People take strange things on planes — that's nothing new. And the suitcase checked for a journey from New York JFK to Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 16 certainly contained some oddities. As it rolled through the X-ray machine, TSA officials could see what appeared to be bottles, wine glasses, a pair of flip flops — and a life-size outline of a cat.It turned out that the outline was life-size because the cat was a real cat: alive and, apparently, unharmed by its past few hours of being stuffed into a suitcase and flung around on its way onto the plane. A plane where, of course, it could easily have died in the hold during the flight.The officers who saw the image, and then opened the case to find the cat, were "shocked," TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein told CNN.Related video above: TSA busts gun-stuffed raw chickenDespite them dealing daily with everything from unauthorized firearms to illicit cranberry sauce, "It's rare to discover a live animal in a checked bag," she said. Luckily, the cat didn't try to run away when they opened the case.The passenger, who was traveling on Delta Air Lines, was paged to come and explain his luggage, and told TSA that "it was not his cat — it belonged to someone else in the household," said Farbstein. They suggested the cat — which was on top of the luggage, and even had its fur sticking out of the case between the zippers — had got into the case unseen.TSA did not involve animal welfare, said Farbstein.The traveler is thought to have missed his flight, but rebooked for the following day, sans cat. Meanwhile the cat — apparently called Smells — appears unbothered by his escapade, according to the New York Post, which appeared to have tracked it down.Traveling (intentionally) with your cat? Farbstein advises placing it in a pet carrier and asking for it to be screened in a private room so that when it's taken out for screening, it can't run away. A search of the cat's carry-on can then take place.And if you're not traveling with your cat, make sure it hasn't joined you for the ride.

AVON LAKE, Ohio, (WEWS) — A few months ago, employees at the Avon Lake Public Library in Ohio found a small stuffed animal among the books in the children's section. From that moment, the toy has had quite the adventure and its story is one of fun, love and the generosity of one young boy.

When the cat was found around November, it was going to be placed in the lost and found bin. But the library's communications manager, Shea Alltmont, had a different idea.

"I said, 'Why not? I'm going to take the stuffy and do a little post and see if anybody knows whose kitty it is,'" Alltmont said.

Alltmont posted a picture of the toy on the library's Facebook page, one with text that said the cat was looking for its owners and other photos with the cat helping around the library. The posts were fun and lighthearted—and well received by friends of the library on the social media platform.

"Reaction, actually, was pretty swift on our social media Facebook page. And I saw a lot of people had already kind of liked it and 'Oh, I hope this stuffy finds its home,'" Alltmont said. "It was doing what I wanted it to do, which was to make some awareness about the little kitty."

But while the first few posts were getting traction, no one came forward to claim the stuffed kitty, which the library had named Aurora.

Alltmont and the Avon Lake Public Library staff didn't give up hope, however. Pictures of Aurora were frequently posted to the library's social media accounts, and her antics increased.

From exploring the library's science-based learning center Discovery Works, to perusing Scottish poetry, and even getting dressed up for movie premieres and fashion shows, Aurora stayed busy through the holiday season.

Still, someone had to be looking for her.

"Kitty's been part of our family for three years," said Maribeth Stahl. "Truly every car ride, every trip to the store. Our family—I feel like one of the phrases was, 'Where's kitty?' So this is not really very surprising that she ended up here at the library."

Stahl's son, 6-year-old Anderson, got the animal he calls "Kitty" at the start of the pandemic.

Since then, the two have been inseparable—until the day Anderson left her at the library.

"I was trying to find Kitty everywhere—in the basement, on the third floor and everywhere," Anderson said.

The family searched for weeks but couldn't find Kitty, but then, the Stahl family stumbled upon the library's picture.

"My mom found the pictures of Kitty on her phone at the library," Anderson said.

Stahl contacted the library and told them she thought Aurora was actually Kitty and they'd been searching for her for weeks. She sent pictures she had and the library confirmed. The goal of finding the owner had come to fruition.

"She was going to go home and the adventure would have kind of a nice little bow tied up and and, you know, be done," Alltmont said.

But after meeting at the library to pick the toy up, Anderson had a different idea.

'He said, 'No, I think she should stay and have more adventures," Stahl said.

Her son had chosen to let the library keep Kitty—now officially Aurora—so she could continue her adventures and let other kids enjoy her as well.

"Such a brave and thoughtful thing for a 6-year-old to have that kind of just big heart and know that her adventures were so much bigger and not finished yet. Sort of a gift that he really gave to all of us," Stahl said.

Aurora now lives at Avon Lake Public Library where she continues her adventures and brings joy to those of all ages.

And of course, Anderson makes sure to visit his old friend often when he takes adventures of his own to the local library.

"She's not lost anymore. She's found that she has a home and that we get to come and visit her any time that we want," Stahl said.

This story was originally reported by Camryn Justice on news5cleveland.com.

It’s not easy watching loved ones get old.

“We don’t know if she’ll be here another day, another year,” said Mary Beth Thompson.

Thompson's 12-year-old dog Wren is in her final days.

“Very sweet, and she’s funny, the way she used to chase me,” said Thompson.

Wren is a cancer survivor and she’s losing some mobility in her hind legs.

“I just feel like, oh, when did she get old? We'll love her until she doesn’t want to be here anymore,” said Thompson.

The family invited Lauren Smith Kennedy to help them create a special memory of Wren.

“End-of-life pet photography is just what it sounds like. So it’s either photographing senior animals that are at the end stages of their lives or companion animals that have a terminal illness,” said Kennedy.

Earlier in 2021, Lauren offered to take some end-of-life photos of an acquaintance's pet and posted the finished product online.

“I put it out there on my social media, on my personal pages and it just blew up and I found out that there was such a high demand for it,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy says people were offering to fly her all over the country for these sessions with their pets. She simply could not keep up. So she created something new.

“How can I just make a resource for pet owners, so it’s one central list where they can just go and look. So that’s when the Tilly project started, it’s an organization dedicated to being a network not only for end-of-life photographers but clients seeking those services to get together and find each other,”

Kennedy says the website currently has over 500 photographers across the country. She named the project after one of her cats that passed away.

“I am still on a journey with my own grief and the loss that I had and I think that this allows me to honor these connections and friendships and love. It’s definitely why I named it the Tilly project, it feels like it’s a great way of honoring her,” she said.

Michelle Crossley, who works for the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, an advocacy and resource group for those dealing with the loss of a pet, says people need to grieve properly.

“One of the biggest things is for individuals to be able to talk about it, that’s a healing property,” said Crossley. “Participating in chat rooms, paying some sort of tribute to their companion animal that they’ve lost, but starting from the get-go just being able to talk about it.”

It won’t be easy for the Thompsons to say goodbye to Wren. But when the time comes, Thompson will know.

“We had a talk and I looked her right in the eyes and I said you tell me when it’s time,” said Thompson.

Kennedy hopes that she and other photographers can be there before it’s time, to capture the love between pet and person.

NEW YORK —

This fast kitten followed all the fancy hittin'.

In a game delayed for several minutes while a bunch of groundskeepers tried to corral a scaredy cat in the outfield, the Baltimore Orioles hit four solo homers off Yankees newcomer Andrew Heaney to beat New York 7-1 Monday night.

The Orioles held a six-run lead in the eighth when the tabby emerged from the third base side as Yankees star Aaron Judge batted against Paul Fry.

The cat sped past Baltimore left fielder Ryan McKenna, then got on the warning track and dashed back and forth. The feline climbed up on the low padding along the wall and tried to scale the bullpen fence, but kept falling back down.

"We saw him earlier in the dugout during the game and he was just chilling and we let him be," Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins said. "Next thing I know, the fans were cheering and I had no idea."

"I didn't see the cat until he got the outfield wall and it was a matter of seeing how they handle it, watching seven grown men getting their ankles broken by a cat. Pretty funny to watch," he said.

Fans chanted "MVP! MVP!" as the cat eluded its would-be captors, even after being surrounded by several of them near the 318-foot mark in left field.

Only after 3 1/2 minutes did the cat leave the field, darting into an open gate near the seating area along the third base line.

The cat was first noticed by Joey Gallo, who was standing in the on-deck circle and pointed it out to plate umpire Mark Ripperger.

"That thing was pretty elusive to catch there," Gallo said.

Almost too much so, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.

"I was kind of wondering what everybody was waiting for, to be honest with you," he said. "Our pitcher is sitting there on the mound there with Aaron Judge at the plate and we're watching a cat run around but finally it got out there — the cat showed some good quickness and agility and vertical a few times."

"But I didn't know if it was a poisonous cat or what it was because there wasn't a whole lot of movement happening when it ran on the field," he said.

Once the cat exited, Judge flied out.

Long before the cat made its appearance, Mullins and Austin Hays hit back-to-back homers in the third off Heaney (6-8).

Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías also went deep to spoil the debut of Heaney, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels just before Friday's trade deadline.

Heaney tied a career high by allowing four homers for the second time. The other instance was in 2017 also against Baltimore.

"I thought it fell off there after a couple of innings and he made some mistakes in some nitro spots," manager Aaron Boone said.

It was the first time a Yankee starter allowed four homers since James Paxton on July 26, 2019, at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

Heaney gave up four runs on six hits in six innings with the homers coming in a span of six batters in the third and fourth.

Jorge López (3-12) took a no-hit bid into the sixth and allowed one run and one hit in six innings. He worked around a career-high five walks and struck out four for his first win since June 6 to end a nine-start winless skid.

Anthony Rizzo hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth and has an RBI in his first four games with the Yankees. Joey Gallo started in left field and ended López's no-hit bid with a clean double to open the sixth.

By then the Orioles held a 6-1 lead.

Mullins hit a full-count fastball into the right field seats for his 18th homer and three pitches later Hays knocked a 1-1 fastball into the left field seats.

Mountcastle homered on the first pitch of the fourth and two batters later Urías sent a drive into the visitor's bullpen beyond the left-center field fence.

Sacrifice flies by Pedro Severino and Maikel Franco gave Baltimore a 6-1 lead in the sixth. A double-play grounder by Anthony Santander made it 7-1 in the eighth before the cat made its appearance.

"A weird moment, but interesting for baseball," Gallo said.

"Tiger King's" Carole Baskin is getting into cryptocurrency.

According to the Big Cat Rescue founder, she is launching $CAT, a new digital fan token for supporters of her rescue.

The NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, will be arriving in the coming weeks.

According to the website, you'll be able to use $CAT to make purchases on walks around the sanctuary, conversations with Baskin and her team, and merchandise.

$CAT is available now with prices starting at $5.