PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Some kitty math: How many lives did little tabby Gracie Mae use up when she crawled into her owner's suitcase, went through an airport X-ray machine, got loaded onto a plane, thrown onto a baggage belt and mistakenly picked up by a stranger far from home?

"She's got to be at four or five now," Seth Levy said after his 10-month-old pet was returned Sunday night by a kind stranger who went home to Fort Worth, Texas, with the wrong bag and Gracie inside to boot.

The last time Levy's wife, Kelly, saw Gracie was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old went back to her house in Palm Beach Gardens late Friday to find the bottom step, where Gracie would usually be waiting, empty.

She tore the house apart looking for the cat, who had been spayed just days before. She and her dad took out bathroom tiles and part of a cabinet to check a crawl space and papered the neighborhood with "lost cat" signs.

Then she got a phone call.

"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage. And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out," Kelly Levy quoted the caller saying.

Rob Carter said he made it home with the suitcase before realizing it wasn't his — and there was a big surprise inside.

"I went to unpack and saw some of the clothes and saw it wasn't my suitcase," he said. "I was going to close it, and a kitten jumped out and ran under the bed. I screamed like a little girl."

Carter said that he eventually was able to get the cat to come out from under the bed.

"In the morning, I got close enough to see its collar and the phone number on it," he said. "So I called the number and got a hold of the crying wife of the traveler."

The tabby made the 1,300-mile trip home on an $80 plane ticket. Carter said he considered keeping the cat before he knew she had a home.

"We were going to name it Suitcase," he said.

Wow, what a trip. I'm glad to hear the owners got their cat back though. That is to cute.

wow! Lucky the cat wasn't hurt with all the bumping and throwing the suitcase probably went through! But what a story to tell!

What a trip, he needs a bumper on his but from all of the places that he has been! Suitcase would be a neat name for a cat!

You would have thought when she went through the X-ray machine; someone would have caught it and knew something wasn’t right. Glad she is back with her owners.

Hahhahh,that's funny........I guest curious cat's should be more careful! Glad she wasn't hurt though.

That is a real cute story. yes suitcase would be a cute name, and also he does need a sticker for all the places that he has been!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

I am glad that the owners have her back!

That's what I thought when I saw this story on the news--I can't believe nobody noticed an xray of a CAT!!

Couldn't believe it but they told that story on my local news. They had the kitten and the owners of it on too. Was also talking about the 1300 mile trip and they wanted air miles.