You are no doubt familiar with the Disney movie "The Incredible Journey", the story of a family's three pets (two dogs and one cat) who were lost but found their way home. It was a long and harrowing trek filled with adventures and it was quite miraculous that all three made it home. I know there are other incredible stories. Here's mine.....

Years ago, I saw a sign in a yard at 61st and Broadway that said free kittens. Ever the sucker, I stopped and looked. They were all gone but the lady said she was moving to an apartment in Illinois in the next few days and would not be able to keep the mother cat. She needed a home for her as well or she was going to take her to the Humane Society. This perfect little mother cat did the darndest thing... She sat up on her haunches, put her front paws together and moved them up and down in a begging fashion.

The lady said it was a trait she had done as long as she had owned her. I melted. It was so adorable that I couldn't bear her going to the Humane Society.

I wanted a novel cat who could make people smile. I took her a few days later. We put her in a disposable, cardboard cat carrier and closed the top over her. My husband drove while I sat with the cat in the carrier box.

We drove south on Central and over to New Jersey where we lived. It was a little over a mile. When we got out of the car, she broke through the cardboard carrier with all her force and went running down our street.

Both of us chased her until my husband caught her. When he tried to pick her up she bit him savagely. He cursed, dropped her and left a trail of blood on the sidewalk as he ran home to treat the bite. She ran off and I knew I would never see her again. I walked and called her by name but, of course, she didn't come. She didn't know me, she was scared, was in a strange neighborhood and upset because her kittens had been taken from her.

I drove back to her home to see if the lady would come back with me and perhaps walk and call with me to get her to come out. No luck. The moving truck had just left for Illinois. I knocked on the neighbor's door and gave him our phone number, asking him to call me if she found her way back home.

One week later, I got a phone call. The neighbor said "Your cat's on the porch." I couldn't believe it. How did she do it? Even though it was a little more than a mile, it took her a week. She had been driven to our house in a dark box. She had no idea which direction to go. She had to cross Kessler Boulevard without getting hit by a car. What did she eat? What did she encounter? If only she could talk. We let her stay on the porch for a few days and went to feed her twice daily, letting her get to know us. We transported her again (my husband wasn't thrilled) with success. She became a favorite and much loved pet, dying of old age.

At the end of May, a customer came into our store with a beautiful, well-trained Rottweiler he had found on College Ave. For weeks, he had tried to find his owner with no luck. We wondered what the story on this dog was.

Could he have wandered from far away? Did he jump out of a car? How many shelters have pets who have been lost and were on journeys? How many rescue groups are fostering pets on journeys?

I hope all of you have had your pets microchipped for identification. It is a must of responsible pet ownership. Remember to update your information when you move or change phones.

The first two readers who e-mail me the correct names or breeds of the three pets in "The Incredible Journey" will get a special treat from City Dogs Grocery.