The Cat in Maine Is Mainly in the Drain

Tootsie the cat is back home after spending five weeks in a storm drain.

“The poor little thing looked awful when we got her out. She was just skin and bones,” said Nicole Lonsdale, who helped find the cat for her neighbors, Peter and Teri Tyson.

Tootsie disappeared on Jan. 26, after apparently entering an open storm drain that was later sealed off by a snow plow clearing roads in this southern Maine city.

The Tysons and neighbors searched the area but gave up hope of finding the 6-year-old cat.

Then, late last week, Tyson was chatting with Lonsdale in her driveway when he heard a faint meow from the nearby drain. He pried the lid off and climbed inside, calling Tootsie’s name. The cat poked its head out of a pipe and scampered to Tyson.