Watch: Cat escapes vehicle in Spain, walks nearly 155 miles home to France

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A cat escaped from his owners' camper during a stop at a gas station in Spain and reappeared months later less than a mile from their home in France.

Patrick and Evelyne Sire, who live in Olonzac, in the Hérault region of France, said their cat, Filou apparently jumped out of an open window in their camper during an Aug. 9, 2025, stop at a gas station in Maçanet de la Selva, Spain, located near the French border about 155 miles from home.

Patrick Sire said Filou's absence wasn't noticed until the next morning.

Sire said he returned to the gas station twice in the ensuing days and weeks, but no one in the area had seen any signs of the missing feline.

The couple said they started to give up hope as the months passed, but they received a call Jan. 9 from a resident in Homps, less than a mile from their home, reporting Filou had been found.

The woman said she had been feeding the cat outdoors since December, and noticed he was very thin and appeared to be coughing. She took the feline to a local veterinarian, where a microchip scan identified him as Filou.

"Filou traveled all that way to get to us. But how did he do it? Did he follow the highway? Did he go through towns? Did he follow the rivers?" Patrick Sire told France3 News. "We'll never know."