This Cat Survived an 800-Mile Journey After Getting Lost in Yellowstone

Benny and Susanne Anguiano from Salinas, California, were reunited with their cat Rayne Beau 60 days after Rayne went missing in Yellowstone National Park. Taking your cat with you on an out-of-state vacation to a national park is an act that is incomprehensible to a normal mind, but let’s glide over that fact and just be happy that the kitty somehow survived its nearly 1,000-mile journey home. 

Shockingly, it’s not the first time something like this has happened.

Back in June, Rayne Beau—an all-time top 10 cat name—was startled by something and ran off into the trees of Yellowstone, as cats who are naturally jittery from being in an entirely new location tend to do. The couple started frantically searching. They tried laying out the cat’s favorite treats and calling his name. Nothing worked. Rayne Beau was gone, seemingly lost forever to the wilds. 

Eventually, the Anguianos had to face the fact that they were never going to find their cat, so they left Yellowstone without him and headed back home to California.

The couple struggled to maintain their optimism while clinging to one mystical sign from God, the universe, or whatever you want to call it: They saw a rare double rainbow in the sky as they left the park. Two months later, they got a call from Pet Watch, a company that tracks the microchip some pet owners implant into their fuzzy loved ones in case they get lost. A woman found Rayne Beau—in Roseville, California. The cat had traveled nearly 800 miles from where he had initially disappeared.

It wasn’t a perfect shot. Roseville is roughly 200 miles away from the Anguianos’s hometown of Salinas. According to Google Maps, the walk between the two cities would take about three days if you’re a human. A cat could probably take all sorts of shortcuts so could probably do it in less. So there is a chance that Rayne Beau could have made it all the way home by himself given time.

They’re glad they got their baby back, but he was in poor condition. Susanne said he was “really depleted.” Yeah, that’ll happen when you walk 800 miles. That’s the kind of stuff the movie Forrest Gump was too cowardly to address. They have no idea exactly how Rayne Beau made it back home, but they really want to hear from anybody who may have encountered him along the way.