Cat comes back to owner three months after riding the rails
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It's a story that would make Homeward Bound's feline heroine Sassy proud: After presumably disappearing onto a train in February, Rupert the ginger-haired cat has found his way home.
When he's not off having (what I can presume are) fabulous adventures, Rupert resides in West Melbourne with his owner Bec Gilchrist. He escaped from Gilchrist's backyard on February 18.
Gilchrist put up posters and sent 200 letters to her neighbours in hopes of finding the two-year-old cat, but to no avail. After three months with no trace of Rupert, Gilchrist began to give up hope of ever finding him.
But her Dalmatian, Poppy, seemed significantly more optimistic about one day reuniting with her companion. During daily walks, Poppy would drag Gilchrist to the train station near their home.
But her Dalmatian, Poppy, seemed significantly more optimistic about one day reuniting with her companion. During daily walks, Poppy would drag Gilchrist to the train station near their home.
Then last week, while driving along, Gilchrist received a call from a Latrobe Valley town -- about a two-hour drive from Melbourne -- telling her that Rupert had been found. Workers at the pound Rupert was brought to suspect that the cat hopped on a daily paper-mill train that runs between West Melbourne and Latrobe Valley.
(DANG - can't post the video - you'll have to visit the link to watch it!)
The happy reunion was all thanks to the microchip implanted in Rupert. Local authorities were able to trace the cat back to Gilchrist. And other than being a tad thin, Rupert seems to be completely fine.
Arguably the most excited to have Rupert back home was the Dalmatian who just seemed to want her feline friend back where he belonged.
"[Poppy] was doing backflips when she saw the cage," Gilchrist told Victoria newspaper The Age about her dog's reaction when they brought Rupert home in the cage.
"My dog has been fretting and reverting to puppy behaviour but now the cat is back she is relaxed," said Gilchrist. "And Rupert is a bit friendlier now."
(Photo courtesy Facebook)
