A Hanukkah Homecoming for Doug the Cat

The Stewart family's cat Doug, missing since Sept. 18, is home safe and sound in Huntington Woods after a concerted community effort.

"After almost 3 months, Doug is back home," Jane Stewart wrote in an e-mail Monday to Berkley Patch. "She left during Rosh Hashanah and came back home before the first night of Hanukkah. Apparently our cat is Jewish so we're going to celebrate the Jewish holidays in her honor."

The broken-heart family had posted fliers throughout the city after the frisky feline, who is white with patches of brown and black tiger stripes, left her house on Ludlow. There were several sightings, but none that panned out until last week.

Stewart said the Huntington Woods community used social media Thursday and Friday to keep track of the fresh Doug sightings.

"Lucky for us, Jennifer Friedman picked her up off a porch on Friday after school and brought her to our house," Stewart wrote.

Doug came into the Stewarts' life a little less than a year ago, Berkley Patch reported in October. She had lived with another family on Ludlow before she started hanging around the Stewarts' house. Eventually, Doug, who had been a pet of the former family's college student, moved in full time with the Stewarts.

"We are a happy family," Jane Stewart wrote Monday. "So thrilled to have her back home."