Be careful before mailing out those holiday packages. As one family learned the hard way, your curious cat may try to hitch a ride.
Baloo, a kitty from Nova Scotia, recently found himself 700 miles from home in Montreal.
The adventure began when Baloo snuck into a large box that his owner, Jacqueline Lake, was mailing. The parcel contained tire rims, which he was able to hide under.
“He got under, so he wasn't on top,” Lake said to CTV News. “He had gotten in through the little hole of the rim down into the bottom of the box.”
At the end of Baloo’s 17-hour journey, a delivery driver noticed that the box was leaking urine. Fortunately, the shipping company was able to trace the package’s origins, and Baloo was reunited with his family after a quick layover at the Montreal SPCA.
While Baloo’s travels are impressive, it’s not the first time a stowaway kitty has covered some serious miles via mail.
In 2016, Cupcake the Siamese was accidentally shipped 300 miles across the UK in a box of DVDs. Although sealed in the box for eight days before being discovered, she survived and was reunited with her family.
In 2014, Mee Moowe, a Virginia kitty, was accidentally packed by a moving company during her family’s move to Hawaii. She survived a month in the sealed moving box, miraculously recovering from the traumatic ordeal.
As for Baloo, although he was bit shaken by the adventure, his family reports that he’s back to “normal.”
“By end of the night he was back to his old mischievous self,” said Lake. “He ripped a whole bag of cat litter in the bathroom so he and his brother could play in it while I was sleeping.”