EMILY, a young cat from Wisconsin, has earned herself a place in feline history by wandering from her American home and turning up three weeks later 4,200 miles away in France.

Workers at a paper lamination plant near the eastern city of Nancy found Emily, frightened and hungry, inside a container of paper bales that had been sealed in Wisconsin and shipped by road and sea across America, the Atlantic and France. A collar tag identified the stowaway as belonging to the McElhiney family of Appleton, who had given her up for lost.

Le chat Americain, as France is calling her, became a star yesterday with her picture on the front page of the Appleton newspaper, photo sessions with the French media, and offers from admirers to pay for her trip home.

Emily’s most impressive achievement was surviving for three weeks apparently without food and water. John Palarski, the Wisconsin vet who called the family on Monday to report Emily’s reappearance, said he believed that she must have had water and been able to catch mice on board ship. But the Raflatac company, which found her, said that the container had nothing inside except the bales. The cat had apparently consumed its own waste.

Christèle Gozillon, a spokeswoman for Raflatac, said: “We received a container from Wisconsin full of bales of adhesive paper. We heard a cat miaowing. It was a real surprise. We opened the container gently and a little, very frightened, cat ran and hid in the lorry engine. We saw that it had a name and an address so we contacted the veterinary services and they got in touch with the owners. She has become the company mascot. We call her Raflacat.”

In Appleton, Lesley McElhiney said: “She has run away before. The only thing we can think right now is buying a plane ticket. She’s getting to be an expensive little thing.”

PETS ON TOUR

• A Cornish cat ended up in France after sneaking into a removal van heading to Bordeaux. Top Cat’s owner spent £750 bringing him home
• Rusty the lurcher travelled from her home in Wales to Scotland, changing trains twice. Her owners initially refused to take her back but later changed their minds
• Prince the terrier found his owner in the trenches in France after vanishing from his London home in 1914

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