Posted on 01/22/2008 8:30:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - The last time cat-owner Kelly Levy saw her tiger-striped feline was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old came back to her house late Friday to find the bottom step, where Gracie Mae would usually be waiting, empty.
Levy tore the house apart looking for the 10-month-old tabby who had been spayed just days before. She and her dad took out bathroom tiles and part of a cabinet to check a crawl space and papered the neighborhood with "lost cat" signs.
Then she got a phone call.
"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage. And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out," Levy recalled the caller saying, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Rob Carter, of Fort Worth, told The Dallas Morning News for its online edition Tuesday that he made it home with the suitcase.
"I went to unpack and saw some of the clothes and saw it wasn't my suitcase," Carter said. "I was going to close it, and a kitten jumped out and ran under the bed. I screamed like a little girl."
Carter said that he eventually was able to get the cat to come out from under the bed.
"In the morning, I got close enough to see its collar and the phone number on it," he said. "So I called the number and got a hold of the crying wife of the traveler."
Gracie Mae had crawled into Seth Levy's black suitcase undetected, been put through an X-ray machine, loaded onto an airplane, thrown onto a baggage claim conveyor belt and picked up by a stranger.
Carter delivered Gracie Mae to Seth Levy and the tabby made the 1,300-mile trip home on an $80 plane ticket Sunday night.
Carter said that he considered keeping the cat before he knew she had a home.
"If I couldn't have found a good home, I would have kept it," he said. "We were going to name it Suitcase."
Seth Levy, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. holds his 10 month old cat, Gracie Mae at home in Palm Beach Gardens, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008. The cat sneaked into Seth's suitcase for a flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth and landed in Texas. At baggage claim, another passenger mistakenly grabbed the suitcase and when he returned home Gracie Mae jumped out. The traveller brought Gracie Mae back to her owner for a return flight back home, and she is doing fine. (AP Photo/Sun-Sentinel, Rhonda Vanover)
Pins the aawwwwmeter.
Thank you, NR! I needed a story with a happy ending, today.
Pritty Kitty
I’m surprised the cat survived. I wonder if it used up one of it’s 9 lives.
>
So, this guy basically stole another person's luggage from the airport? He didn't check if it belonged to him before he left the airport? Meanwhile the rightful owner was totally inconvenienced. Hmmm?
what an absolutely beautiful cat.
You can’t trust tabbys. They are impetuous and I understand that they like to dig and hide in places. Mine LOVES to burrow under my blankets and hide there all day, and she always sits in my suitcase when I am going somewhere.
So glad there’s a happy ending!
Oh, how precious!
I needed a sweet story today—thank you!
Sweet looking little kitty.
Katz is the craziest peoples!
Look at her precious lil’ nose :-). Daddy must have packed right on top of her.
10-month-old kitten/cat named Gracie Mae had a true round trip flying experence in full. Happy she is home safe and sound. =^..^= :)
Did the longest trip of her young life! Home safe! =^..^= :)
A lady friend of mine festoons her “airline bag” with bright colored tape and ribboned bows attached to the handle. It looks weird but is quite effective.
Stowaway kitty ping.
Aww, Gracie Mae, after her terrifying experience, safe in the strong arms of her owner. What an upper this morning.
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