Zephyr seems to have had all the luck a black cat is meant to have. After all, he's come back from the dead.
He went missing in 2017 when he went walkabout and never came back.
Until last week.
His owner had assumed Zephyr had fallen foul of a car or a similar nasty fate.
But on Tuesday last week, he returned, a slighter greyer, aged shade of black.
He was taken to the RSPCA as a stray. Because he had been microchipped all those years ago, he was back in the system. The information on the microchip identified Vanessa Niven as the owner and on the weekend the two were reunited.
The two are now getting to know each other again. Zephyr hides under a bed but emerges tentatively to Vanessa whom he seems to recognise and feel comfortable with.
"I wasn't sure if he did recognise me but he did come out from under the bed. And he has accepted some pats," Vanessa, who used to be a veterinary nurse, said.
Each day is progress: "Every time he comes out, it's a little bit more."
And he, being a cat, never was very effusive. "He's always been a very sweet cat, not super-cuddly but happy to rub up on your leg."
The missing years of Zephyr the cat remain mysterious - but there are clues.
Firstly, he seems very domesticated. He doesn't seem like a cat who has had to live on his wits in the wild.
"He's very comfortable eating out of a bowl. Even the time he was hiding under the bed, he was purring," the owner said. "He was comfortable but a little bit shy."
After Zephyr (named after a Red Hot Chili Peppers song) left more than six years ago, it seems that he may have been taken in, at least for part of the time. He was handed in a week ago by people who had noticed him outside their new home.
"I don't think he was stolen," Vanessa said.
She bears no hard feelings but does say: "If whoever found him would have taken him to the RSPCA ACT or a vet immediately, I would have got him back sooner."
The RSPCA in Canberra sees the saga as a reminder of the importance of having pets microchipped, with the details on the chip kept up-to-date.
"It makes us so happy when we scan an animal's details, call the registered phone number and the owner answers, glad to hear their pet is safe and sound," RSPCA ACT's chief executive Michelle Robertson said.
Zephyr went missing in a thunderstorm. The RSPCA said the recent thunderstorms in the ACT had also led to reports of missing pets.
"Unfortunately, pets get startled by thunder, lightning and heavy rain and it's quite common that they panic and get lost," the RSPCA said.
"Pets are like family members to most owners, and taking an animal you've found to a vet or the RSPCA for microchip scanning won't cost you anything and could mean a much-loved pet could be reunited quickly with their worried owners," Michelle Robertson of the RSPCA in Canberra said.
