Missing cat found after spending 64 days trapped inside a mattress

His family were moving from Texas to Alaska

Kymberly Chelf, left, pets her two-year old cat Moosie who survived 64 days trapped inside a futon mattress (AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Eric Engman)

A family who thought they’d lost their cat as they prepared to move 3,000 miles across the US, were relieved when they found their pet inside a mattress some 64 days later.

Moosie, a 2-year-old tabby cat, disappeared when Kymberly Chelf and her husband Jesse Chelf boxed up their belongings in preparation for their move from El Paso, Texas, to Anchorage, Alaska.

“It was very heartbreaking thinking that we had lost him,” Mrs Chelf told local broadcaster KTVA.com.

“We tried everything to find him,” she said.

Kymberly Chelf gets a chin nuzzle from Moosie, who disappeared for over 6 days (Photo: Eric Engman/AP)

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In early June, the family’s belongings arrived at their new home– along with a big part of their old life.

When the Chelfs heard a meow coming from inside the box, Mrs Chelf said: "it just sounded like he [Moosie] was giving it everything he had just to let us know he was there."

The cat had been trapped for over two months without light, food or water.

Moosie emerged from the ordeal suffering from severe dehydration and with a damaged liver, but vets have said he is in a good condition, CNN reported.

While Moosie's disappearance has been cleared up, questions surrounding an Australian cat who was found in Northern Ireland remain unanswered.

The ginger feline was found by Cat Protection workers in County Armagh last week, who discovered he was from Australia by scanning his microchip.

Gillian McMulenn, Cat Protect co-ordinator, told the Belfast Telegraph an investigation into the cat's origins is now underway.