Woman ‘Sobbing’ Over Her Missing Cat Finds Him in the Unlikeliest of Places

A woman who was left wailing over her missing cat went door to door looking for him, only for him to show up in an unexpected place.

MacKenzie, 25, lives in Los Angeles with her cat Flynn, whom she adopted as a kitten three years ago. And she recently went through every pet owner’s biggest fear as it appeared Flynn had gone missing.

MacKenzie told Newsweek: “I was worried he slipped out when me or my roommate left. I already had my apartment building send out an email with his picture, and I was going door to door at my neighbors’, asking if anyone saw him.

“Then, I finally came back feeling defeated, and he just came strolling out of the bathroom cabinet,” she added.

MacKenzie shared a clip to her TikTok account @mackenzieskates on May 21, having clearly been crying, with mascara all down her face. She wrote on the clip: “Girl who just spent an hour walking around her apartment complex sobbing crying looking for her missing cat.”

The next clip then showed Flynn, chilling by the window giving himself a bath, with the caption: “Unbothered cat who was in a bathroom cabinet the whole time.”

MacKenzie wrote beside the video, which has been viewed over 518,000 times: “I shook treats, opened wet food, shook toys, walked around practically WAILING his name and SILENCE!!!!”

She told Newsweek that Flynn had never scared her in this way before, but she previously lived in a studio apartment and “I was used to being able to see him pretty much at all times.”

“But he is very mischievous, he knows how to open cabinets on his own. I think he was probably listening while I was yelling for him but just didn’t care enough to come out,” she said.

TikTok users loved MacKenzie’s video, which has close to 100,000 likes, and hundreds flocked to the comment section to share their own experiences.

One user wrote that she had driven all around the neighborhood only to realize her cat “was in the window waiting for me to get back home.”

Another posted: “Threw my back out sobbing and looking under cars when I thought Mach got out. She was in the couch.”

One was left hyperventilating after her black cat went missing for hours, only to learn “she was asleep on my son’s black comforter the entire time.”

And a fourth commented how her cat’s name almost got her into trouble, as shortly after moving into a new apartment “a neighbor came out to check on me cause I was BAWLING like a maniac calling for LUCIFER.”

The Humane Society says a 2017 study found that most cats who go missing are found less than a third of a mile from where they escaped. And when it comes to missing indoor cats, they are generally found less than three houses away.

In MacKenzie’s situation, Flynn was much closer to home, but should your cat escape, the Humane Society says that you should start a neighborhood search, checking decks, porches and garages. Owners should also alert neighbors with door-to-door knocks and colorful missing posters, and use social media to get the word out.

Even indoor cats who never go outside should have a collar and ID tag with your contact details in case they escape, the organization adds. Owners should also get their pets microchipped with their information, and ensure that this is kept up to date.

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