Cats have nine lives — and apparently they have 900 miles in them, too.
On a trip to Yellowstone National Park in early June, the couple's beloved house cat Rayne Beau was spooked and ran off into the dense trees.
Distraught, they spent the rest of their trip desperately scouring the forest for him, at times getting lost themselves. They laid out his favorite treats and toys, hoping to lure him back to their campsite.
Benny Anguiano told NBC News that a Yellowstone employee came by their campsite to warn him that a pack of coyotes had attacked a small dog in the area — and that the couple would be lucky if their cat made it through the night. By the time the trip had concluded, Rayne Beau was still missing, Benny Anguiano said.
"We had to leave without him,” Susanne Anguiano said in an interview with NBC affiliate KSBW of Salinas. “That was the hardest day, because I felt like I was abandoning him."
But as they were leaving Yellowstone, she spotted a special symbol.
"We were driving along and out of nowhere, these double rainbows appear, and it just knit it all together for me," she told KSBW.
She said she took her cat's namesake in the sky as a sign to remain hopeful for Rayne Beau's return. Sixty days later, her wish on the rainbow came true: Her furry friend had been found.
The Anguianos got a message from PetWatch, a pet microchip registry service, listing Rayne Beau's microchip information and location. He was at a shelter in Roseville, California, over 800 miles from Yellowstone where he had been lost.
The couple said a woman in the area found him alone in the street, realized he was someone’s pet and turned him in. They still don't know how their courageous cat traveled so far, though, or knew the right way home.
The journey took a toll on Rayne Beau. Before he was lost, he weighed in at about 14 pounds. When he was found, he weighed only 8.
"He was really depleted," Susanne Anguiano told KSBW. "He probably didn’t have a lot of energy to even go further."
Rayne Beau, safely reunited with his family on Aug. 4, now spends his days playing with his twin sister, regaining his strength and taking well-deserved catnaps. But the Anguianos are still curious about how he clawed his way home.
Benny Anguiano said he hopes someone will hear their story and recognize their fearless feline.
"'Hey, I remember that cat, and, like, we saw it here, we saw it there' or even they took it in," he told KSBW.
As the couple works to put the mystery to rest, they hope to encourage other pet owners to take measures to ensure their pets' safety.
"Definitely microchip your cat or your pet and register the microchip online," Susanne Anguiano told KSBW. "We would have never gotten them back had that not happened."
Rayne Beau is safe and sound, readjusting to life at home. But if you thought camping was off this family's itinerary for the near future, think again.
"We have a global tracker now," Benny Anguiano told NBC News.
Gabriella Rudy is a news associate for NBC News.
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