'She has zero survival skills': Indoor cat's tent-tastic escape sparks a camping catastrophe for pawrents, leading to a heartwarming reunion after her meowtain misadventure

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Sarah Brown • Writer and Editor
May 13, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

This furmidable tail of camping chaos stars Coco, a fancy indoor floof who thought she was ready to become an adventure cat. Her hoomans packed everything for the purrfect outdoor getaway. An air tent with a built-in "catlock," a harness, treats, litter box, and even a scratching post. What could pawsibly go wrong?

Well… everything. Despite all their purrcautions, Coco pulled the ultimate Houdini move. One stealthy paw and a determined boop later, she slipped the tent zipper and vanished into the meowntains at 5 a.m. Total catastrophe. Her pawrents searched high and low, tails tucked and hearts clawed with guilt, convinced they'd become those hoomans who didn't deserve their fur babies.

But then, Coco reappeared! Just casually strutting up the road like nothing had happened. A sprint, a pipe chase, and a teary reunion later, she was scooped into loving arms with a chorus of relieved meows (and one very confused dog).

Lesson learned: no tent is truly catproof, indoor kitties are not wildcat wannabes, and even the fluffiest escape artist will humble you fast.

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  • 01
    Pic 1: Just hours before her escape. Pic 2: The day we got home from camping and after we gave her a bath. Being a potato sack without a care in the world or any appreciation for the life of luxury we provide her. She could've been hungry, wet, dirty, scared, and alone out there! On a mountain!
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10504570880
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 03
    Did I see all the warnings on Reddit about the risks of taking your cat camping? Yes, I did. Did I read that there were too many devastating lost ads to count? Yes, I did. Yet, I thought my fancy, indoor, ragdoll cat could beat the odds and turn into an adventure cat. Welp, I got humbled, and I
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 04
    now know for certain that one should NOT risk taking their indoor cat outdoors, as obvious as that may seem.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 05
    My husband, dog, cat, and I went camping. Since it was to be our first 3-day camping trip, we worried about leaving our cat home alone since she had never been alone more than a night. Plus, she was on half wet food that we wouldn't be able to
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 06
    automatically dispense like the dry food. We thought it would be more reassuring to keep her with us, and we even bought a new air tent that would make the entire tent as one zipped up seamless tent. I made sure to get a tent that had two compartments so that the outer compartment
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 07
    would serve as sort of like the airlock of a spacecraft. That way, we could secure her in the interior section before unzipping the tent opening. She was already used to the harness as she had gone on a few day trips with us before, so we also kept her on a long leash inside the tent. We packed
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 08
    everything that would help ease the stress of a new environment, bringing a scratch post, a litter box of decent size, and lots of snacks.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 09
    It was fine until the early early hours of the morning. She had been meowing, which was not normal and I worried it would wake the other campers. Finally around 4am, she calmed down, and I went to sleep. At 5am, my husband woke to use the restroom and woke me up when
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 10
    he said in a panicked voice, "Coco. Where's Coco??" We dumbly checked under the blankets and searched the nooks and crannies to no avail. I felt dumbstruck. We lost her. We lost our daughter. We became "those" irresponsible parents. We didn't deserve them.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 11
    After searching around the area, under cars, and walking up and down the road, we tried to tell ourselves and each other that we had another two days and Coco would come back to us. In our hearts though, we knew that she wouldn't. She wasn't one of those outdoor cats who came back
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 12
    home at night. She has zero survival skills, and she's even a little clumsy at home! We thought of several other things to do like having the camp manager make an announcement over the loudspeaker, going site to site asking campers if they'd seen Coco, putting up notices on social media and local community sites,
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 13
    etc. We felt so heavy and our future as a family looked bleak - look at what happens when families lose a loved one?
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 14
    Then, suddenly my husband said let's take the car and drive down to the village further down the mountain. We drove about two kilometers down slowly, calling her name out. When we reached the village, we turned around and on our way back up still calling her name, we saw her walking in
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 15
    the same direction as the car, up the hill, in the middle of the road looking back at us. As if she had heard us call her name. But the car was still rolling forward and she started running away. I unceremoniously threw my dog into the back seat (I apologized to him later), and I jumped out of the
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 16
    I had lost sight of her though when I was jumping out of the car and at my husband's shouted directions, I turned quickly into an open shed which had both sides open. Because I was still running, Coco, who had actually stopped running and had been sitting in the shed, was surprised by my fast approach and skittered into a
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 17
    1.5-ish meter long piece of pipe. I quickly ran to the other side where I anticipated her exit, and her head popped out for a minute making eye contact with me, her wide eyes seemingly asking, "Mom?? Is that you?" Not to risk another flight, I blocked both ends of the pipe until my husband
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 18
    caught up, pulled her out and cradled her closely to his chest while simultaneously yelling, "COCO!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????" It was a freaking miracle.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 19
    Three hours of wild adventuring for Coco. Forty minutes of extreme anxiety for Mom and Dad.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 20
    To make this already long story shorter, I will leave out the details about the grandma on the farm, my dog's unusually loud whimpering just before we discover Coco, my husband's fervent prayer, and my own almost-supernatural vision just before finding her.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 21
    Lessons learned: don't take your fancy indoor cat outdoors no matter how prepared you think you are, no tent is cat-proof, and pray hard.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 22
    By the way, for those who might be curious as to how exactly she got out of the tent, we found cat hair caught on the zipper. Never having shown us that she could escape her harness and do more than open door handles in our apartment, we found she had another talent. She freaking nudged the zipper open.
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 23
    Cheezburger Image 10504570624
    via u/LouisCocoUmma
  • 24
    bombliivee who could have possibly foreseen this
    via u/bombliivee
  • 25
    AbaloneComfortab... Coco doesn't look like the camping type
    via u/AbaloneComfortable22

  • Coco doesn’t do tents—she does glampurr. Five stars, feather beds, and room service only. Next time, book her a spa, not a sleeping bag! This diva don’t do dirt.

  • 26
    possibly_lost45 Those eyes say and I'll do it again!
    via u/possibly_lost45
  • 27
    meeplewirp Basically, never take an adult that didnt grow up this way on a trip like this. With cats 90% of the time the harness has to be from 8 weeks onward if you want a cat you can do things like this with.
    via u/meeplewirp
  • 28
    Calm Cry1981 My parents lost one of our cats camping back in the 70s. I'm still ped about it. Should've never happened. We never found him.
    via u/Calm_Cry1981
  • 29
    LangdonAlg3r My PSA is that ALL cats can open zippers unless they've been specifically designed to not be opened by cats. There's a whole universe of cheap soft sided carriers. that cats can just get right out of too.
    via u/LangdonAlg3r
  • 30
    Harvest827 Same goes for fancy indoor spouses and fancy indoor children.
    via u/Harvest827
  • 31
    Derkins_susie1 Oh man. I can't tell you how happy I am to know that she got back. It is nothing short of a miracle. So, did you come back immediately from the camp.
    via u/Derkins_susie1
  • 32
    papasan_mamasan Girl, cats are not dogs. Leave them at home. Ask a neighbor or a friend to come over once a day to feed them, scoop their litter, and sit with them for a few minutes. You got so lucky.
    via u/papasan_mamasan
  • 33
    zemmq In your defense that is the most comfortable looking tent Ive ever seen so I can understand how you thought she'd be safe. So glad you found her!
    via u/zemmq

  • Pawsitively thrilled she made it back! That reunion sounds like a real tearjerker. Coco may have gone on a wild meowventure, but she found her way home. What a lucky little loaf!

  • 34
    BlueRidgeSpeaks I don't take my own fancy indoor *ss camping.
    via u/BlueRidgeSpeaks
  • 35
    moonlightsunbeam I saw a hack where you use a carabiner to lock the two zippers together so toddlers (or in your case, a cat) wouldn't be able to open it on their own. So glad you found your baby!
    via u/moonlightsunbeam
  • 36
    SphynxCrocheter So glad you found her! The solution in the future is to have a cat sitter come and visit here once or twice a day to give her wet food and scoop the litterbox/make sure the auto litterbox is working.
    via u/SphynxCrocheter

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Tags

missing escape reunion pawrents camping adventure Cats outdoors heartwarming feline
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