Cat Survives 8,000-Mile Journey from China to Minnesota in Shipping Container, Now She's Ready for Adoption

A feline named Xiao Mao, who survived a harrowing weeks-long, trans-Pacific voyage from China to Minnesota in a shipping container, is now putting on weight, gaining trust, and inching closer to adoption.

After being rescued over the summer, Xiao Mao is reportedly on the road to recovery. Once deathly thin and highly distrustful after days in the shipping container without food or water, the cat has blossomed under the care of Pet Haven Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn.. According to a report from CBS News, the volunteer foster organization hopes to place her and a feline companion with whom Xiao Mao has bonded in a forever home in the next few months. 

“It’s actually amazing she survived that journey, and we are not 100% sure how she did it,” Kerry D’Amato, executive director of Pet Haven, told the outlet. “Three weeks without food or water, she would not be alive. She must have been drinking condensation, maybe eating bugs and rodents there.” 

The survival success of Xiao Mao, which means “little cat” in Mandarin Chinese, is partly credited to Pet Haven’s Wallflowers Program, which specializes in helping shy or traumatized animals, like Xiao Mao, learn to trust again.

The cat’s journey began in June when she accidentally hitched a ride inside a shipping container, traveling roughly 8,000 miles over three weeks from China to Minnesota. When the container arrived in Oakdale, Minn., Xiao Mao was found cowering under pallets — remarkably alive but emaciated and severely dehydrated.

After being trapped and secured by animal control, the feline was sent to Northwoods Humane Society in Wyoming, Minn. However, due to Xiao Mao’s fragile condition, the shelter wasn’t equipped for the intensive rehabilitation she required, so Pet Haven and its Wallflowers Program stepped in.

“When she arrived to us, she was deathly thin and very ill,” D’Amato recalled. “She would charge at us, hiss, and lunge. Today, she chirps at us and comes out when we call her. Her eyes are bright, her ears are forward, she is giving us all the indications she is trusting.”

In the early months of recovery, Xiao Mao was extremely skittish, hiding from any human contact. Through patient and steady trust-building, she began to relax and now seeks out attention from her caretakers.

A breakthrough came when she was paired with another cat named Prince, whose calm presence has helped her grow more confident.

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Pet Haven anticipates that Xiao Mao and Prince may be ready for adoption as a bonded pair within the coming months. The organization, which relies almost entirely on donations and volunteer fosters, is also calling attention to the overcrowding at local shelters and encourages people to adopt or foster animals to free up space, so more animals like Xiao Mao can get help.