Arizona cat reunited with family after being lost in Oregon for several months

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    DOUGLAS COUNTY, Oregon (KPTV) — A fluffy cat named Lexi is back in the arms of her 10-year-old mom after being lost in Oregon for several months.

In July, the McMillans, from the Phoenix, Arizona-area, took a trip to Oregon.

“We decided to take the kids on an adventure,” Lizzy McMillan, the mom, said.

Lexi, the family’s fluffy gray and white cat, joined the family on their trip.

“She’s so shy, so she kind of got brought along for the ride,” McMillan said.

Once they got to Oregon, Lexi the cat got away at one of their stops near Diamond Lake.

“I saw her, I told him, he put her in the back and somehow, five of us, none of us saw her make her grand escape,” McMillan said.

The McMillans extended their trip one day to try looking for her, but, sadly, they had to head back home to Arizona without Lexi.

“I refused to get in the car,” said 10-year-old Maxine McMillan said.

Four months later, an ODOT worker, Chris Southwick, found Lexi just a few miles from where the McMillans last saw her.

“It was hiding on the engine of a piece of equipment, that had been used earlier in the day, to try and stay warm. I opened up the engine compartment and grabbed it,” Southwick said. “There were fires, when I found her, we’d been getting a pretty good snowstorm. Probably two or three feet at that time. I’m surprised she actually lived.”

After Lexi made herself at home in Southwick’s house in Glide, he decided to take her to a shelter.

“I just kept thinking of my kids and how sad they would be if they lost an animal like that,” Southwick said.

He took her to Saving Grace Adoption Center in Roseburg, where they found her owners because she was microchipped.

“This is why you chip your animal,” said Janice Quist, a volunteer at Saving Grace.

Quist said she was happy to deliver Lexi back to her family in Arizona. She just happened to have a trip planned to Surprise, Arizona anyway – just an hour away from the McMillans’ home.

“No big deal. I was determined to do it for the family,” Quist said.

As all of these plans were being figured out, Lizzy and Andy McMillan kept this a secret from their kids. Needless to say, Maxine was happy to have Lexi back home.

“I was like ‘oh my god, is this really her!?’ I got so excited that I started crying,” Maxine said through tears.

Lizzy said Lexi is adjusting back to her life in Arizona just fine.

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