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Zelitsky visited the shelter the very next morning with her neighbor, who also adored Jimmy, and it was clear right away that her kitty had been found. Jimmy even recognized the scent of her husband’s pillowcase that she brought with her, along with a dog toy Jimmy would’ve remembered from years ago.

\"Jim Jim, is that you, babe?\" Zelitsky asked the tiger cat in his cage. \"He turned and head-butted me and started to rub me and he did the same thing with the pillow case and the toy. I started to cry immediately. We took him into a room on a blanket and he was all over us. He always liked belly rubs. I would rub his belly and he’d nip me when he’d have enough. He nipped me just like he used to. Even the woman at the shelter said she could not get over the reaction of this cat.\"

\"PHOTO:
The Real Cats at West Milford Animal Shelter
PHOTO: Jimmy the cat has made his way home after missing since September 13, 2014, in Wanaque, New Jersey.
>

Zelitsky called her husband to tell him the good news.

\"My husband came to the shelter and the kitty is head-butting my husband,\" she continued. \"Everything added up and we just knew it was him. And he knew it was us ... it’s amazing.\"

\"PHOTO:
The Real Cats at West Milford Animal Shelter
PHOTO: Jimmy the cat has made his way home after missing since September 13, 2014, in Wanaque, New Jersey.
>

Though the house has changed a bit since Jimmy was lost, the family is happy.

\"It’s just amazing he’s in our house,\" Zelitsky said. \"It’s so cute. We have two other kitties we got since he left and they just warmed up to him with open paws.\"

The Zelitskys have no idea what their beloved Jimmy, who is not microchipped, was up to all this time. But, they are grateful to whomever rescued him from the High Crest neighborhood of West Milford right after the blizzard in March.

\"PHOTO:
The Real Cats at West Milford Animal Shelter
PHOTO: Jimmy the cat has made his way home after missing since September 13, 2014, in Wanaque, New Jersey.
>

\"I wish he could talk for just five minutes so he could tell me,\" said Zelitsky. \"I really don’t know the answer, but I’m just so glad he’s home.\"

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy of Susan Zelitsky
PHOTO: Jimmy the cat has made his way home after missing since September 13, 2014, in Wanaque, New Jersey.
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