Cat Endures 25-Day Trip From ChinaBy ROB SHAW rshaw@tampatrib.com Published: Apr 15, 2004 TAMPA - Norman Goldberg was expecting to find 400 bird cages inside an international shipping container that had been sent from China and sealed for 25 days. Then a skinny cat came bounding out. ``It was unbelievable,'' said Golberg, who owns Quality Discount Cages at 1717 E. Busch Blvd. in Tampa. ``I was quite surprised that after a minimum of 25 days that it would survive.'' The container was packed March 5 in China, Goldberg said, and shipped March 16. It arrived in Los Angeles on April 1, and then in Tampa on Friday after traveling cross- country by train. The 8-month-old female tabby, weighing less than 5 pounds, is in the custody of Hillsborough County Animal Services. ``She is very thin and dehydrated,'' said Janice Maharaj, shelter operations manager. ``You can feel her bones in her body, she is so thin.'' Dubbed ``China,'' the feline was eating on her own Wednesday and taking fluids intravenously. ``Hopefully she will put some weight on,'' Maharaj said. Goldberg's brother-in-law e-mailed the factory in China where the cages originated to see whether they knew anything about a missing cat. The response: ``You gave us a very big surprise today. We are very happy to know our cat still alive. Would you please tell us more information about our cat? Is it a yellow or gray one? Because we have two cats, but they disappeared one month ago ... Please raise it, or you can give it to the animal asylum.'' If the cat is healthy, it will be put up for adoption. ``I hope it gets adopted,'' Goldberg said. ``It has used up most of its nine lives.''
Originally posted by Tarmac Cat found in a crate of 400 bird cages -- what they don't tell you is that there were also 400 birds in that crate when it left China.
