SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — A Utah man and his cat were reunited after the feline took an accidental trip across the Salt Lake Valley earlier this week.
Jaren Hafen's pet Ollie is a 2-year-old tabby who enjoys the domestic life, but his curiosity took him on a new adventure this time.
Hafen has an Air Tag on Ollie to track his location using his phone.
On Wednesday, the cat apparently crawled up into Hafen's neighbor's Tesla to find refuge from the cold — but he got stuck.
The next day, Trammie Nguyen drove from their neighborhood in South Jordan to Sandy and then to Holladay, having no idea she had a stowaway.
Hafen noticed Ollie's location changing via the Air Tag, so he went to track him down. He tailed Ollie and the car to a parking lot, where he got down on the ground to try and coax the cat out.
"I saw this man just laying next to my car," Nguyen said.
The two then recognized each other as neighbors, and Hafen told Nguyen the story of why he was there.
But Ollie was apparently stuck, so they went to a local auto shop. It turned into a 25-minute rescue mission for the mechanics at Tunex in South Jordan.
"He was probably exhausted because he was in fight-or-flight mode for the duration of Trammie's errands," Hafen said. "He was
9:46:25 he looked like a homeless cat - he looked like he’s been through some bad nights
Ollie looked a little rough after the ordeal but was ultimately fine. Nguyen's Tesla was unharmed as well.
"Drives ok — doesn’t meow anymore," she joked.
The experience also brought the two neighbors together.
"We’re really friends now," Hafen said. "We’ve been through some stuff together."
