A Michigan family was shocked when its missing pet cat showed up thousands of miles away in Florida.
Bandit, a 2 1/2-year-old tabby cat. disappeared from the Sanborn family's home in Dearborn, Michigan, in mid-October, The Detroit Free Press reported.
In mid-December, Judy Sanborn received a shocking call from BluePearl Emergency Pet Hospital in Tampa, Florida, telling her that a local woman had found Bandit as a stray and dropped him off there.
BluePearl staff were able to find Sanborn’s information via Bandit’s microchip.
No one is really sure how Bandit got to Tampa from Dearborn. Sanborn told the Detroit Free-Press she believes he may have hitched a ride on a van, or been f ound by someone in Dearborn who decided to take him along on a trip to Florida.
Now the Sanborn family is raising money on GoFundMe to get Bandit a plane ticket back home.
In the meantime, staffers at BluePearl have been caring for the cat. BluePearl emergency veterinary technician manager Jose Calderon told the newspaper this is the first case of interstate pet travel he’s seen in his career of over 30 years.
"A block over, a street over, or maybe even (from) Orlando, which is an hour away from us. This is the farthest away I've seen,” he said.