Missing Florida cat found in owner's lost suitcase makes it home again

WOW - and is she EVER cute! Happy endings! :)

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...sing_cat_found

Wed Jan 23, 11:17 AM

By The Associated Press

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Some kitty math: How many lives did little tabby Gracie Mae use up during her recent adventure?

She got into her owner's suitcase, went through an airport X-ray machine, got loaded onto a plane, thrown onto a baggage belt and mistakenly picked up by a stranger far from home.

"She's got to be at four or five now," Seth Levy said after his 10-month-old pet was returned by a stranger who went home to Fort Worth, Texas, with the wrong bag with Gracie inside.

http://d.yimg.com/ca.yimg.com/p/0801...3lupaiITvUzw--

The last time Levy's wife, Kelly, saw Gracie was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old went back to her house to find the bottom step, where Gracie would usually be waiting, empty.

She tore the house apart looking for the cat, 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 neighbourhood with "lost cat" signs.

Then she got a phone call from the surprised Texan.

"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," Kelly Levy quoted the caller saying.

Rob Carter said he made it home with the suitcase before realizing it wasn't his - and there was a big surprise inside.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/08012...nimal_suitcase

Wed Jan 23, 4:03 PM

MIAMI (AFP) - Just when he realized he had grabbed the wrong suitcase at the Dallas/Ft Worth airport's baggage claim, Ron Carter got a bigger shock as a cat jumped out of the bag, Florida's Sun Sentinel reported on Wednesday.

Carter only realized his mistake when he opened the suitcase at home. He was about to close it again when a 10-month-old cat popped its head out of the suitcase, took one look around and bolted under the bed.

"I must have jumped six feet into the air and screamed like a girl," Carter, 37, said, according to the daily.

He eventually coaxed the furry pet from under the bed, and noticed her collar featured the name and phone number of her owners, who had been frantically looking for their beloved "Gracie Mae."

The cat eventually was reunited with her owners in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Wow! That's quite a story! She is adorable! However, makes me seriously question airport security. I can't board if I forget to remove my small bottle of hairspray but a cat can get on in luggage? They didn't detect movement????

I am beginning to question this story (aside from the fact some of the luggage stuff doesn't ring true to this frequent traveler...) the cat was a tabby earlier this week when this story was on a thread.

4 - 5 months old in clothing? Maybe not.

You did hear about the woman who was asked if she had a turkey in her carry-on bag - she naturally said 'no'.

Got to her destination and her cat jumped out! :D

True story!

Alls Well That Ends Well, And We Are So Gladthat That Little Ones Homewhere She Belongs.

;) Great Story & with A Great Happy Ending.. Just think this baby was in Ft Worth Tx{30 min from me} from all the way of Florida is amazing..

So you mean I COULD have nabbed that stray kitty when I was in Hawai'i and I would have made it past security with her??? ;)

That really is a heartwarming story, and that is possibly the cutest kitty ever!