If cats do, indeed, have nine lives, Trippy nearly exhausted all of them — with an emphasis on exhausted.

In July, Trippy, a domestic shorthair born without a fourth leg, became spooked when one of her owners opened the garage door at their Mission Hills home. She bolted and did not return for 53 days, traveling to parts unknown on three paws.

“There were a few potential sightings and a few calls, but nothing came of them,” said Lexie Peterson, who co-owns the 6-year-old cat with her husband, Bobby. The couple worked diligently to find her, setting up cameras, leaving food outside and alerting neighbors about their missing pet. Bobby frequently called her name in nearby woods.

Nearly eight weeks later, Trippy was spotted by neighbors two doors away on Orchard Drive, Kathy and Dave Drapala.

“We got a call from them, and they were very excited,” Lexie Peterson said. “They saw her sitting in their yard and sent a photo. It was Trippy.”

The timing proved fortunate. The Drapalas, who are retired, noticed Trippy in the afternoon, when many neighbors were away at work and might not have seen her.

“When we found out the cat was missing, we said we’d find Trippy somehow,” Kathy Drapala said.

Dave Drapala searched under bushes and trees but came up empty. “We thought she might be hiding under a deck,” he said.

One day, Kathy said she spotted a cat that looked like Trippy. Dave approached slowly, careful not to startle her, and snapped a photo that was sent to the Petersons. Bobby Peterson soon arrived with a carrier and blanket and brought Trippy home.

The cat was in dire condition.

“She was wrapped up in a towel and was very sick,” Lexie Peterson said. “She had lost so much weight, was dehydrated and had probably used her last ounce of strength.”

The Petersons rushed her to a veterinarian, where the prognosis was grim.

“The vet said she maybe had one more day,” Lexie said.

Trippy remained at the veterinary office for nearly a week, receiving fluids, minerals and food before returning home.

Her return was an unexpected wedding gift for the couple, who married Nov. 1 — one week before Trippy made it back. They had adopted her the day she was born.

“She’s doing great now,” Lexie Peterson said. “She’s gained her weight back and is very snuggly, jumping on beds and onto our laps — things she had never done before.”

Bobby Peterson agreed, calling her “very embracing.”

Trippy is not the only pet in the household. The Petersons are also fostering two cats.

In a twist of coincidence, Trippy lives next door to a three-legged dog named Pirate, who is missing the same leg. Pirate, a Great Pyrenees-pointer mix, is a rescue found on a street in Mississippi.

“The vet who amputated his leg named him Pirate because he was missing a leg,” said owner Andrea Babb, who lives between the Petersons and the Drapalas.

Babb praised the neighborhood’s efforts to help find Trippy.

“They did so much,” she said. “All of the kids here were looking for Trippy and made signs,” including her young daughter, Charlotte Lepore.

When Lexie Peterson posted on the Mission Hills Facebook page that Trippy had returned, the page filled with well wishes from neighbors who had been following the search.

The Petersons have owned their Mt. Lebanon home for just over four months, closing July 21. They said the experience strengthened their connection to the neighborhood.

Lexie Peterson is an attorney, and Bobby Peterson is a senior recruiter for a software company.

They also now oversee a resilient cat whose nine lives, it seems, remain intact.