hey dude also another hopeful story...
my cat was like 6 months old or something, still very small...my parents hadnt seen it in about 3 weeks and figured it was gonzo...at the three week mark of him being gone me and my brother were house sitting for them while they were on vacation. i joked that he would come back when i was home cause he always liked me best (even i figured he was gone for good). we were really wasted the first night of house sitting and we were in the hot tub, we also had a bonfire going next to the tub...and after a while what do we hear "meeeeeooowwww" this little grey cat comes crawling over looking like starvin marvin, i jumped out of the tub and grabbed him and got him some food, water, and milk....he totally housed that shit and he eventually made a full recovery after a few weeks. the best part was he was a total cock before (we even named him rascal cause he hated everyone), but when he got back hes real nice to people.
so yeah good luck with the kittah search.