But at 9 months old, Cheech was hit by a car and had to have his front left leg amputated.
Despite the trauma, he made a recovery and adapted quickly to having three legs.
Baker then moved into a home where she couldn’t keep Cheech and he temporarily moved in with a friend.
When Baker did move into her own place, Cheech joined her – but he kept going missing as the area was busy with more cats to reckon with.
Over the next two years, Cheech would disappear for periods of time only to be spotted around town and returned home.
Cheech the three-legged cat.
But in 2020, Cheech hit the road and didn’t come back.
“It was so heartbreaking because that was my daughter’s best friend,” Baker said.
Baker searched the streets, followed lost pet pages and held on to hope – even after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the region.
She feared the worst but “I was always hopeful”.
Baker believed someone was feeding him, assuming he was a stray.
“I know everyone wants to love them and feed all the stray cats, but it really needs to stop. That’s the reason cats don’t come home,” she said.
Five years later, Baker received a message from a friend to say there was a three-legged cat that looked like Cheech at the Napier SPCA.
“I wasn’t sure if it was going to be him because I thought there’s no way my cat with three legs has survived this bloody long,” Baker said.
“But when I turned up, his purr, he was so excited to see me and he was trying to charge down the little cat cage door to try and get out to give me cuddles, and it was so beautiful.”
Baker’s daughter was happy when Cheech returned and now sleeps with him in her bed every night.
Baker called the team at the Napier SPCA amazing and said they gave her vouchers to get Cheech microchipped to help locate him in case of any further adventures.
However, Cheech’s escape routes from home have been blocked off and he is enjoying his time inside once again.