Tuffy, a 10-year-old, 10-pound, shelter-born cat, might consider changing the spelling of his name to "toughie."
He went missing for 10 days in Salt Lake City, some 300 miles from his Ketchum home.
Tuffy's unscheduled side trip began May 6, when his owner, Peggy Hollitz, well-known former Ketchum business owner, stopped at a Salt Lake City motel on a return trip from New York City to Ketchum. Tuffy and his twin, Tom, and 13-year-old canine pal, Syd, were also along for the ride.
Hollitz planned to put the restless, meowing Tuffy in the parked car before dawn. But Tuffy broke loose and vanished into the darkness after clawing gashes into Hollitz's left arm.
Searching for hours produced no Tuffy. Sorrowfully convinced Tuffy had vanished forever, Hollitz headed to Ketchum and stopped in at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center for treatment of her infected hand.
Later, while having her hair washed in a salon, Hollitz told hairdresser Lisa Flynt of Tuffy's disappearance—whereupon Flynt announced gleefully that her parents and sister live in Salt Lake City and would be happy to search for Tuffy.
For the next several days, Flynt's family and the motel staff spotted and left food for Tuffy. But the cat was nowhere to be seen.
By Friday, May 15, Hollitz and a friend, Sue Noel, Atkinsons' Market customer service rep and cat owner, drove to Salt Lake City to resume the search.
It took 20 minutes. Shortly after their arrival in the early morning of Saturday, May 16, they heard a meow in the motel parking lot darkness—followed within seconds by the sight of Tuffy strolling out of the darkness and into Hollitz's arms.
"He doesn't leave my side now," Hollitz reports.
