‘Nothing short of a Christmas miracle’: Owner reunites with missing cat after seven months

Smudge went missing from New Hamburg in May. CTV’s Hannah Schmidt tells us how the cat finally made her way back home.

After months of uncertainty, a New Hamburg, Ont. family is ending the year with an unexpected reunion.

Smudge, a barn cat that had been missing since May, is now home thanks to the actions of a Good Samaritan and a tiny microchip.

“So we thought she was gone,” owner Sarah Steiner told CTV News.

But one scan changed everything.

“[The Humane Society] had found one of my cats that belonged to me, which I was very surprised to hear,” Steiner said.

The Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth (KWSP) Humane Society said a Good Samaritan brought Smudge into the Humane Society’s Stratford location after spotting her roaming around their neighbourhood for weeks.

“I think that being a barn cat, Smudge had that advantage,” Beverly Martin, coordinator of marketing and communications with the Humane Society, said. “She had some survival instincts out there, probably catching some field mice and whatnot. And she was doing okay until she was found.”

When Smudge was brought into the Humane Society, staff did what they always do:

“We check for microchips right away,” Martin explained. “She was luckily microchipped. We called her family, and it turned out that she had been missing for seven months, which doesn’t usually happen that often for a reunion after seven months. The family was thinking the worst.”

It was a phone call Steiner didn’t think she would receive just days before Christmas.

“One of the things that makes this such a remarkable story is that she turned up in Stratford and we live near New Hamburg,” Steiner said. “So, how this cat managed to wander half an hour up in the snow and weather, we just we just don’t know.”

For Smudge’s family, it’s the ending they didn’t expect — and the best way to close out 2025.

“Smudge lives,” Steiner said, laughing. “It felt like nothing short of a Christmas miracle.”

Humane Society staff said it’s a reminder that collars can fall off, but microchips don’t.

“We save about 2,500 animals a year, and many of those animals that come into our care are strays,” Martin said. “So, microchipping your animals is the best way to increase your odds of seeing your pet again if they do go missing.”

“We insert it right between the shoulder blades at the time of spay or neuter. They can’t feel it,” said Faith Detta with the Humane Society. “It’s the size of a grain of rice. Very tiny.”

“These ones, you just scan and then you run it over their body, and it will make a sound and then you got the microchip number,” Detta explained. “The first three digits or four digits tells us what company the microchip is from. And then we reach out to them to get the owner’s information.”

Staff encourage pet owners everywhere to consider microchipping pets, and make sure contact information is up to date.

The KWSP Humane Society currently has 105 animals in their care. This includes animals up for adoption, strays, foster animals and animals undergoing medical care and training.

Forty animals are currently up for adoption and 25 animals are in foster care.