We have all heard and read myriad stories of the incredible journeys that lost dogs make while trying to return to their masters. It is unusual for us to hear and read of the incredible journeys that cats make to accomplish the same goal.

In the last two decades, researchers have become interested in the cats capability to travel enormous distances over totally unknown territory in order to reach a particular destination. Scientists call their ability to do that 'psi trailing'. There are countless stories of cats journeying hundreds of miles to track down an owner or return to an old home.

Rusty walked a particularly difficult terrain, plodding his way over sixteen miles, through unknown territory to find his way back home. Shortly after his owners discovered they were expecting a baby, they decided it would be best to give Rusty away. They thought the cat would show a jealous streak as well as be a potential health hazard. A friend of theirs, in the next town, offered to take Rusty in. Hearing that cats wouldn't stay in a new home, the owners caged Rusty in a deep basket and covered it with a black, heavy cloth, so that he couldn't see where he was going.

As soon as they reached their new destination, the much disturbed cat shot out of his basket and disappeared! Seven months later, fat and sassy, Rusty popped through his special door at his former owner's home.

Where had he been, they wondered? Living in the wild? Had he been with some cat lovers somewhere between the two homes? Local animal experts were dumbfounded that he had found his way over a route that he had only traveled once before virtually blindfolded.

Touched by Rusty's devotion, his former owners decided to keep him. However, he retained his learned wanderlust behavior and he tends to disappear from time to time but always returning in his own good time.

Princess, a beautiful calico, pampered house cat, had been outdoors only twice in her life. The last time she got lost on a family outing. Her family was sure she would perish on her own but she fooled them when three days later she showed up at the family home after traveling one hundred miles to get there!

There are many documented stories of cats psi trailing but one story of all of them stands out. In 1949 a homing cat record was set that still hasn't been beaten. It is assumed that the stranded, ingenious cat must have hitched rides on trains, trucks and cars. Eighty three days after being lost, the relentless cat caught up with his owners nine hundred and fifty miles away!

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Marty is interested in your human interest stories. Feel free to relate yours to him. Contact him on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.