OKEECHOBEE — After he missed Thanksgiving with his family, Scratchy’s owner was ecstatic when he returned in plenty of time for Christmas.

Kristin Sanchez and her boyfriend Hugo Medrano have spent the last three weeks frantically looking for her cat Scratchy. Sanchez has had him for about three years now after saving him from euthanasia at an animal control in Palm Beach County.

Sanchez said he was a feral cat and had been caught in a trap so he could be neutered and later released, but there was a problem with releasing him back to where he came from. The people who lived there were moving out of the country so instead of being released, Scratchy was due to be euthanized.

Instead, Scratchy found himself going home with animal lovers Sanchez and Medrano. The couple have many animals on their property — four horses, a mini horse, donkey, mini mule, nine dogs and 17 cats. Some of the animals live in the house, and some live outside. The common denominator for most was that they were abandoned, dumped or scheduled to be euthanized. Sanchez said she can’t stand to see an animal suffer and does her best to meet the needs of any that come into her life.

Scratchy was no exception. At first, he lived in the barn, because he was not really used to being around people. He earned his name while living outside. “His skin looked terrible,” said Sanchez. “He scratched all the time, and I thought maybe it was an allergy to something outside.” She brought him into the house, and his skin immediately began to clear up. She also found he was very friendly.

Scratchy gets along well with all the inside animals, but when cats run through the yard outside, the dogs do tend to chase them, said Sanchez. She thinks this is why Scratchy disappeared for three weeks. Somehow, he got out the back door and was gone. They looked everywhere, setting traps, purchasing night-vision binoculars, hanging up flyers and even offering a reward, but they could not find him.  

Sanchez was heartbroken. During the three weeks he was gone, they got several phone calls from people thinking they saw him, but the tips never panned out. One man even claimed he saw Scratchy hit by a car and wanted the couple to give him the reward even though he could not tell them where the body was.

This week though, Sanchez received a phone call that made her heart leap for joy. A neighbor called and said she was fairly certain she had been feeding Scratchy for the last few days. She said she saw him that very morning. At first Sanchez was skeptical as none of the earlier tips amounted to anything, but the woman described Scratchy’s clipped ear. (Sanchez explained when animals are picked up for the spay/neuter catch and release program, their ears are clipped.) The woman promised to call again if she saw Scratchy, and that same night, Sanchez got another phone call telling her Scratchy was at the woman’s house right that moment.

Sanchez jumped in her car and raced over to the woman’s house. When Scratchy saw her, he jumped in her arms. Though she was entitled to the $500 reward, the Good Samaritan neighbor refused all offers of a reward of any kind, saying she just wanted the cat to get safely home to his family.

Scratchy is home now with his human and animal family and ready to celebrate Christmas.