Duluth cat found underground after missing for seven weeks

When Drifter went missing on July 18, it was like any other day in his feline life. He went outside for his morning stroll and took in the fresh air of the north, but this time, there was construction happening in his neighborhood in Duluth.

Drifter, a 3-year-old tabby cat, naturally investigated. What came next was seven weeks of agony for his family as he went missing.

His owners, Clifton Nesseth, Ashley Comstock and 12-year-old April Dressel, hung up posters and searched for him across the city. There were many close calls, but none of them turned up as Drifter.

His family was beginning to plan a small memorial service for him on Tuesday when neighbors came to tell them they could hear meowing … from construction near the sewer and sidewalk.

“We ran and started digging, everything was covered in dirt and landscape fabric,” Nesseth said. “A little paw shot out of a tear in the fabric. It was a tabby cat paw. We tore the fabric more and then his head popped through and at that moment we realized oh my gosh, this is our cat.”

Nesseth was able to pull Drifter up from the hole and he jumped into his arms. He was still wearing his collar. When he went missing he weighed 15 pounds, after getting him to the vet, he now weighed about six and a half.

Nesseth and Comstock aren’t sure if they will ever know exactly what Drifter was up to for the nearly two months, but their guess is he ran into a hole that got sealed up and he had been living underground eating whatever he could find.

Earlier in the day, April had gone for a walk and called out Drifter’s name. The family credits her with his return.

“We think he heard the calls reverberating through the sewer pipes and he came up to a spot where we were able to find him for the first time during his little journey in the underworld,” Nesseth said.

April and Drifter share a special bond, and after he was rescued he spent the night cuddled on April’s bed.

While the family kept hope, Nesseth said they never imagined Drifter would come back home.

“It was just one of those moments where I was like I cannot believe that this might be happening right now,” he said. “He was so excited, you could just tell he was like ‘I’m free!’”

Drifter is working on getting back to a normal eating schedule and putting on some weight. His back is hunched from being underground but the vet says he is on track to a full recovery.

But not everyone in the household is happy about his return. Nesseth said the other family cat, Garnet, was not pleased.

“She looked at him and was like ‘Oh, he’s back. I thought he was gone forever.’ She has been giving us the glare the last day or two as she is adjusting to the new reality.”