# Cat Walks 3,000 Miles & Finds His Way Home / HOW? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366 "2005-07-27T05:33:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thin\_Lizzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Thin\_Lizzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Lizzy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/21 "2005-07-28T03:07:52Z")
I had a cat fall off a third floor balcony. Althought she did not come back on her own, someone found her about a month later and took her to the humane sociiety. after a month she remebered me and acted the same towards me. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/22 "2005-07-28T12:48:33Z")
It could also be that some of the amazing pet storys could have actually been a completely different cat who happened to look like the lost one and was hanging around the neighbourhood. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/23 "2005-07-28T13:12:07Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > True story: When I was a kid, our dog, a Shelty, ran away from home. My mom placed an ad in the paper, and we got a call within just a few days that someone had found him ten miles away, across town. When we went and picked him up, _he recognized us_! > > Yes, the canine homing instinct is truly amazing. Yep, balancing out those accounts of dogs making it home home by journeying hundreds and thousands of miles, are the lost-and-found sections of the newspaper, demonstrating that many dogs apparently can’t find their way back from the next block. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/24 "2005-07-28T15:30:43Z")
Those dogs aren’t lost, they are taking the scenic route. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/25 "2005-07-28T23:45:21Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > When I was in 5th grade, we moved from one house in Sunnyvale CA to another. But for about a month in between, we stayed at a friends’ house, which was probably about a mile from either. When we arrived at the new house, our cat escaped, and several months later showed up at the intermediate (friends’) house. Granted, it was hardly an Incredible Journey. On the other hand, how on earth did the cat even know the right direction to start out in? A mile in suburbia includes a LOT of chances to go the wrong way and get lost forever. And continuing that search for several months is pretty impressive. This is a WAG, but could the cat be using scents to find the known house? Cats have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell, so perhaps when the distance is within a few miles, it can actually smell the direction to the house it knows. ---
**Author:** ![dlack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlack)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/26 "2005-07-29T20:00:49Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > When I was in 5th grade, we moved from one house in Sunnyvale CA to another. But for about a month in between, we stayed at a friends’ house, which was probably about a mile from either. When we arrived at the new house, our cat escaped, and several months later showed up at the intermediate (friends’) house. Granted, it was hardly an Incredible Journey. On the other hand, how on earth did the cat even know the right direction to start out in? A mile in suburbia includes a LOT of chances to go the wrong way and get lost forever. And continuing that search for several months is pretty impressive. > > (Poor thing lost 1/3 of its body weight, but ended up fine.) Doesn’t this just support the idea that it was randomly wandering and happend to come across something it recognized? Several months to travel a mile is the opposite of impressive. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/27 "2005-07-29T23:11:22Z")
Answers, [courtesy of PBS](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/excats/homing.html). Never underestimate cats. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/28 "2005-07-31T14:24:31Z")
> [@CrazyFoo](#): > > I remember seeing a heading similar to the one above and it got me wondering: > How on earth can dogs and cats finds there way home from a distance of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of miles? > > I’ve heard tales growing up, and remember reading a story in the local paper about a family who went camping in British Columbia and took their pet cat in the RV.Apparently the cat got out and the owners couldn’t find him, so they finally gave up and drove back home to Ontario. > 6 months later the cat shows up at their back door “meowing” to be let in. > Are stories like these urban myths? Outright lies that are told in the supermarket tabloids, or do these things really happen? > If it’s true, I wonder if scientists have ever figured out what type of “internal radar” makes this possible. > It’s truly amazing. Those are ust unverified and unverifiable tales. No cat or dog could ever find its way home 3000 miles away. Not even a human. Move a Yanomami to Patagonia, even if not blinded, and he will never be able to find its way to Amazonia. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366/29 "2005-07-31T19:02:13Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > Those are ust unverified and unverifiable tales. > No cat or dog could ever find its way home 3000 miles away. Not even a human. Move a Yanomami to Patagonia, even if not blinded, and he will never be able to find its way to Amazonia. Simply because we fail to understand phenomena is not reason to gainsay it’s validity. Given the proven ability of canine olfactory sense, I can’t say that dog couldn’t find it’s way home using it’s nose, even over a great distance. Science is less certain about cats-one experiment discussed possible ‘compass’ activity in the cat brain, as subject cats with external magnets attached to their heads exhibited diminished directional recall skills. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-walks-3-000-miles-finds-his-way-home-how/314366.md?page=1)