Missing Greenwich cat Turtle comes home after 571 days
Turtle is a grey cat, a rare Nebelung. He slipped out of a house in Byram, Greenwich, in March 2025. Nineteen months later a post on Nextdoor found him seven miles away. He came home purring.
17 October 2026
Photo: courtesy of Kelly Moore, via Greenwich Patch
Kelly Moore lives in Byram, in Greenwich, Connecticut. On 18 March 2025 she was hurrying to take out the recycling before an appointment. The storm door did not shut behind her. There was a small crack at the bottom.
Turtle ran out after her. He was on the porch and about to come back in. Then Moore came back quickly, startled him, and he ran.
It was a comedy of errors.Kelly Moore, to Greenwich Patch
Moore’s daughter Shelby had adopted Turtle in Tennessee years before. He did not get on with her other cat, so he went to live with her mother. He had been in Byram nine months when he got out.
Photo: courtesy of Kelly Moore, via Greenwich Patch
The search
Moore and Shelby asked Rocco Autero of Rocket Lost Pet Rescue for help. He set up trail cameras near the house. They showed Turtle coming back to eat in the night, but he would not go near a trap.
After two weeks, and a heavy downpour, he stopped coming. They put up lawn signs and posted online. Autero even followed stray cats with a thermal drone. They found nothing.
Believe me, I cried. It was such a loss.Kelly Moore
Mamaroneck
On 6 October 2026 Autero saw a post on Nextdoor. A long-haired grey cat with a clipped ear had been seen by a street off I-95 in Mamaroneck, New York. That is six or seven miles from Byram. A woman there had been feeding him for about a month.
On the night of 9 October Autero scanned the cat’s microchip at feeding time. It was Turtle.
The next night the family went to Mamaroneck with a disguised carrier. Shelby crept up while he ate and lifted him under the arms.
Turtle was a total ragdoll. I just walked up, opened the top, and Shelby lowered him in.Kelly Moore
Photo: courtesy of Kelly Moore, via Greenwich Patch
Home
He was home in Byram that night, 571 days after he got out. He is living in one room for now and comes out each day to settle in.
It’s like he remembered. I couldn’t believe it. He was purring.Kelly Moore
Moore is taking him to the vet for a check-up. She is also fixing the storm door.
Carry a story in five words
We run a game called Long Story Short: one real news sentence a day, and you keep the five words that carry it. Today’s is below. Do play.
How to play
One real news sentence. The job is to keep the five words that carry the story and let the rest go, then guess. Blue means the right word in the right place, orange the right word in the wrong place.
Yesterday: Susan Gair, 104, of Glasgow, and her brother William, 86, the last surviving siblings, were reunited after 60 years apart, when William’s daughter found an article about Susan’s 100th birthday. The five were siblings reunited after 60 years.