Cat hitches plane ride in suitcase

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A Florida woman said her cat took a surprise vacation when it hid in her husband's suitcase before he boarded a flight.

Kelly Levy, 24, of Palm Beach Gardens said she her 10-month-old tabby, Gracie Mae, wasn't feeling well after being spayed a few days prior and took refuge in a suitcase belonging to her husband, Seth, 34, just before he left for a flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Dallas, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

Levy said she and her husband both knew something was wrong that evening -- she couldn't find Gracie Mae and her husband couldn't find his suitcase at the baggage claim.

"I started to tear the house apart. I was frantic. I couldn't find her," she said.

However, the next morning a stranger phoned Levy.

"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage," Levy quoted the man as saying. "And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out."

Levy said the Good Samaritan put the cat on a flight the next evening and even bought her a pet taxi for the trip.