Missing cat found in shipping container after 49 days
Pippa is recovering from her ordeal after spending 49 days in a shipping container and traveling over 1,700 miles. The photo above was taken after she was found. Extraordinary.
Forty-nine days trapped in a container with no water and no food might be a world record for a cat. I have heard of a month before but this is a different league and this is Australia. The container was transported across the interior of Australia. It must have been stiflingly hot in that container.
The picture above is of Pippa before she being trapped and enduring her journey. She definitely looks thinner in the first photo but you would not think she had been through the ordeal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujVzEDg1QW0
Pippa went missing from her home in Darwin, Australia and ended up in Brisbane. Pippa became trapped in a neighbour’s container when they moved. The journey commenced on Feb 20th and ended with the container being opened on April 10th.
When the neighbors arrived and opened the container they called Pippa’s owners to say:
“Hi, this is Jason, we’ve found your cat in our container,”
Once opened the container contained some messy signs of a cat in distress: poo, urine, vomit and hair. What made Pippa vomit, I ask myself. Perhaps she tried eating inedible objects. Perhaps it was the heat.
Pippa has recovered. Unsurprisingly she suffered from dehydration and weight loss. Her recovery took place at Animal Welfare League of Old under vet Heday Nakayimato. She is now at a foster home.
The next hurdle is to get her home. It is a 1,700 mile flight and flying is stressful for cats. Pippa’s owner Rebecca is naturally keen to get her back especially as it is around the time of her daughter’s birthday.
Internationally, it is not that uncommon for a cat to be trapped in a removals container. We don’t hear of cats dying in them but it must happen. I guess the moral is that people should be vigilant when moving or when their neighbors are moving. They should keep their cat inside or in one of the rooms. Cats will naturally investigate a container full of household items. It is ideal territory for a cat to explore.
Cats are one of the few species to be able to endure these lengthy periods without food and water under very hot conditions because their wild ancestors lived in very dry conditions.
Source: Missing cat found in shipping container after 49 days | Life With Cats
Did you find this article useful and interesting? Can it be improved? Please tell me in a comment. I am always keen to improve the site for animal welfare and reader enjoyment.