Last September's Valley Fire devastated the community of Middletown, California and destroyed over 1200 homes, becoming the third most destructive wildfire in state history. It also killed four people and an unknown number of animals, and the Middletown Animal Hospital is still keeping a bulletin board for people with lost pets. One pet owner, though, got lucky last week.

Her name is Nancy, and as the hospital posted to Facebook, she was driving near her house in Middletown last Thursday when she saw a white cat that looked like Muscat, her cat who she had not seen since the evacuation on September 12, 2015. She stopped the car and the cat came to her, and she immediately called the hospital to see about a check-up.

As CBS 5 reports, Teresa Axthelm of the Middletown Animal Hospital says, "We were just so excited... So I said, at no charge, get Muscat in here, get him examined, get him vaccinated."

Via Facebook she says, "We're happy to report that Muscat is healthy."

This story echoes that of the badly burned cat who nonetheless survived the fire, though his eyes were burned shut. (That cat's ultimate fate is unclear.)

As the Sacramento Bee reported in the wake of the Valley Fire, dozens of pets were injured in the fire and treated at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, many of them cats. Vets surmised that dogs would have been easier to corral in the chaos of the evacuation, while cats would be more likely to flee on their own or hide, with many left homeless and separated from their owners.

In the case of Muscat, at least, he hung around, clearly kept himself fed all these months, and waited to get picked up.