DULUTH, Minn. — This... was a real-life case of subterranean homesick blues, a hard-to-believe story with an amazing ending.
Drifter the cat went missing from his Duluth home in July, the day a construction crew capped a sewer hole down the street and covered the repair with rocks. Owner Clif Nesseth says his family searched and searched for their buddy, posted on social media and hung up posters around the city, hoping someone would spot the 3-year-old abby and help him get back home.
Nothing.
The family was actually planning a memorial service for Drifter on Tuesday when a group of neighborhood kids heard meowing from a blocked-off sewer drain on the construction site. They told Clif, who ran down, dug through the dirt and cut a hole in the fabric mat used to temporarily seal off the drain.
“A little paw shot out of a tear in the fabric," Nesseth told the Associated Press. “It was a tabby cat paw. We tore the fabric more and then his head popped through.”
A neighbor, 16-year-old Dahlia Boberg, captured the rescue and subsequent reunion on video.
“Drifter!” Nesseth is seen exclaiming as he lifts the cat high, while neighbors gathered around at the scene laugh with delight and amazement. “He's been under there the whole time! He's really skinny.”
While the cat isn't talking, he somehow found a way to survive for two months underground - perhaps savaging mice and other rodents- and the vet says despite losing nine pounds during the ordeal he will be OK.
"He’s a foodie, if a cat ever was,” Clif noted. “We’re trying to give him fluids and he wants to eat the syringe.”
Drifter's family says his story is a perfect example of how important it is to have a tight neighborhood circle that watches out for each other.
Interestingly, the family adopted Drifter after finding him wandering while on vacation in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. They named him for - ahem - his "independent" personality.