The Unbelievable Reappearance of Boots the Cat

By Lauren Puckett

Three years ago, Rocio, a volunteer trapper and foster for the Humane Society of Loudoun County, found two stray cats near her home. She fed them for nine months, noticing that one of them seemed especially friendly. Rocio had just begun looking for a home for him when one day the cats stopped coming around.

Fast forward to August 2023, when HSLC received a request from a woman who had been feeding two cats and noticed that one was limping. Rocio went to the woman’s house to assess the cat. She was surprised to see that it was Boots, the very same cat that she had fed three years earlier!

She coaxed him out from his hiding place underneath a shed and took him to the vet. As it turns out, Boots is completely tame and healthy (the limp was due to a gluey residue stuck to his paw, which will be monitored). Now that he has a clean bill of health, he will go to an HSLC foster home until he finds an adoptive family.

“Boots doesn’t belong outside – never did,” says Rocio. “It took me a week to gain his trust again and he is very sweet. He knows his name and as soon as I call him he comes running and sits close to me asking for love.”

HSLC is glad to provide Boots with the second chance he deserves, thanks to Rocio and other dedicated volunteers like her!

To learn more about becoming a cat trapper with HSLC, visit our page of current volunteer opportunities.