Missing New Mexico cat found in Chicago (1,300 miles)

[underpants]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2167956,new-mexico-cat-chicago-041610.article

Charles the cat disappeared from New Mexico eight months ago, and was found on the South Side earlier this week — a little dirty but otherwise fine.

The cat was brought to the city’s Animal Care and Control shelter, where a microchip embedded between his shoulder blades identified him, said Animal Care and Control Commissioner Cherie Travis.

Turns out the owner’s roommate let Charles out in August, and he never returned. Now a good Samaritan from New Mexico has offered to pick up the cat while in Chicago for a wedding and bring him back.

How he made the 1,300-mile journey remains a mystery. The absence of telltale clues, however, is a clue.

“If he had walked that far, he wouldn’t have pads” on his paws, Travis said. “Someone must have picked him up and brought him here. He would look pretty worn out if he spent the winter walking to Chicago. And that doesn’t make any sense. Why would he go north for the winter?”

[wishlist]

1. Cats will hitch rides on trailers and vehicles and ride many hours undetected

You might think a cat would get scared and jump off as soon as a pull behind trailer or truck started moving or stopped, but I know of a cat that rode on an open trailer being pulled behind a friend's van and was only detected many hours later when they stopped for the night in another state and heard the cat meowing.

[MorningGlow]

3. This is true

When we lived on a small lake, a very beautiful longhair cat showed up at our door. We couldn't let him in because our male cat was going nuts just viewing him through the screen door, but I was debating feeding him. Several days later one of our neighbors spotted him wandering around. She knew the owner, who used to rent a place nearby but moved to the other side of the lake. The woman came to get him, so relieved to have him back, and said that when the movers emptied the van at her new place, the cat must have jumped in and ridden around the lake, then jumped out when they opened the back to load it up again. Apparently he preferred the old house to the new one--?

[Flaxbee]

2. LOOK at that sweet face!

I hope his NM owner picks better roommates this time around! That is, if the owner doesn't want the cat to go out --- one of our cats goes out and is very friendly; a few times when I couldn't find him within about an hour or so I panicked that he'd hitched a ride in the neighbor's pickup and gone into town :)

[underpants]

4. He looks just like my Pepper

Maine Coon Cats are industrious little things

[Arugula Latte]

5. Awwww! What a sweetie.

Charlie ... :loveya:

Glad he's headed home!