AP – A cat aptly named Drifter is safe at home after sneaking outside and getting trapped in a sewer for nearly eight weeks.
The three-year-old tabby – an indoor feline who had aspirations of being an outdoor cat – went missing from the home of Clifton Nesseth and Ashley Comstock in the northeastern Minnesota city of Duluth on July 18. His owners presume that he went to check out the construction underway in their neighbourhood at some point.
The family, including their 12-year-old daughter, April Dressel, hung up posters and searched across the city without luck. They were beginning to plan a small memorial service for Drifter last Tuesday when neighbour kids came over and said they heard meowing coming from a storm drain at the construction site. The family also heard him meowing as they started digging through the dirt and cutting through the landscape fabric.
“A little paw shot out of a tear in the fabric,” Nesseth said. “It was a tabby cat paw. We tore the fabric more and then his head popped through.”
A neighbour, Dahlia Boberg, 16, captured the reunion on video.
“Drifter!” Nesseth is seen exclaiming as he lifts the cat high, while neighbours who are gathered around laugh with delight and amazement. “He’s been under there the whole time! He’s really skinny.”
Drifter was still wearing his collar, confirming his identity. When he went missing he weighed 6.8 kilogrammes. After his sojourn in the underworld, he weighed 2.9 kilogrammes, about 3.9 kilogrammes less.
Nesseth and Comstock guessed that Drifter explored a hole that got sealed up with him inside and that he had been living underground eating and drinking whatever he could find, perhaps mice and sewer water.
April had gone out for a walk that morning and called out Drifter’s name, and they think the cat heard the calls through the sewer pipes and went to a spot where he could be found.
Drifter spent the night cuddling with April on her bed. He’s putting weight back on, now, and his vet expects a full recovery.
