Meet these well-travelled cats
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Cats are notoriously fickle and hard to please, but they're also known to be street-smart, and in these unique cases, remarkable travelers.
1. Singa, the sea-faring feline
Who said cats hated water? One was discovered in a shipping container at the port of Schiedam, Netherlands, in February this year, hungry and worn after making a lengthy journey across the seas from Singapore.
After being picked up by the SPCA, he was featured in its magazine, Dier, and became a hit on social media when the Cat Welfare Society posted his plight on its Facebook page,
2. Emily, the tabby cat
Having wandered from her Appleton, Wisconsin home in September 2004 to a nearby paper company's distribution centre, Emily did what cats do best - curl up into a container of paper bales and go to sleep.
What followed was an incredible journey spanning nearly four months: the container went by truck to Chicago, then by ship to Belgium, where the furry stowaway eventually ended up in a laminating company in Nancy, France, where workers contacted her veterinarian, who then called her owners.
She ended up travelling home in some style, flying in business class on board a Continental Airlines flight.
3. Clyde, a purebred Himalayan cat
Five years ago, Clyde stumbled into a hospital in Cloncurry, Queensland, in Australia. A nurse adopted him and took him to a local veterinarian. A scan showed an embedded microchip, which revealed that his owner resided in Tasmania, 3,800km away.
It turned out that Clyde belonged to Katrina Phillips, who bought him as a birthday present for her daughter. He had disappeared three years earlier.
4. Holly, a tortoiseshell cat
One high-profile example of a cat having a decent sense of direction was that of four-year-old Holly. She had run away from owners Jacob and Bonnie Richter's motor home at the Daytona International Speedway in November 2012, apparently frightened by fireworks.
The couple, who lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, searched for her over the next two months without success, until their neighbour spotted the weak and emaciated cat in his backyard some 62 days later. Holly had travelled about 307km, according to a local television station report. She was identified through her microchip.
5. Giggle-Blizzard, the two-legged cat
The distance Giggle-Blizzard had to travel might be comparatively small in contrast to her counterparts on this list, but it is nonetheless an inspirational tale of human - er, feline - resilience.
After the cat went missing for 11 days in Spring Hill, Florida, in December 2009, owner Tracie Steger heard a yelp of pain from her beloved kitty on Thanksgiving night. She rushed out to find Giggle-Blizzard with her hind legs smashed by a car. It took two operations and $3,000 to restore the use of her legs. The cat had found her way home, thanks to the many times she had walked unleashed along with Steger's other pets.