After nearly 5 years on the run, a wayward Kerrville feline is reunited with her people

Kerrville’s Sara Cotton got a surprise on Wednesday, one that cleared up a nearly five-year-old mystery — whatever happened to the family cat S’Mores?

S’Mores was alive and well and ready to come home.

After disappearing in November 2021, S’Mores was reunited with Cotton and her daughter, Charlie, on Wednesday after the wayward feline was captured as part of a feral cat colony by Kerr County-based nonprofit The Big Fix, which manages feral cat colonies through trap-neuter-return efforts. Town and Country Animal Hospital was spaying and neutering the colony but found that this brown-and-white cat was already spayed. A quick check of the cat for a microchip revealed the truth.

“It was a shock,” said Cotton, who thought the veterinarian clinic was calling about one of her other animals. “It’s crazy that they took her to my vet. I thought they were calling to change the appointment of another one of my cats.”

Cotton said that S’Mores escaped in 2021 after sneaking into her car. Without knowing the cat was hitching a ride, Cotton drove to Center Point High School, where she teaches, to see a basketball game, and then discovered the cat was in the car when she bolted out of the vehicle.

“We knew she was in Center Point,” Cotton said. “We put up flyers and posters asking for her return. About two years ago, we got a call from a woman who said she thought she had our cat, but it wasn’t her.”

Cotton said she never expected to see S’Mores again. Then came the phone call.

“We have your cat,” Cotton said of the call from the vet’s office.

Cotton took her daughter to the clinic, but told her they were there to pick up medication for another pet. Instead, the improbable reunion happened.

“We both cried,” Cotton said.

Now, S’Mores is back home and already making herself comfortable.

“She’s already sitting in our laps and making biscuits,” Cotton said.