Welcome Back, Kitty

Sarah D. Bunting

Cat-lovers got some sad news earlier this week when the story broke that Jack the Cat -- the little feline who went missing at JFK, then turned up in the airport two months later -- had passed away from complications of malnutrition.

But then today, a much happier tale! Australian "transcontinental tabby" Jessie, missing her brother Jack, walked from a farm near Darwin all the way back to her Ungarra home -- at the other end of the continent, 2,000 miles away. According to owner Sheree Gale, Jack was out "wandering" and missed the flight to Gale's new home; Jessie seemed to have settled in, but went missing a couple weeks later...and turned up back at Gale's old house over a year after that. The new owners of Gale's former home have taken in both cats, and everyone is now content with the arrangement.

Other cat journeys from far and wide:

...Misha survived a house fire -- but then jumped out her owner's son's window in Oakland, CA a day later. Said owner, Rita Ruderman of Berkeley, searched tirelessly for him over the next 10 months, but the "capable mouser" survived on his own until Susan Watts lured him inside with a bowl of cat food and called Ruderman. The local coverage makes it sound like laminating the "Lost Cat" posters made the difference.

...After Hurricane Katrina, little Scrubs got separated from his humans for five years. But thanks to an alert lady in South Mississippi and Scrubs's microchip, he was returned to Jennifer Noble in late 2010. Noble couldn't quite believe it was actually Scrubs after all that time, but upon coming home, he "immediately nuzzled in bed" with one of Noble's sons.

...Alan and Gilly Delaney of Birmingham, UK really couldn't believe it when their beloved Dixie turned up, almost ten years after going missing. RSCPA officer Alan Pittaway picked up the bedraggled calico, and when he scanned her for a chip, he found that she had a registered address less than a half mile from where he found her. Mrs. Delaney had more or less given up hope, but was thrilled to have the old lady back at home, as Pittaway noted: "In 29 years of working for the RSPCA I have never seen anyone so excited and happy as Mrs Delaney." I, meanwhile, am impressed that a decade outdoors did nothing to diminish Dixie's Feline Death Ray (check the pic).

...Spooky must have missed all the anti-hitchhiking PSAs back in the day, because that's how he made the 50-mile trip from Stafford, VA to Falls Church, VA in late 2000. Authorities speculated that Spooky caught rides in two different pickup-truck engine compartments, but of course Spooky would neither confirm nor deny how he'd been traveling for the last two months.

...And last but not least, the Boulder-to-Brooklyn feel-good cat story of the year (so far, anyway) is Willow, another intrepid calico who got out of her Colorado house during a renovation; was picked up by a well-meaning visitor and flown back to Brooklyn; and finally chip-scanned this September and reunited with her original family. Aaaaaand nipped her three-year-old human "sister" Lola during a press conference. Oops. (Note to self: Do not put a cat through a press conference.) Maybe "Garbow" is a better name for the little traveler?

Has your cat ever gone on walkabout? Ever had a feline friend vanish, only to reappear months -- or even years -- later? Share your story in the comments!