ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It's a pet parent's worst nightmare. Your companion runs out the door, only to never been seen again. But sometimes the story has a happy ending, like it did for one couple in Annapolis, Maryland.
Before Jason and Liz McKenry had kids -- before they were even married -- they had an adorable kitten named Ritz. Sixteen years ago, Ritz decided to go out on an adventure and ran out the apartment door. He never returned.
Jason and Liz, both heartbroken, looked for Ritz without luck.
"We spent months looking all around, talking to the shelters. Everything we could think of, we tried," Jason said.
A few weeks ago, their luck changed.
Six miles from Jason's old apartment, a woman found a stray cat that was in poor shape. She brought it to a vet, where it was scanned for a microchip. That's when the McKenry family discovered that Ritz had been found. He was swiftly reunited with Jason and Liz and their kids.
All these years, Liz said she kept Ritz's lost poster to remember her kitten.
"It felt like if I deleted it, it never happened, and he'd be forgotten," Liz said. "And I couldn't do that."
For 16 years Ritz was lost, but hope never was.
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