vice Presents The People's Lists

Excerpted from

The New Book of Lists

by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA PARK

The Cat Came Back:

15 Cats Who Traveled Long Distances to Return Home

NINJA—850 miles

Brent Todd and his family moved from Farmington, Utah, to Mill Creek, a suburb of Seattle, in April 1996, taking with them their eight-year-old tomcat, Ninja. After a week, Ninja jumped over the fence of the new yard and disappeared. More than a year later, on May 25, 1997, Ninja turned up on the porch of the Todds’ former home in Farmington, waiting to be let inside and fed. He was thin and scraggly, but his distinctive caterwaul was recognized by the Todds’ former neighbors, Marilyn and John Parker. Mrs. Parker offered to send Ninja back to the Todds, but they decided to let him stay.

MINOSCH—1,500 miles

In 1981, Mehmet Tunc, a Turkish “guest worker” in Germany, went home with his cat and family for vacation. At the Turkish border, Minosch disappeared. Sixty-one days later, back on the island of Sylt, in northern Germany, the family heard a faint scratching at the door. It was a bedraggled Minosch.

RANULPH—300 miles

Ranulph, an eight-year-old black tomcat, was named after the explorer Ranulph Fiennes. He justified his name after his owner Gill Bray gave him to a friend in Consett in County Durham, Scotland. He disappeared but showed up a year and a half later on the doorstep of Bray’s home in Archiestown on Speyside. He arrived just before his former owner was going to move to a new house closer to her work in Glasgow. He had lost about half his weight.

SILKY—1,472 miles

Shaun Philips and his father, Ken, lost Silky at Gin Gin, about 200 miles north of Brisbane, Australia. That was in the summer of 1977. On March 28, 1978, Silky turned up at Philips’s house in a Melbourne suburb. According to his owner, “He was as thin as a wisp and stank to high heaven.”

HOWIE—1,200 miles

In 1978, this three-year-old Persian walked home from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, to Adelaide—a trip that took a year. Said his owner, 15-year-old Kirsten Hicks, “Although his white coat was matted and filthy and his paws were sore and bleeding, Howie was actually purring.”

ERNIE—600 miles

In September 1994, Ernie jumped from the truck of Chris and Jennifer Trevino while it was traveling 60 mph down the highway 600 miles west of their home. A week later, Ernie showed up at the Trevinos’ home in Victoria, Texas. When Mrs. Trevino called the cat by name, he came forward and rubbed his face against her leg.

SUGAR—1,500 miles

Sugar, a two-year-old part-Persian, had a hip deformity that made her uncomfortable during car travel. Consequently, she was left behind with a neighbor when her family left Anderson, California, for Gage, Oklahoma. Two weeks later, Sugar disappeared. Fourteen months after that, she turned up in Gage on her old owner’s doorstep—having traveled 100 miles a month to reach a place she had never been. The case was investigated in person by the famous parapsychologist J. B. Rhine, who observed the cat and interviewed witnesses.

SKITTLES—353 miles Skittles, a two-year-old tomcat, disappeared on September 3, 2001, from the Dells area of Wisconsin, where Charmin Sampson and her son, Jason, were living in a trailer while working at a water park during the summer. Twenty weeks later, on January 14, Skittles appeared at the Sampsons’ home in Hibbing, Minnesota. “I knew it was Skittles,” said Jason. “The cat is orange, with white paws and he’s got a look to him—a unique look.” MURKA—400 miles In 1987, Murka, a stray tortoiseshell, was adopted by Vladimir Donsov in Moscow. Murka killed his canary; a year later, she unlocked the birdcage and killed another one. She was banished to live with Mr. Donsov’s mother in Voronezh but disappeared after two years. On October 19, 1989, Mr. Donsov found her in his Moscow apartment building, hungry, dirty, pregnant, and missing the tip of her tail. She ate a large meal and slept for three days. GRINGO—480 miles The Servoz family lost their pet tom, Gringo, from their home in Lamarche-sur-Seine, France, in December 1982. The following July, they learned that the cat had moved to the French Riviera. Wishing to escape the cold winter, he had made the journey south in a week and appeared at their summer home, where neighbors took care of him. CHICHI—300 miles The Reverend J. C. Cox of Blanchard, Louisiana, gave his 17-year-old cat to his granddaughter, who lived in a suburb of New Orleans. Chichi missed Reverend Cox and, to everyone’s astonishment, crossed the Mississippi and Red rivers in three weeks and arrived home in time for Christmas. RUSTY—950 miles Rusty distinguished himself by setting an American all-time speed record for a cat to return. In 1949, this ginger tom traveled from Boston to Chicago in 83 days. It is speculated that he hitched rides on cars, trucks, and trains. POOH—200 miles The Reverend and Mrs. James Daves moved from Long Island to Georgia in 1973. Because their daughter was allergic to animal fur, they gave her two-year-old white tom, Pooh, to a friend, but he soon ran away. In May, the family moved to South Carolina. On April 18, 1975, Pooh showed up at the home he had never been to before. BORIS—8 miles Boris trekked back twice in 1990 to his old home in Berkshire, England—a short trip but one that involved crossing two superhighways, the M4 and the A34. MUDDY WATER WHITE—450 miles On June 23 or 24, 1985, Muddy Water White jumped out of a van driven by his owner, Barbara Paule, in Dayton, Ohio. Almost exactly three years later, he returned to his home in Pennsylvania. “He came and just flopped down like he was home,” said Mrs. Paule. She fed him for three days before realizing who he was. His identification was later confirmed by the local vet.