Purrr-fect ending to a wild cat nap

RICHMOND, Va. - A cat takes an incredible weeklong journey from Richmond, to Williamsburg and to Suffolk inside a mattress box spring.

The journey started when Ann Crews bought a new bed and mattress set from Haynes Furniture Store.

"They brought in the new set and I was guarding the front door to make sure the cats didn't get out the front door," Crews told WAVY.com. But her three cats still managed to get outside. What she didn't know is Autumn, Zoey and Miss Patty used the old box spring as a hiding place. "And they got outside, just to the patio when all of a sudden Zoey flew out of the box springs."

Crews and her husband Wayne didn't think anything of it, until about an hour later when they noticed one of the cats missing.

"I thought, oh my gosh, I said I bet Autumn was in the old box spring with Zoey. My heart just dropped," added Crews.

She immediately jumped on the phone and called Haynes in hopes of finding her. After six days of waiting, Crews began to fear the worst. "We had just about given up hope. We just prayed and prayed."

At the regional landfill in Suffolk, Haynes delivery driver Wilbert Davis was taking the old mattress set to the dump when he noticed something strange. "When I turned the box spring around. there was a cat," said Davis. Fellow driver Norman Bleech stepped in to help.  "I got the cat out and after I got the cat out I petted the cat because she was scared and shaken."

"We realized that it was a pet cat because we saw a purple collar on it," added Davis.

The next step the men took was trying to figure out where the cat belonged. They took Autumn back to the warehouse in Williamsburg for some much needed food and water. They also started tracing where the mattress came from.

Meanwhile, back in Richmond, Crews was still waiting by the phone. She didn't have to wait much longer. "We got a call from Haynes and they said Mrs. Crews we have some good news for you."

It's a delivery, Davis will never forget. "They say cats got nine lives. I believe that cat probably had an extra one."

After the ordeal, Crews took Autumn to the vet for a full check-up and she was just fine. Haynes paid the bill for that visit.