Mimi, the missing-for-10-years cat, will soon be reunited with her former LI owner who now lives in Spain
Mimi, the cat who went missing from an East Setauket home about 10 years ago, recently turned up in a Miller Place backyard. Credit: Gary Guiseppone
Mimi the cat is one lucky feline.
Ten years ago, the long-haired kitty went missing. Her owner, Richard Price, said he searched, called vets and the local shelter and posted flyers, to no avail.
Last year, Price said, he and his wife retired to Valencia, Spain, feeling terrible that they had left behind their beloved pet.
"She was wonderful, a sweet little cat," said Price, 59, who had lived in East Setauket. Mimi had been staying with a relative in Miller Place when she slipped out the door, he said.
Flash forward to this past Monday, when the Brookhaven Animal Shelter called Price with some shocking news. They had in their possession a cat that had an electronic chip under its skin.
The conversation, Price said, went something like this.
"Did you have a black-and-white cat?"
"Yeah, a long time ago."
"Was its name Mimi?"
"Oh my God, yeah."
By now, Mimi looked so ratty that the shelter staff had to shave her. The cat will now stay with Price's niece in Northport until Price comes back to Long Island next month to take her back to Spain, he said.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said, “The animal shelter takes in many stray cats, so it’s a happy story when we can help reunite them with their owner. … It’s a ‘feel good’ story that is perfect for the holiday season.”
The hero behind this serendipitous happenstance is Gary Guiseppone, of Miller Place, who said he had first seen the cat a few years ago roaming the neighborhood.
"She wasn't looking good. She looked like another animal had attacked her," he said. "My neighbors started seeing her, and we started talking about it, because it was such an ugly cat."
Staff at the Brookhaven Animal Shelter shaved Mimi because her hair had gotten ratty.
People left food out for the cat and then it disappeared.
"I figure she died," he said.
Then he started seeing the cat again a few months ago.
"She kept showing up at my door," said Guiseppone, 61, adding that he started feeding her. "She let me stay next to her, but not pet her."
Guiseppone said he couldn't keep the cat since he already had two dogs and a cat who only likes him. Figuring that it's getting cold and that he didn't want the cat to go through the winter, he brought Mimi to the Brookhaven shelter.
When Guiseppone heard that the cat had been identified and that Price planned to pick her up, the two men talked over the phone. Both were amazed at what happened, he said.
"I was a little shocked that they had contacted the person. I was happy as anything," Guiseppone said.
Price, who used to work in IT, says he doesn't expect Mimi to recognize him after all these years. But he was happy to hear that Mimi had let the shelter staff pet her.
"What a miracle," Price said. "What a Christmas present."
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
