winterbadger | poor kitty!

lucky/unlucky cat story, courtesy of

robbiesmom

Cat Survives 30-Day Trip in Shipping Box

TAMPA, Fla. - A business owner opening a shipment of 400 bird cages sent
from China got an additional order he didn't expect - a severely
undernourished cat.

The female cat, named China by animal service staff members, tips the
scale at just over 3 pounds after being trapped in the container for the
nearly monthlong trip.

Norman Goldberg, owner of Quality Discount Cages, said he discovered the
cat Friday when he received the shipment at his warehouse. Several
cardboard boxes holding cages had been chewed up.

"I opened it up, and out jumped the cat," he said.

The traveling feline apparently began her journey at a factory in China
where workers started loading the parrot cages into a 40-foot metal
container the first week of March, Goldberg said. The container arrived
by boat in Los Angeles on April 1 and then traveled by rail to Tampa.

On Wednesday, China was recovering at Hillsborough County Animal
Services, where she was eating on her own and being given intravenous
fluids.

Goldberg's brother-in-law e-mailed the factory in China where the cages
originated to see whether they knew anything about a missing cat.

"You gave us a very big surprise today," wrote Ms. Ivy of Dayang Co. in
China. "We are very happy to know our cat still alive. Would you please
tell us more information about our cat? Is it a yellow or gray one?
Because we have two cats, but they disappeared one month ago ... Please
raise it, or you can give it to the animal asylum."

If the cat is healthy, it will be put up for adoption.

"I hope it gets adopted," Goldberg said. "It has used up most of its
nine lives."