Robbie Rotten got away from a family in Medicine Hat while they were driving from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia this summer. After five and a half months he's been found and will be reunited with the family soon. (Photo Supplied Melissa Zizek)

By Chris Brown

Nova Scotia woman to be reunited with cat lost in Medicine Hat on summer road trip

Dec 15, 2022 | 4:21 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Five and half months ago a family lost a precious pet in Medicine Hat in the middle of a cross-country move.

Now a reunion is only weeks away, and maybe less.

“I didn’t think that he would be alive, I really didn’t and even though I work for the SPCA and I see amazing things all the time, I think it’s just… just to be able to touch him would be a miracle in itself,” said Melissa Zizek on Thursday.

Zizek’s son, and her partner Chris stopped in our city while driving from Vancouver to Nova Scotia. Their cat Robbie Rotten got away from them at a hotel and after searching for hours eventually made the difficult decision to drive on without him.

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Zizek, a vet tech by trade who works with the SPCA, put out as many SOS’s as she could that night and connected with community members quickly, and they quickly sprang to action. Robbie Simpson went out and set traps in the middle of the night, she says. Tina Regehr sent every black and white cat she saw in the area to help find him.

She was beginning to lose hope, until this week. On Facebook, she writes that on Tuesday Karrie Kalmring, who Zizek calls a Christmas angel, “found a black and white tuxedo under her porch and after a vet visit and microchip confirmation, WE FOUND HIM!”

She’s now stuck with the predicament of how to get Robbie, who is skinny but overall in good health, home. It’s expensive for her to fly out west last minute this time of year and there are capacity and safety issues around flying Robbie to her. She is looking at the first available chance to fly him, which right now is a WestJet cargo flight on Jan. 8.

She says knowing he’s alive and they will be reunited is a Christmas miracle already, but hopes someone can help put it over the top.

“We’re looking into options like if there’s somebody who just happens to be already flying to Nova Scotia you know or driving even,” she says. “I figure this time of the year not so many people are taking that leap but like who knows you just never know and just sort of like some help. Even if we can get him part of the way or we can find foster parents to take him in between.”

Zizek has nothing but love for the community of Medicine Hat, calling it extraordinary.

“To just have that happy ending at the end and to just know there’s such amazing people out there in the world that didn’t even have to do anything. Thank you.”

If you think you can help reunite Zizek and Robbie Rotten you can email her at melissazizek@outlook.com