After being homeless for over 10 years, Tiger is back home.

When Tiger, a light brown tabby cat was four years old, he escaped from the Dutchess County home of John and Maggie Welz when someone had accidentally left the door open according to CBSN in New York.

After 11 years, the family had lost all hope of ever finding their beloved Tiger until they received a call from Dutchess County SPCA employee, Caroll O'Connell. Every once in awhile the stray cat would wander onto O'Connell's lawn but would never let O'Connell get close enough to pet him.

After three years, she was able to gain Tiger's trust and was able to successfully approach the stray. As an afterthought, she borrowed a scanner from the SPCA just in case Tiger had been micro-chipped when he was adopted by the Welz family.

Wisely that's exactly what they had done and because of the information read-out on the chip, O'Connell was able to locate John and Maggie Welz who were ecstatic that their family pet was finally coming home. Here's what Maggie told CBS New York:

Each night I've slept with him, he crawls right up on me and I just look at him and think I can't believe that your home with us.

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