posted April 29, 2004 07:40 AM         

SAN FRANCISCO - Cheyenne, a cat that went missing in Florida seven years ago and was recently found wandering streets, was reunited Wednesday with her owner, who was flown to San Francisco at Ellen DeGeneres' expense.

"Ellen is a huge animal lover," said Michelle Gross, a spokeswoman for the talk show host. "When she heard about this woman being separated from her cat, she just wanted to help reunite her and have her on the show."

After picking up Cheyenne from the city's Animal Care and Control department, Pamela Edwards and her daughter went to Los Angeles to tape a future episode of DeGeneres' show.

Edwards adopted the black short-haired cat from her local animal shelter in Bradenton, Fla., in 1997. The cat disappeared a few months later.

Earlier this month, Edwards got a call from San Francisco, where city workers had scanned Cheyenne's implanted microchip and learned she belonged to Edwards, 2,800 miles away in Florida.

By coincidence, the woman took the call the same day she was taking her other cat, who was 19 years old, to be euthanized. Cheyenne is now 10 years old.

How did the cat make such a journey?

"Possibly, someone found her in Florida," said Deb Campbell, spokeswoman for Animal Care and Control. "Or sometimes cats get stuck in moving vans. We know she didn't walk here — her feet looked pretty good."