Trapped Cat Found 41 Days (and 8 Lives) After Quake

Tiffany the cat may be well on her way to becoming the poster puss of the Northridge earthquake.

While she rested comfortably in her cage at a veterinary clinic in Saugus on Wednesday, having survived a six-week ordeal that might have taken a greater toll on a lesser cat with fewer lives to spare, clinic workers dealt with the media clamoring to capture the saga.

Tiffany, like many cats, bolted for cover when the ground moved under her paws Jan. 17. But Tiffany fled into a neighbor’s storage closet and was later accidentally locked in.

Tiffany’s owner, Laurie Booth, searched for her cat, not knowing the feline was only feet away. Booth posted signs, quizzed neighbors and took out newspaper ads asking for help.

On Sunday--41 days after the earthquake--the neighbors found the cat when they went into the closet.

Tiffany was dehydrated, starving and barely conscious. She had survived on no food, little water and a lot of luck.

“She’s an amazing cat. She used up about eight of her nine lives on this one,” said veterinarian Sandy Sanford, who is treating the cat at the Animal Clinic of Santa Clarita.

“I still can’t believe she’s still alive,” said Booth, of Saugus. “She was like a piece of tissue paper--frail and stiff and very cold.”

“She just barely made it,” said veterinarian John Burkhartsmeyer, who owns the clinic. “I don’t think she would have made it much longer. She just had to live on her fat and protein. Bones and skin is all that’s left.”

Booth’s thinking of a name change: “Lucky.”