Ben Madilynn
An adventurous cat named Drifter has returned home after spending nearly two months trapped in a sewer.
The 3-year-old tabby cat is owned by Clifton Nesseth and Ashley Comstock of Duluth, Minnesota, just over a two-hour drive northeast of Minneapolis. They adopted the feline after finding him while on vacation in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
On July 18, Drifter, named for his independent personality, left his home and was nowhere to be seen for weeks.
Nesseth, Comstock and their 12-year-old daughter, April Dressel, desperately tried to search for Drifter, hanging up posters for the missing feline. They were beginning to plan a small memorial service for Drifter on Tuesday when neighborhood kids told the family that they heard meowing coming from a storm drain at a construction site nearby.
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As the family started digging through dirt and cutting through landscape fabric, they heard meowing from below.
“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.”
The family guessed that Drifter got trapped exploring a hole that sealed up with him inside. They think he may have been eating mice and sewer water to survive. When April went for a walk that morning and called out for Drifter, they think the cat heard her through the sewer pipes and went to a spot where he could be found.
A 16-year-old neighbor, Dahlia Boberg, took a video of the joyful moment Drifter was found.
Nesseth is seen in the video, exclaiming, “Drifter!” as he lifts the cat into the air. “He’s been under there the whole time! He’s really skinny.”
Drifter’s identity was confirmed by his collar.
After the family’s reunion with Drifter, the cat spent the night cuddling with April in bed.
Drifter weighed 15 pounds when he went missing and lost about 8 1/2 pounds, weighing just 6 1/2 by the time he was found.
“He’s a foodie, if a cat ever was,” Nesseth said. “We’re trying to give him fluids and he wants to eat the syringe.”
Drifter is expected to make a full recovery, according to his vet.
For more cat stories, including one where a tabby named Skittle is reunited with his sibling dog after nine days apart, click here.
This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.
