CHARLESTON, Ill. (WCIA) – It all started September 22nd. Mike Gaines and his family were moving from Fresno, California to Charleston, Illinois.

As they were working to pack up their home, they couldn’t find their cat Sadie. The next day, Sadie still was nowhere to be found. Gaines and his family thought the worst.

“She’s outside a lot during the day. She always comes in the house at night, but she didn’t show up, and it’s common for the coyotes to get the pets. So, we figured she got taken by a coyote because she always comes home,” he said.

Movers packed up their belongings in California, and wrapped up their mattresses and box springs in heavy duty plastic. Little did they know, Sadie had made a hole and climbed inside one of those box springs.

“We figured she was kind of afraid of the movers. So, she probably went in there and hid,” he said.

Then, because of the truck driver shortage, they took all of that to a storage unit in Sacramento for more than six weeks.

“So, it sat there from September 22nd to November 3rd. So, several weeks with Sadie, the wonder cat locked in the box springs. No food, no water, no sunlight, no nothing.”

She just saw her little ears and thought it was a rat, but it wasn’t. I came down and looked in there and it was Sadie. She was sitting there looking up at me.

Mike Gaines

Their items didn’t make it to their new home until November 7th. The next day, Gaines’s daughter unwrapped that box spring.

Sadie the Wonder Cat is tempted with a treat while her owner tells the story of how she survived 6 weeks after getting caught in a mattress prior to her family moving from California to Illinois.

“She hollered, ‘dad, there’s something dead in the box springs it stinks.’ So, I came down here, and on my way down the stairs she said there’s a rat in there. She just saw her little ears and thought it was rat, but it wasn’t. I came down and looked in there and it was Sadie. She was sitting there looking up at me,” he said.

Gaines said when he reached down to get her out, her whole body went limp. He said they took her to a veterinarian as soon as they could.

The vet said it was a miracle she survived. “So we call her Sadie, the wonder cat,” he said.

Gaines said the vet checked her all out, and other than losing nearly 7 pounds, she was healthy. They found her just a little more than a week ago. She has a long road back to her normal size, but Gaines said he’s happy to know she’s alive and well now.