Cat found in Florida returns home to Sheboygan

Nadia the cat took an extended vacation to the sunshine state, but left her owner at home.

The 2-year-old Russian blue escaped from Cheri Stocker's Sheboygan home on Christmas Eve, where it disappeared until showing up this week 1,484 miles away in Naples, Florida.

"I think the last time we were in Florida was 10 or 12 years ago," Stocker said. "This year I'm not going on vacation, so we must have sent our cat on vacation instead."

Stocker and her husband said they adopted the cat about nine months ago and renamed her Nadia. The cat was happy at home until Christmas Eve, when a door was blown open by the wind and the cat slipped out into the frigid night.

"Our back door blew open and before I realized it, she had slipped out the door," Stocker said. "She had never been outside. I tried to catch her and told the neighbors, but she never turned up."

The Stocker's thought the cat had not survived the winter until this week, when Monday an animal shelter in Naples called and said someone had found the animal — in Florida.

"It snowed right after Christmas, and being an inside cat, we thought the worst. Then it turned bitter cold," Stocker said.

Workers at an shelter found the cat had been microchip and, through a pet location service, called Stocker's sister, who was listed as an emergency contact.

Stocker was shocked. She asked the shelter employees to send photos as proof, and when they arrived she saw her furry friend that had disappeared two months ago.

"It was unbelievable," she said. "I called my husband and said 'you're not going to believe this."

As story of the cat spread, volunteers stepped up and offered to help bring the cat home to Sheboygan. Flight attendants with Allegiant Air offered to fly the cat home, and the Stockers picked up the cat from the Rockford, Ill. airport Wednesday morning.

"Everything fell into place. It was just amazing," Stocker said."She had never traveled before, so she had made quite a journey."

The first thing Nadia did when she got home: Fell asleep on the couch. Stocker said the cat seems about two pounds lighter, but otherwise seems in good health.

"My husband picked her up first and I think she recognized us," Stocker said. "She nuzzled right into his neck."

How the cat got to Florida — and where she has spent the last two months — remains a mystery.

"There are a few businesses and a truck stop near (our home). We think she maybe she got into a trailer," Stocker said. "With the snow, maybe she burrowed into snow on a pallet and was loaded into a truck."

Reach Phillip Bock: 920-453-5121, pbock@sheboyganpress.com, or @bockling on Twitter