An affectionate gray cat, named Hemi isn’t talking, but if he could, one could only imagine how many of his promised feline nine lives he may have used up in the last four years and 1,700 miles away from his loving family in Bismarck, North Dakota when found last week and reunited with his former Marine owner, reports AbcNews.

Robert Connell saved Hemi in 2009 when he lived in North Carolina; the cat had hidden away to stay warm on the engine block of his car. After Connell was deployed, the family which includes Robert’s wife, Jennifer and their two children moved on base. That must have been when Hemi started out on his adventure to find Robert. “I was a little nervous about him not coming back, but I wasn’t initially worried about it until, you know about a half-hour, 45 minutes later, he wasn’t back and I couldn’t find him,” stated Jennifer.

Fast forward four years and over 1,700 miles when a surprise phone call was received from a North Carolina shelter. Hemi’s microchip led his rescuers to the cat’s family. When a friend offered to fly the cat home, the paralyzing snowstorm last week cancelled those plans, and that’s when Robert embarked on the four day, 3,400 round trip to reunite with his cat. “He knows that I needed him, and that’s why he was still around and that’s probably why he went looking for me when they moved on base. He thought I was left behind.”Ironically, Robert deals with PTSD, and Hemi once again helps his loyal human to handle life’s complications.“Geez you look a little older and wiser since I’ve last seen you,” Connell told his cat upon their reunion.

Next week the Connell family is moving into their new home and are ecstatic over the return of their best feline friend.

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