Workers at a pet shelter traced the cat, named Willow, back to a family in Colorado, thanks to a microchip embedded in the animal's neck.
Examination of the microchip helped reveal the real owner of the cat, said Richard Gentles, spokesman for Animal Care & Control of New York City.
The brown, black and white cat was brought to the shelter after a citizen found the animal wandering the streets on the East Side of Manhattan recently, media reports said.
Though workers at the shelter don't know who was taking care of the animal for the past five years, but one thing they are sure that the pet did not travel half-way across the country on its own.
"The cat was in very good condition, clean, a little chunky. So obviously someone was taking care of her," Gentles said.
He said that Willow belongs to a Colorado family called the Squires, and it apparently ran away five years ago during a home renovation project.
Animal Care & Control plans to soon fly the cat back to the Squires, after the animal passes a required screening test for communicable disease and to make sure it is healthy enough to travel, Gentles added.
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