Galena, a 6-year-old home cat from Utah, likes hiding and enjoying with cardboard.
Earlier this month, the mix of the 2 made for a aggravating journey in an Amazon bundle, a feverish search, a California rescue and a tearful reunion.
Her household continues to be ready to “reintroduce cardboard to her again,” proprietor Carrie Clark mentioned Tuesday, as a result of they don’t wish to stress her out.
Clark obtained Galena as a kitten after her aunt rescued a pregnant feral cat. The American brief hair with calico and Siamese coloring has been a relentless companion and supply of emotional assist.
“I’ve been through a bunch of health things and she and I have gone through all of that together. And she’s she just has this extra great part about her personality that’s very loving. And she can tell when you don’t feel well,” Clark mentioned. “And she’s just really, really special to me.”
So when Galena disappeared on April 10, Clark was beside herself.
They searched the neighborhood, put up flyers and posted notices on Facebook misplaced pet pages in Lehi, Utah.
“Not knowing what had happened to her was pretty excruciating,” Clark mentioned, “I cried my eyes out for seven days trying to figure out what had happened.” Clark additionally ran via all of the worst-case situations, questioning if the cat may have gotten out of the home and been nabbed by a predator or run over by a car.
Clark mentioned she obtained a “text that changed my life” on April 17, saying that Galena’s microchip had been scanned, so Clark knew she had been discovered someplace. Soon after, she obtained a name saying her cat was close to Riverside, California, after being present in a field together with steel-toed boots that had been returned to an Amazon warehouse.
Clark’s husband had ordered a number of pairs of shoes, saved one and returned the remainder in a big field on April 10.
“We realized that that our sweet kitty must have jumped into that box without us knowing,” she mentioned.
Amazon workers knew simply who to name after they discovered the feline — co-worker Brandy Hunter, who rescues cats, Clark mentioned.
Hunter took the cat home and to the vet the subsequent day, the place the microchip was scanned.
Clark spoke with Hunter who “calmed me down and told me that my kitty was OK,” regardless of having spent six days in a cardboard field with out meals or water.
“I wanted desperately to be with her,” Clark mentioned. She and her husband flew to California the subsequent day, reunited with Galena on the veterinarian’s workplace and rented a automobile to drive home.
“We did what we needed to do because I just adore her,” Clark mentioned.
It was an intensely emotional week.
“I went from hysterically laughing that she was stuck like that — we mailed our cat — you know … just the humor part of that, to hysterically crying all within like five seconds,” Clark mentioned.
The household was fortunate to get Galena again, Clark mentioned, partially as a result of the climate was not harsh throughout the time the cat was lacking, the field was torn at a seam, permitting her to get extra air, and since Hunter who took her to a vet and had her scanned for a microchip.
Since phrase obtained out, Clark has been sharing her cat’s story, with recommendation to microchip your pets and to double-check your Amazon bins earlier than returning them.
Galena is a quiet cat, Clark mentioned.
“She didn’t meow,” Clark mentioned. “We would have loved for her to meow so we knew that she was,” within the field.
