Moving Cat Adventure Stories of 2015
On Instagram, I’ve fallen under the spell of the moving cat photos of Burma The Adventure Cat and at @adventurecatsorg a group dedicated to photos of cats who love adventure and hiking with their humans. It turns out, humans it seems aren’t the only ones with wanderlust. There are plenty of other animals who like to roam, either out of necessity – think elephants in search of water – or who have to walk for a living – think camel treks. Some wander far and wide simply because it’s part of their DNA.
Closer to home and slightly smaller in scale, but no less prone to going on adventures are some house cats. Many an owner will tell you tales of the time their cuddly kitty scarpered after being let out one week too soon after moving into a new house, and miraculously turned up at their old address – days later – without so much as an A to Z, let alone GPS. Others will recall, teary-eyed, how their furry expat feline got lost in Bermuda but was found at the airport and had to be shipped across the Atlantic at great expense.
These four-legged travels seem to transcend time and space and are a constant source of amusement and heart-warming wonder. Not a year passes without a new incredible journey being reported. It’s also proof of just how much we love our cats and how much they get about. Here are our favorite moving cat adventure stories from 2015:
Long-distance Ozzie
The long-distance winner has got to be Ozzie – a 25-year-old ginger tom – who somehow managed to get from Australia to London and then to Northern Ireland but no one really knows how even though he was microchipped. That’s 12,000 miles over land and sea! He also wins the award for having a cartoon alter ego. His real name is in
fact Tigger but staff at the rescue center renamed him.
Coast to Coast Kevin
The award for the cat on the longest road trip – in the dark – should probably go to Kevin the tabby who was finally reunited with his owner after two years, and who had traveled two thousand miles from the east coast of America to the west coast when he became trapped in a haulage container!
George on the Bus
The most public-transport friendly cat has to be George, an 18-year-old tabby. His 128-mile mystery adventure started when he went missing in Llanrwst, North Wales, on Mother’s Day weekend before being reunited with his owners in Brighouse, Yorkshire, five weeks later. Maybe he should have bought a return ticket?
Stow-away Frankie
The award for the cat with most desire to hijack a bus goes to Frankie, a one-eyed tabby from Oamaru, New Zealand. He leapt aboard one day while the driver was washing it and stowed away. The bus ended up in Macraes Mines in East Otago, a 100 km south of his home town, but amazingly two years later he turned up on the doorstep!
These lucky cats enjoyed coming home, eventually. Moving house can be an adventure with a cat or a nightmare as we’re touched on with our post moving with cats
There’s plenty of good advice and practical tips, if you’re not sure how to move a house with a cat.
Do you know any adventure cats? Any moving day stories or tips?
16 Comments
Lola
I fell in love with a cat named Percy in England who took the train every day to an aquarium to watch the fisth.
Annabelle
I adore Burma!!!
Maggie
Amazing stories – I love the happy homecomings.
xxoo
Cary H
I saw a story about a cat who rode a bus every day from home to…I can’t remember where…and back again. I can’t even remember if I saw it online or on TV. I like that cats are everywhere nowadays, stores, cafes, even workplaces. Loved the stories, Layla. Thanks for sharing
Layla Morgan Wilde
Cary, thanks. That cat was in the U.K. too. There have always been adventurous cats who sailed with sailors and pirates but now the public is more aware and leash walking makes cats more visible 🙂
meowmeowmans
Wow, those are some mighty well-traveled kitties!
The Island Cats
What fun stories. How did Ozzie get that far???
Deziz World
Well weez all ’bout adventure, but mommy wuldn’t let us outta her sight fur nuffin’. MOL Have a gwet weekend.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
Flynn
It is amazing how far from home some cats have travelled before they are reunited with their owners.
Kathryn
OMG. Amazing, amazing stories. I guess Tigger ended up in a boat when he left Australia? I would think being on a plane unnoticed not that likely, but I guess he could have crawled into a corner somewhere.
Amazing, too, how now we can communicate via the cool social media and Internet tools to find an owner hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Siami left twice when we were on three-week summer vacations. Both times we had left the elderly neighbor in charge of leaving food and water at our back door for him (dry, summer weather) and he could be in the neighborhood, which he liked to do (long ago, rules were different). Both times she was embarrassed to tell us that Siami stopped coming around. Both times Siami came back after we had been home for three weeks. He must have heard the TV. I heard scratching at the front door. (He then left for good a few years later, different story.)
The wonderful novel, The Incredible Journey — everyone thought it was a true story. Could have been, but it was a novel.
Layla Morgan Wilde
That must have been nerve-wracking with Siami was missing. Thanks for reminder about The Incredible Journey.
Ellen Pilch
Those are amazing stories to think they manage to go so far and not get run over or attacked by other animals.
easy rider
I know a fabulous feline adventurer, it’s Bailey the boatcat, I love it to read bout his adventures, it’s like being there with him on his ship :o)
http://baileyboatcat.com/
Layla Morgan Wilde
Yes, Bailey is a great example.
Skeeter and Izzy
We always love to hear about the reunions and travels of our cat friends far and wide!
Thanks for sharing these travel “tails”.
Luvs
Skeeter and Izzy & the Feral Gang + Twig & Peanut & Romeo and the Angels >^..^^..^<~
Summer
I read these stories, and my “adventures” which mainly consist of traveling to large cities, staying in hotel rooms, and flirting with humans at cat shows and public appearances, start to look REALLY tame! The cats you highlighted here are real survivors!