EDMONTON, Alberta - Mystery swirls around a cat named Smokey that suddenly reappeared seven years after she vanished from her owner's backyard.

Denise Bilowus had held out hope that Smokey would someday return, even going as far as ensuring her Edmonton phone number stayed the same when she moved so animal services would be able to contact her.

Still, Bilowus was more than a little surprised when she got a text message from her niece stating that Edmonton's animal control service had her long-lost friend.

"I don't know where this cat has been for seven years," said Bilowus.

Staff used a small identification tattoo to trace the critter to her owner.

Animal services say they have no way of knowing how many hands Smokey passed through before she landed in their lap.

Smokey is slowly getting reacquainted with her home, and with Silver, a grey kitten Bilowus brought home in 2001 which is now a fully-grown cat.

Bilowus said Smokey's journey is testament to the benefits of marking your animal with permanent identification, either with a tattoo, or a microchip which can be scanned and matched to information in an international database.

"I wanted to let people know that it's important to get your cat tattooed," she said.

"And if a person does find a cat they (should) turn it in."

Smokey now has a microchip as well, Bilowus said. But she's hopeful the fluffy grey cat won't be going anywhere any time soon.