SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — It’s a reunion that has gone viral online: a San Diego woman who battled cancer and depression was reunited with her dog who went missing two and a half years ago.
Semper is the beautiful husky at the center of this incredible story along with his mom Kameroun Mares.
“Some people see their dogs as companions or whatever, but I don't,” said Mares. “He's an extension of myself and a piece of my heart.”
Mares never stopped looking for her dog Semper.
"It was just really hard being separated from him,” she said.
Mares is now in remission from Leukemia, but said she battles diabetes and depression with Semper was always there to lean on.
She moved to Florida with her dog in 2015.
In 2016, Mares returned to San Diego temporarily to undergo treatment. While she was gone, she says her now ex-roommate sold semper without her permission to someone on Craigslist. She says she was lied to and told he just ran away
"Saying it was hard it and unbearable is a grave understatement,” she said.
Semper was microchipped so Mares checked shelters and put out fliers, but months went by with no phone calls. Finally, she discovered someone had added their name to Semper's microchip.
Mares then hired pet detective Ana Campos to track him down and after a lot of worrying and waiting, their reunion was caught on camera.
"When I finally saw him and stuff like that I broke down crying,” she said. “When I finally have him back, the pain of 2.5 years is now healing.”
Mares says she is so grateful to the pet detective who helped find Semper.
One website she said helped her track Semper was the American Animal Hospital Association’s microchip tool online.