An elderly resident of Anting Town was surprised earlier this month to discover the cat he tried to get rid of five years ago in Jiangsu Province had found its way back home.

Qin Hanping, the cat's owner, said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the cat had returned home -- the second time the animal had returned after being abandoned.

Qin said he first abandoned the cat, which he had raised for two years, in a country field about 1.5 kilometers away from home in July 1999, because the animal kept making a mess of his newly renovated kitchen. It only took the cat three hours to make its way back home.

The determined Qin then asked a ship owner to take his cat on board and abandon it outside the city. The cat, which Qin put in a fastened cage, was set free in a small town northwest of Kunshan City in neighboring Jiangsu Province during the trip, according to the sailors.

The ship had traveled 65 kilometers by water before dropping the cat off, meaning the animal traveled a lengthy distance over the past five years to get back to Anting.

The cat doesn't seem to have been influenced by the hardhearted acts of his owner and behaved very lovingly towards his family after returning home.

"I heard several miaows from outside the wall of our house late on the evening of November 11 and was surprised to find it in the backyard," Qin said.

Impressed by the cat's determination, Qin says he will keep the animal and finally give it a name.

(Shanghai Daily December 3, 2004)