Cat survives three weeks in a shipping container from China to Minnesota

A stray cat survived a three-week journey from China to Minnesota. But just how the female cat made the arduous trip remains something of a mystery.

Last week, a regional animal control group said it retrieved the stowaway cat, by then extremely dehydrated and thin, after it was found inside a shipping container. The fact that it survived was “nothing short of a miracle,” the cat’s rescuers with Companion Animal Care & Control said in a Facebook post.

The animal control group believes the cat survived the trip by drinking condensation and catching a few rodents that were on the ship.

Renee Rude, director of the Northwoods Humane Society, where the cat was eventually transferred, was stunned to hear its backstory.

“I mean, that was a little shocking,” Rude said. “There were some questions, a little bit of like, ‘are you sure the cat’s been in that shipping container since China?’ And no, they didn’t open it at the port or anything. She really survived.”

The cat was soon transferred again to Pet Haven, an animal rescue in St. Paul with a program for shy and fearful felines.

There, it’s already making progress, according to Kerry D’Amato, Pet Haven’s executive director.

“She was understandably a bit fearful when she was transported and came in,” D’Amato said. “But we did get some soft eyes, and she did some purring, and she did come out last night. She ate all of her food. She used her litter box just perfectly, and we think that she’s gonna blossom and do just great.”

It’s still unclear how the cat got into the shipping container.

Rude and D’Amato speculated that the cat probably lived near a port, which would explain how it had access to the containers.

And the cat isn’t feral, D’Amato said, which indicates it may have lived among other cats and people, such as dock workers.

Pet Haven staff hope to rehabilitate the cat and find it a permanent home. But it will likely be at least three weeks before it’s ready to take the first step by moving to foster care.

In the meantime, D’Amato said, the rescue is taking name suggestions that honor the cat’s extraordinary story.

“We feel she deserves a new start. She was a stowaway, but now she’s a survivor, and she’s going to move forward into a great life.”