Sunny the cat may have used up one of his nine lives, but it's a happy ending after workers retrieved the wayward feline from the Revelstoke landfill.

Dylan Ross was moving from Trout Lake to Revelstoke earlier this month and stopped at the landfill about 3:30 p.m. to get rid of some waste. He was traveling with his "best buddy," orange tabby cat, Sunny.

As usual when travelling, Sunny was curled up under the seat, having a snooze. 

Ross went about his business, but forgot he had left his vehicle door open.

When he got home, he looked for Sunny in his spot, only to find it empty. 

"I was so upset," he said. "I drove back as fast as I could, but the landfill was closed. I walked the perimeter fence calling, but I couldn't find him."

Meanwhile, Sam Turkington, Columbia-Shuswap Regional District scalehouse contractor, was winding up for the day, when she heard meowing from under the scalehouse.

An animal lover and multiple cat owner, Turkington didn't want to leave the cat behind. 

"I just left the door open, and in a few minutes, he just wandered right in. He was a super-friendly cat," she says.

Co-worker Aaron Irmen took Sunny home for the evening, and Turkington did some detective work on social media. By the next morning, she had found a post that Ross had made, and soon Ross and Sunny were reunited. 

"I can't thank them enough," said Ross. "I know sometimes people can be really rude and treat the people at the landfill badly. I want people to know that these guys at the Revelstoke landfill are amazing. They really went out of their way. They deserve a shout-out."