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When Larysa Ivanenko’s son died fighting for Ukraine, her daughter and cats helped her cope with the depression that followed. But when one of her cats, who had traveled from Ukraine, went missing in the United States, Ivanenko’s resilience was tested again.
“I didn’t leave in the first days of the war only because I couldn’t leave my pets,” she said.
Much like the rest of her country, Ivanenko’s life changed drastically with Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Her house was 13 miles from where the occupiers landed. She heard explosions and gunfire every day. Her son volunteered to go to war to defend his country. A few months later, he died in the war.
His death was followed by a depression she struggled to overcome. So, her friends offered to help her come to the U.S. under a refugee program so she could start a new life.
Ivanenko moved to Sacramento from Ukraine with her mother and daughter in June as a part of Uniting for Ukraine, which provides a pathway for Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members to come to the United States and stay temporarily on parole for two years.
She had about 25 cats in Ukraine but could not bring them all. So she had to decide who to keep and who to place with other families. Ultimately, she decided to keep four young female cats and one sterilized 8-year-old cat.
One of the cats she could not bring was Yaemiko. In October, when Ivanenko was a little more settled in Sacramento, she arranged for Yaemiko to join her in California. Her friend Yelena Makovskaya went to San Francisco International Airport to pick up Yaemiko while Ivanenko prepared his food at home.
Yaemiko had been commuting for two days. Yelena wanted to change his diapers in the cage so that he would travel clean. But when Yelena opened the cage, Yaemiko jumped out and ran across the road in a stressful state.
She looked for him with the help of cargo workers. Ivanenko came to SFO with her daughter as fast as she could and helped with the search.
“We called him, we went around every possible bush and every corner where he could hide,” said Ivanenko.
But Yaemiko was nowhere to be found. Ivanenko continued going to the airport every day for a week with her daughter. Makovskaya left Yaemiko’s information in shelters in the hope that someone would find him and bring him there.
“After a week, my hope began to fade,” Ivanenko added. However, she still continued to go to the airport every other day.
Back at SFO, Yaemiko was fending for himself in an unfamiliar place about 6,200 miles away from home.
Things took a turn when two baggage handlers spotted a stray cat at SFO and decided to set up a trap by putting out food. After a month of being stranded at the airport, Yaemiko was rescued and brought to Nine Lives Foundation in Redwood City.
Nine Lives is an animal shelter that provides affordable care for cats and helps at-risk felines. According to Clare Sugarman, the cat clinic supervisor, all the cats that come into the clinic are scanned for a microchip to see if they have an owner. Each chip has a unique number that links the cat to its owner.
To Sugarman’s surprise, Yaemiko’s chip revealed he was from Ukraine.
“That was when I knew this cat had made a very long journey,” she said.
Sugarman added that the microchip was only linked to an email address. She sent the owner an email but did not hear back. She was eventually able to get in touch with the baggage handlers, who in turn figured out the contact information of the person who had lost a cat at the airport.
As one thing led to another, on the evening of Nov. 18, Ivanenko received a phone call from her friend. She finally got her wish. Someone found Yaemiko.
“At that moment, I caught my breath. I couldn’t believe it was true,” said Ivanenko. “I laughed and cried at the same time.”
Her mother and daughter ran to her, and the three “jumped in joy.” Ivanenko described it as an “unforgettable moment.” The three arrived at the clinic the next day.
“They were just thrilled,” said Sugarman. “They were so excited to be reunited.”
Ivanenko welcomed Yaemiko to his new home in Sacramento. Although she still desires to return home, she feels safe in California.
“After everything they’ve endured—leaving their home, their country, and everything they knew—they were finally whole again,” said Liam Montgomery, executive director at Nine Lives.
