Galena, a 6-year-old house cat from Utah, loves to hide and play with cardboard.
Earlier this month, the two combined for a stressful trip in an Amazon package, a frantic search, a rescue in California and a tearful reunion.
Her family is still waiting to “reintroduce cardboard to her,” owner Carrie Clark said Tuesday, because they don't want to stress her out.
Clark got Galena as a kitten after her aunt rescued a pregnant feral cat. The American short hair with calico and Siamese colors has been a constant companion and source of emotional support.
“I've been through a lot of health issues and she and I have been through it all together. And she just has an extra wonderful part of her personality that is very loving. And she can tell when you're not feeling well,” Clark said. “And she's just very, very special to me.”
So when Galena disappeared on April 10, Clark was beside himself.
They canvassed the neighborhood, putting up flyers and posting notices on Facebook pages about lost pets in Lehi, Utah.
“Not knowing what happened to her was pretty excruciating,” Clark said. “I cried my eyes out for seven days trying to figure out what happened.” Clark also went through all the worst-case scenarios, wondering if the cat could have gotten out of the house and been picked up by a predator or run over by a vehicle.
Clark said she received a life-changing text message on April 17 saying Galena's microchip had been scanned, so Clark knew she had been found somewhere. Shortly afterwards, she received a call that her cat was near Riverside, California, after being found in a box along with steel-toed boots that had been returned to an Amazon warehouse.
Clark's husband had ordered several pairs of boots, kept one and returned the rest in a large box on April 10. “We realized that our sweet cat had jumped into that box without us knowing,” she said.
Amazon employees knew exactly who to call when they found the feline: co-worker Brandy Hunter, who rescues cats, Clark said. Hunter took the cat home and to the vet the next day, where the microchip was scanned.
Clark spoke to Hunter, who “calmed me down and told me my cat was fine,” despite spending six days in a cardboard box without food or water.
“I really wanted to be with her,” Clark said. She and her husband flew to California the next day, reunited with Galena at the vet's office and rented a car to drive home.
“We did what we had to do because I love her,” Clark said.
It was an intensely emotional week.
“I went from laughing hysterically because she was so stuck – we emailed our cat – you know… just the humor part of that, to crying hysterically, all in the space of five seconds,” Clark said.
The family was lucky to get Galena back, Clark said, partly because the weather was not harsh during the time the cat was missing, the box was torn at a seam, giving her more air, and because Hunter, who brought her took her to a vet and had her scanned for a microchip.
Since word got out, Clark has been sharing her cat's story, with advice to microchip your pets and double-check your Amazon boxes before returning them.
Galena is a calm cat, Clark said.
“She didn't meow,” Clark said. “We would have liked her to meow, so we knew she did,” in the box.
