cat survives 35 day sea voyage with no food or water

A cat trapped in a cargo crate without food or water seems to have survived a 35-day sea voyage from China to the U.S. After the owner of a motorcycle accessories shop in North Carolina opened a crate from Shanghai, he discovered the cat cowering inside.

"I saw something in the container move," said Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, North Carolina. "I turned up the headlights on the forklift to get a better look." That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner, weak but still alive. Congdon said he and a co-worker called the county's animal services when the cat would not let them near.

The Chinese cat had chewed through one of the cargo boxes before it left Shanghai on April 3 and spent at least 35 days on a ship inside the container filled with motorcycle gear, with no water, no food. An old saying in Chinese culture goes that a cat has nine lives, but how could the cat of China survive for so long on no food and water?

"Usually, we say that animals can only survive a few weeks without food and only a few days without water," said a veterinarian in North Carolina. "The theory is that cats have such good kidneys, their bodies adjust to the lack of water, and somehow they received small amounts of moisture from condensation."

A co-worker of Congdon's plans to adopt this cat, named "China" by animal service workers, if she checks out with a veterinarian. North Carolina law says any animal coming into the country must be vaccinated and quarantined for six months. "We have to take precautions," an animal services manager said of the cat.