An owner’s panicked search for her cat lasted 30 hours, but where she eventually found the feline has since gone viral on TikTok, racking up more than 1.1 million views.
In a May 2 TikTok video posted to the account @agn3s00, which can be viewed here, the owner, Agnes, explained how her cat went missing. She allows her cat, Maude, freedom to go in and out, but recently, hours passed without Agnes seeing Maude. She noted in the clip that it is unlike her cat to go that long without coming home. The cat “never goes far.” At first, she assumed it might be a brief outing, but as hours passed with no sign of the animal, concern began to set in.
By the 24-hour mark, Agnes had escalated her search efforts. She began posting flyers across the community and sharing the news of her missing cat on social media. She even went door-to-door in her neighborhood, hoping someone might have seen a glimpse of her missing pet.
Hours continued to tick past with no leads on her cat. Distraught and unable to stop crying, Agnes called in sick to work. But when it reached 30 hours with no Maude, she looked out the bedroom window and noticed something staring back at her. Her cat sat inside the neighbor’s home. The caption reads: “I couldn’t make it up. She’s safe now.”
It remains unclear how the cat ended up inside the neighbor’s home, though incidents like this are not uncommon; curious cats are known for slipping through open doors or windows and finding themselves in unexpected places. Or with secret second families.
Research on pet cats has found that most do not roam very far from home. A 2022 GPS-tracking study published in the journal Animals found that many free-roaming cats spent most of their time on or near their owner’s property. On average, the cats spent about six hours away from home per day, though some were gone for as long as 21 hours. Researchers also found that cats traveled an average distance of nearly 1.5 miles. Roaming behavior varies based on factors including age, sex and access to natural areas.
As far as missing cats go, an article from PetMD states that most missing cats are eventually found surprisingly close to where they disappeared, with one survey finding 75 percent were within about 547 yards of home. The article also explains that cats are believed to have a natural “homing instinct,” which may help them navigate back to familiar territory using scent cues and possibly sensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic fields.
For the owner, however, the explanation mattered far less than the outcome: Her cat had been found, unharmed, just a few steps from home.
Newsweek reached out to @agn3s00 via TikTok for additional information and comment.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Related Articles
