ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
You might have heard that air travel has been rough lately - lots of delays, cancelled flights, lost luggage.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Well, that was the reality for Patty Sahli and her husband, who flew from Germany to Boston in late June - except it wasn't luggage that went missing. It was one of the family cats who was nowhere to be found.
PATTY SAHLI: So we left the airport without our cat, which was just unbelievable. She's our family, and I felt like we're letting her down.
SHAPIRO: The cat, Rowdy, is 4 years old with black fur and light green eyes. She was originally named Rousey after the MMA champion Ronda Rousey because she's a fighter. Rousey became Rowdy, and she spent the last three weeks living up to her name.
SAHLI: All the kids were like, if any cat got lost, we feel like she's the one most equipped to survive.
CHANG: OK, so here's what happened. Somehow, the feline managed to escape her carrier inside Boston's Logan Airport after the flight from Frankfurt. The airport employees were at a loss, but they and Patty did not give up.
SHAPIRO: You can't put up missing cat posters in an airport, so Patty spread the word any way she could, including on missing pet Facebook pages. That's when lots of strangers chipped in to help get Rowdy back to her family.
CHANG: It was all hands on deck - airport staff, local animal shelter volunteers, even construction workers in the airport. They all went searching. They checked cameras, set safe traps, put out food and water. They even put out some of the family's clothes for a familiar scent.
SAHLI: They even marked the level of the water to see if it was visited.
SHAPIRO: The airport set up a hotline where people could call in with Rowdy sightings. And this went on for three weeks.
CHANG: Airport employees managed to capture Rowdy on July 13. Patty got the call she was hoping for one early morning on the way to work.
SAHLI: I was shaking 'cause I was just like, I couldn't believe something actually happened. I was settled for the long haul.
SHAPIRO: Rowdy was brought to a vet who confirmed it was her, happy and healthy.
SAHLI: So it was nice to know so many people were feeling this story, and I am overjoyed that it is a happy ending.
SHAPIRO: The happy ending officially happens tomorrow morning, when owner and pet will be reunited.
CHANG: Yay.
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