eBay

momcqueen · ‎04-08-2016

Thanks to our friend Ina at ecommerceytes, this: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35906712

I'll get you started:

Pet cat posted from Cornwall to West Sussex

A pet cat has survived eight days in the post, trapped in a box of DVDs.

Cupcake climbed into the parcel before it was taped up and sent 250 miles from Cornwall to West Sussex - leaving her owner "looking everywhere" for her.

The pair were reunited after the Siamese cat was unwrapped in Worthing and had her microchip scanned.

Owner Julie Baggott said it was "a miracle" her pet survived the jaunt, which vets said left her dehydrated and scared but otherwise unhurt.

Now, really.

I've owned a cat (or three) throughout most of my life and while I can tell you it does not surprise me that it crawled into a box midway through someone packing it, there's no possible way it could have kept quiet during the car ride to the post office. My cats always raised hell during car rides of any kind. Or....? Delivery? How is it possible the mailman did not hear scratching? Yowling?

triber · ‎04-08-2016

What about the increase in shipping cost, surely you would realize that the package was much heavier than it should have been.

I agree that the cat would have been yowling all the way to the post office, our cat used to do that every time we had to take him to the vet, and when we moves a few years ago, he yowled for over an hour!

momcqueen · ‎04-08-2016

That's right! An extra ten to 15 pounds, probably. I moved cats too. Exactly right, they did not let up even once on the whole 90-minute ride. I have as much distractions going on in my house as the next person but the day I pack my cat by mistake is the day I think I get out of online selling. Of course, now that I've said it......

xeposter · ‎04-08-2016

A DVD is very small. How could a cat get in a tiny box like that?

About the scratching or yowling...if the owner put the item in their mailbox (like we try to do to save trips to the PO), they wouldn't have heard it (maybe). Just a guess.

Alex

This is my POSTING id.

cumos55 · ‎04-08-2016

I heard this story on the radio

The owner of the cat was going to ship a box full of DVD's.

The cat loved to get into boxes... as most cats love to do.... hide and play.

The owner stepped away from the box. The cat climbed into the box and fell asleep.

In a situation where there was a limited oxygen supply, and a slow build up of carbon dioxide the cat would end up in a semi-comatose situation.... neither awake, nor dead.

The cat in the box was getting enough oxygen... so as not to die.... but the higher carbon dioxide than normally found in the air kept the cat "asleep"

It was not until the box was opened that the cat became fully awake... due to exposure to a regular oxygen supply.

Any accumulation of carbon dioxide in the body was removed once the cat was exposed to normal air.

momcqueen · ‎04-08-2016

Well, I never met a cat that didn't like a cardboard box, and I had one cat who was positively neurotic about hiding places; she crawled into my suspended ceiling to sleep (and methodically destroyed it in the process) and also figured out a way to pry open one of my lower-to-the-ground dresser drawers so she could sleep inside an upper deck.

I still find this scenario incredibly difficult to fathom. The poor animal.

I can't imagine how the person receiving a cat in a box would react. Free cat with purchase?

I once had another ebay seller mail me some half-hatched insect larvae. Accidentally, I was assured. Looked to be some member of the wasp or bee family. That was kind of hard to bear.

reallynicestamps · ‎04-08-2016

“In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the
cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat
could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

jersey..authentix · ‎04-08-2016

Unless everyone was deaf , including the postal workers, I doubt this really happened. I Think is was a Early April fools joke.

momcqueen · ‎04-08-2016

But it's been picked up EVERYWHERE. Google 'Cat mailed in box 250 miles' and you make a good point but every salacious news source has run it. Or redone it.

reallynicestamps · ‎04-08-2016

Nothing in Snopes yet.

http://www.snopes.com/search/?q=cat+mailed+with+dvds

I have a couple of nieces who are suckers for every missing child and cancer amens post going, so I have Snopes bookmarked.

ypdc_dennis · ‎04-08-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
...
I've owned a cat (or three) throughout most of my life and while I can tell you it does not surprise me that it crawled into a box midway through someone packing it, there's no possible way it could have kept quiet during the car ride to the post office. My cats always raised hell during car rides of any kind. Or....? Delivery? How is it possible the mailman did not hear scratching? Yowling?

I have a friend who had a cat that adored taking car trips. The cat really liked looking out the car windows at the scenery. The cat was perfectly happy., probably because cat carrier cages were not involved. The only carrier for the cat was my friend.

-..-

At the delivery end the cat probably was not in good enough shape to do much in the way of scratching or yowling.

-..-

hlmacdon · ‎04-09-2016

I've seen some SNAD cases in my day, but this takes the cake!

momcqueen · ‎04-09-2016

h
@ypdc_dennis wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
...
I've owned a cat (or three) throughout most of my life and while I can tell you it does not surprise me that it crawled into a box midway through someone packing it, there's no possible way it could have kept quiet during the car ride to the post office. My cats always raised hell during car rides of any kind. Or....? Delivery? How is it possible the mailman did not hear scratching? Yowling?
I have a friend who had a cat that adored taking car trips. The cat really liked looking out the car windows at the scenery. The cat was perfectly happy., probably because cat carrier cages were not involved. The only carrier for the cat was my friend.

-..-

At the delivery end the cat probably was not in good enough shape to do much in the way of scratching or yowling.

-..-

Yes, I tried that with my first cat who SO hated the car she would hyperventilate. She crawled on my lap, my face, and eventually settled under my feet, behind the brake pedal.

I really do feel sorry for this poor animal. I can understand how it might have hunkered down and lived for eight days in a sealed box shipped 250 miles but how did it not need to use the bathroom? I can't last ten minutes in the car without needing a restroom. Even a gas station rest room.