A Texas man has a reason to celebrate the holidays early after being reunited with his long-lost cat. 

"It’s the best Christmas present I could ever ask for," said Matthew Baker of Edinburg, Texas.

His cat, Ashes, went missing at an Ohio truck stop in July after Baker opened his truck door.

"He hit the pavement, then he looked at me and his eyes just got super big, and he bolted," Baker said. "My heart, immediately as soon as he hit the blacktop, my heart starts pounding, because I know what’s coming and I know he’s going to run."

The truck driver searched for the cat for nearly two hours, but had to get back on the road to finish his route. He returned to continue to search, but didn’t have much luck.

Four months later, Ashes walked out of the woods to two women making a pit stop at the same truck stop in Ohio.

"So Ashes came to Lollypop Farm in mid-November. He had been picked up at a truck stop in Ohio by two concerned citizens that were traveling from the West Coast to Rochester,” said Paige Doerner, communications coordinator for Lollypop Farm Human Society of Greater Rochester.

Thanks to a microchip embedded in the cat, the Lollypop Farm was able to identify him back to an address in Texas. Baker said he was shocked when he got the call.

“Matthew was incredibly emotional to find out that his cat was safe and sound here at Lollypop Farm,” said Doerner. “So he was able to divert his route to make his way to Rochester to meet up with Ashes again.”

“I was able to get him eventually and take him home, but had Kim and Claudia obviously not been the kind people they were to take care of him, and take him on the road with them, he would have died,” Baker added.

While in care at Lollypop Farm, Ashes had surgery, because he developed pancreatitis while lost in Ohio.

“They didn’t charge me for anything," Baker said. "They saved his little life, and I will donate to them every year for the rest of my life."

"It's an incredible success, and that has to be one of our longest distances in terms of reuniting the lost part with the family that's been missing them,” Doerner added.

Lollypop Farm says it is quick and easy to get your pet microchipped.

“Pretty much any veterinarian office can do it for you. It is quick, simple and it doesn't hurt the pet; it is just a quick little pinch and they're microchipped," she continued. "And you can update the information on the microchip any time you move or if you get a new phone number, so that you're always up to date with your pet's contact information.”