Kitty sneaks into suitcase, survives trip from FL to DFW airport--PICTURE ADDED

[Kat45]

And fortunately, Gracie Mae the kitty is fine. Sorry, no picture with the article; I saw a pic of her on TV and she's a cutie: a 10-month-old tabby.

<<There's more than one way to ship a cat. But a kitten named Gracie Mae may find a cat carrier more comfortable next time.

The cat survived an unauthorized suitcase ride from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport last week. A Fort Worth man discovered the stowaway after he grabbed the wrong suitcase after a flight from Chicago.

"I went to unpack and saw some of the clothes and saw it wasn't my suitcase," Rob Carter said. "I was going to close it, and a kitten jumped out and ran under the bed. I screamed like a little girl."

Meanwhile, Gracie Mae's owners were frantically trying to figure out what had happened to their pet.>>

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-cat_23met.ART.State.Edition1.3741544.html

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/mutts/blog/2008/01/post_53.html

[Arugula Latte]

1. That poor little sweetie ...

:cry:

Glad she's okay, though.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. I could see my cat Celo doing that.....one day he crawled into a draw...

in my daughters room and got shut in for almost three days....hell we had posted fliers all over town and spent 2 days and nights searching for him.

it was laundry day and she went to put her clean clothes away and found him. the draws are deep and full of clothes so that if he meowed she never heard him....poor kitty

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Does this sound like the owners put the cat in a suitcase on purpose?

Some luggage compartments aren't pressure-compensated. And suitcases don't have airholes.

I hope that this is leg-pulling time.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. All aircraft baggage compartments are pressurized. The problem is that

some aren't heated, so they can get really cold. Since this kitty was in a suitcase she wouldn't have been so cold if the suitcase was in an unheated compartment. But pressurization wouldn't have been an issue.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. I didn't know that they've changed that. I must have very old information.

Thanks.

[grace0418]

4. What are the odds that you'd grab the wrong suitcase *AND* it would have a

stowaway kitty in it? Crazy. That beautiful girl could be my Frankie's little sister. :loveya:

[Sugar Smack]

6. That's what I was thinking, too.

That is the second most beautiful kitty I've ever seen, after my lil Sophie!:loveya:

I would have screamed like a little girl, too.

[Kat45]

12. If he hadn't found the owner, the guy would have kept the kitty.

Can't blame him, such a sweet looking kitty.

[KamaAina]

5. Help! It's the Tabby Terrorist!

Did you know? The word "tabby" comes from a neighborhood in Baghdad! It's called Attabiya, and a striped cloth was once made there; the name was later applied to tiger-striped cats like Gracie Mae.

Now do you understand the importance of keeping our skies safe from the striped menace?!

[Kat45]

9. Shows what a good job homeland security is doing.

Missed a live cat in a suitcase!

[Sugar Smack]

11. No SHIT!!!

"Missed a live cat in a suitcase". How did they not see THAT one under the radar?

[Kat45]

7. And the cat had just had surgery--been spayed-- a couple of days earlier.

The poor kitty.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. I see HLS is on the ball eh?

[Shakespeare]

10. "I screamed like a little girl."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Sugar Smack]

13. That made me laugh so hard I could barely breathe.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: That whole little scene!

[Arugula Latte]

14. Now I'm as happy as a little school girl.

[XemaSab]

15. .

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Sugar Smack]

18. =kick=

:loveya: What a cat!

[stuntcat]

19. WHAT? omg

What a pretty thing, I'm glad she made it home :loveya:

[ThomCat]

20. Wow. That's a story that everyone involved will talk about.

I'm so glad that the cat is okay. She doesn't look any the worse for wear. :)

[Sugar Smack]

21. OK, I think the guy who opened the suitcase is WAY worse off

than she is at this point.:spray:

"I screamed like a little girl." A kitten jumping out of what you thought was your suitcase. Hell, I would have gone through the window.

[Generic Brad]

22. Mine escaped today

She wandered the hall for 30 minutes. My wife found her about 130 feet away from our unit. Not quite 1300 miles. I'll shut up now.