat Made the 900-Mile Trek Home From Wyoming to California

If the movie Homeward Bound brings you to tears, grab the tissue box (and maybe some acid reflux meds while you’re at it, because you’re definitely in your 30s, at least). Per the Associated Press, in August, a California couple was reunited with a beloved family member, their cat Rayne Beau (pronounced  “Rainbow”), two months after he went missing in Yellowstone National Park earlier this summer.

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Losing Rayne Beau

On June 8, the couple, Benny and Susanne Anguiano, were camping with their two kitties in the Wyoming park when Rayne Beau was startled by something in the woods and took off. The Anguianos looked for the gray cat for four days, hoping to entice him with his favorite treats and toys. But unfortunately, they didn’t have any luck and had to head back to their hometown, Salinas, California.

Susanne told the AP that, even as they drove away from Yellowstone, she kept up hope that Rayne Beau would find his way back to them. “We were entering the Nevada desert, and all of a sudden I see a double rainbow. And I took a picture of it and I thought, that’s a sign. That’s a sign for our rainbow that he’s going to be OK,” she said.

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The big family reunion

In August, a microchip company alerted the Anguianos that Rayne Beau was at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Roseville, California (north of Sacramento) which is 900 miles from where his parents last saw him in Wyoming. Turns out, he’d made it all the way to Northern California, presumably on his own. There, a woman found him and gave him food and water until she trapped him on Aug. 3. She took him to the SPCA, where, the next day, he was reunited with his family.

“I believe truly that he made that trek mostly on his own,” Susanne said. “His paws were really beat up. Lost 40 percent of his body weight, had really low protein levels because of inadequate nutrition. So he was not cared for.” They added that in addition to their microchips, they’ve attached AirTags to both of their cats (Rayne Beau got a global GPS tracker, too).

Benny added that they’re going to scale back on their family camping trips for a while: “It was a very ugly feeling after we lost him,” he said. “We’ll have to practice camping at home and camp in the driveway to get him used to it.”

If this story isn’t a reminder to make sure your cat’s microchip is up to date or to get them microchipped in the first place, nothing will convince you. Read more here about why it’s crucial to do this for your kitty, even if they aren’t an outdoor adventurer like Rayne Beau).