How a house cat named Luna survived five months alone in the Outback before being reunited with her overjoyed owners 3000km away
- Ragdoll cat was able to survive for five months after escaping from owner’s car
- The molly called Luna snuck out of cracked-open window during a camping trip
- Her owners drove home from South Australia to Perth thinking all hope was lost
- But five months later emaciated and dehydrated cat turned up at a cricket pitch
A ragdoll house cat was able to survive for five months alone in the Outback scrounging for food – before being reunited with her owners thousands of kilometers away.
Jenelle Powell and Neale McClure were camping north-west of Adelaide in September on their way home to Perth from Melbourne when their molly went missing.
The pair had left the cat named Luna in the back of their Toyota Prado, but the mischievous feline escaped through a window they had slightly wound down.
A ragdoll house cat was able to survive for five months alone in the Outback scrounging for food – before being reunited with her owners Jenelle Powell and Neale McClure (right and left) thousands of kilometers away
Mr McClure, 32, said they tied Luna using a harness to their car’s cargo barrier before going to sleep, rather than leave her in the cargo box as they had done when they were driving.
But when they woke up they realised the mischevious four-year-old dwarf ragdoll cat was missing.
Mr McClure said he searched around the campsite with his partner for more than an hour but could find no sign of their pet.
‘She managed to get out of the harness, up onto the driver’s seat and out through the window we’d cracked open for air,’ Ms Powell, 33, told PerthNow.
The distraught owner said she was inconsolable during their trip back to Perth.
‘I bawled my eyes out all across the Nullarbor,’ she said.
‘I thought she was gone forever.’
But fast forward five months – when hope of being reunited with their cat was all but lost – the hardy pet rocked up at a cricket club in Dublin 12km away from where she went missing.
After begging punters for sausage rolls, the ragdoll was taken to the vets about a half-an-hour drive away.
The pair had left the cat named Luna (stock image of a ragdoll cat) in the back of their Toyota Prado, but the mischievous feline escaped through a window they had slightly wound down
‘I can still hardly believe it. She is not a very bright cat to be honest, and never ventured out much at all,’ Ms Powell said.
Luna was skinny and infected with parasites but staff at the Companion Animal Health Centre in Roseworthy nursed her back to health.
On Wednesday, she was reunited with her overjoyed owners, who said their exhausted pet had spent the time since soaking in their attention and sleeping.
‘I can still hardly believe it. She is not a very bright cat to be honest, and never ventured out much at all,’ Ms Powell (pictured) said