The cat vanished during a trip from Maryland to Michigan

In December 2017, Barack, a feline member of the Shivers-Barclay family, went missing in Pennsylvania. Now, five years after he vanished, someone found Barack and reunited him with his family.

Missing

When the Shivers-Barclay family headed to Michigan by car, they took their beloved cat Barack with them. They were going to spend the holidays with family and they were driving up from Maryland. In Pennsylvania, the family stopped at a gas station to get some snacks. Barack was in the car at the moment but as soon as the car door opened, Barack jumped out of the car. Sambia Shivers-Barclay told Newsweek: “My daughter was petting him so the crate was open and we didn’t think about it. As we opened the car door to get out, he ran out of the crate and jumped out of the car.” Apparently, Barack got scared and ran off into the woods. The family looked for him but at some point they had to keep driving without their beloved pet.

Search

Barack’s owner said that she couldn’t enjoy the time spent with her family. “I cried the entire Christmas. The day after Christmas I apologized to my parents and said I’ve got to go, to get back to Pennsylvania and see if I can find Barack.” Even though she still couldn’t find her furry friend, she left his crate in Pennsylvania and asked the staff of the gas station to look out for him. Every weekend, she would return to the Pennsylvania gas station to look for Barack but without success. Eventually, Shivers-Barclay said that she gave up hope and she started fostering cats.

Reunited

Then, a little over five years after Barack vanished, she received a call. “They said, ‘would you happen to have a cat named Barack?’ I said I had a cat, but he’s been gone for five years. That’s when they said no, he’s right here.” The cat showed up at a farm that was 40 minutes away from where he vanished. The owners asked the vet to check for a chip and that is when they found out that the cat was Barack Shivers-Barclay. His owner immediately jumped into the car to pick him up. And Barack is happy to be back. “He’s really overly affectionate. If I’m around him, he immediately leaps into my arms and he likes to snuggle under my neck. He has shown me 100 percent that he remembers me,” Shivers-Barclay said.

The dog went missing but found her way back to the shelter she had lived in before being adopted 

When Bailey, a newly adopted dog from El Paso, Texas, went missing, her family wanted to desperately find her again. The shelter that she was adopted from, Animal Rescue League of El Paso, posted about the dog on social media to help find her. But it turned out that Bailey knew how to get to safety herself. In the middle of the night she turned up at the shelter and rang the doorbell for help.

Missing

In January, Bailey, a dog that had just been adopted from Animal Rescue League of El Paso in Texas, went missing. The family that adopted Bailey contacted the shelter to get some help in getting her back. So, the shelter posted about it on their social media page. The message said: “This beautiful girl — Bailey — has gotten loose in the area of Mesa and Sunland Park, on the west side. She is very friendly. If you spot her or find her, please call.” And even though people reported seeing the dog, it turns out that Bailey didn’t need any help getting to a safe place.

Doorbell

According to KFOX14, Bailey found her way back to Animal Rescue League which was 10 miles away from the home she was living in. The shelter posted how Bailey turned up in the middle of the night and rang the doorbell. The doorbell has a camera and in the picture accompanying the post, Bailey can be seen pushing the doorbell with her snout. “Bailey is now safe. To all those who searched, spotted, called, hoped – we thank you. As we know, dogs are incredible. Bailey made her own way back to ARL and rang our ring doorbell at 1:15 am, saying she wanted in. Staff rushed to the shelter and put Bailey in her run,” the post read.

Loretta Hyde, the founder of the shelter, told KFOX14 that she was very impressed with Baileys actions. “These dogs are smarter than people give them credit for. How did she know what direction to go?” Bailey is now back with her family. It is unclear why she went missing and what she did during the time she was away.