Cat reunited with family after being found 740 miles away

A cat from Illinois who went missing for three weeks has been reunited with his family - after he was found 740 miles away in Raleigh, N.C.

Lazarus, a three to four year old cat, was reunited with his worried family thanks to his microchip.

Owner Roy, an HVAC technician who lives on a farm in Wayne County, Illinois, said he rents out his acres of land to hunters, who he believes may have mistakenly taken Lazarus in their truck bed back to Raleigh.

Somehow Lazarus found his way to the home of Maddie O'Beirne, a recent college graduate who grew up in Vienna, Virginia, but had just recently moved to Raleigh. Maddie said she walked outside her house one morning only to find an unfamiliar cat rolling around in the front yard. She pets the cat not thinking too much about it, other than she assumed she was petting a friendly neighborhood cat.

After leaving to run a few errands, Maddie came back home to find the cat sitting on her front porch, and even followed her into the house. After talking with a neighbor, Annetta Hoggard, Maddie realized the cat did not belong to anyone in the neighborhood. Annetta offered to take it to the vet, and what she found out next was a shocking discovery.

The cat's microchip linked him back to the Humane Society of Wayne County Illinois. Annetta got in touch with the family who owned the cat, eventually learning that his name was Lazarus. Lazarus belonged to a single father with three children from Illinois.

Maddie and her boyfriend Ryan Medric fostered Lazarus until Monday, around 11:00 a.m. when the Lazarus's family made it safe and sound to Raleigh. The drive took around 12 hours and totaled 740 miles just one way.

Even though we may never know exactly how Lazarus made it all the way from Illinois to N.C., we do know that he is now safe at home with his family, all thanks to Maddie and Annetta!