A cat missing for five years is back home in Mississippi, bearing battle scars and a wilder attitude but happy, the owner says.

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"This is the power of microchipping," humane society Director Tara High said. "There is no other way that cat would have found its family. This is a very dramatic story with a wonderful ending."

Scrub was an indoor cat living in Gulfport, Miss., with Jennifer and Chris Noble prior to Hurricane Katrina, but after the storm hit their living conditions changed considerably, The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., reported.

Jennifer Noble said they had taken to leaving the doors and windows open because it was hot and there was no electricity after the hurricane. Scrub started going outside but one day didn't come back.

"I honestly think he got disoriented; that he just couldn't find this way back," Jennifer Noble said.

Five years later, an employee from the Humane Society of South Mississippi called Jennifer's home message machine saying a cat had been brought in with their information on his microchip, the newspaper said Tuesday.

"You have my cat! Oh my gosh!" she remembers saying. "That cat has been missing for five years!"

"Oh my gosh," the employee said. "Well, Merry Christmas'!"