Imagine discovering that your precious kitty, who has been your best friend for 12 years, had gone missing. Well, that is exactly what happened to Iris Samaniego.
Diego the cat is a flame-point Siamese and had shared his life with Iris for 12 years until one day he found the garage door open and decided to sneak out. That was in June 2015 and after almost two years of searching for her beloved cat, she finally found her best friend of 12 years.
Iris said that she had never given up hope and unlike everyone else, was convinced that he was still alive.
“I posted signs everywhere for over a year,” Iris explained. “I was at work and in between patients, I’m a vet tech, something told me to look on animal friends of the valley website which is odd for me.”
Even after friends and family had counseled her to let go, she had faith and continued her search for Diego.
One day, while searching on the site a very familiar face popped up,
“I saw his picture and left work as fast I could.”
As soon as Iris and her sister Crystal arrived at the shelter and saw the cat, they instantly knew it was Diego.
“The moment I saw him I felt indescribable joy, I felt peace and overwhelmed because I knew he wasn’t dead. My intuition always told me he was alive.”
She came straight to the shelter after work and when we saw him we knew it was him. By the way, the shelter did an amazing job at taking care of Diego while he was there.
Never give up on finding your animals. This is the best present she could have received.
