Hobo the Kitten, rescued from under a train, finds new life in luxury

HOUSTON – A stray kitten named Hobo is now living in the lap of luxury in Houston after she was rescued from underneath a train last month in Chicago.

PHOTOS: Kitten rescued from under train

The kitten’s story starts in Kansas City on August 21. Hobo and another kitten -- likely her sibling -- were living in a pipe deep underneath a train car, likely where their mother placed them for safety.

The train car, while safe for a time, was soon to depart, thrusting the kittens into a dangerous scenario with the clock ticking.

Houstonian Patrick Henry, owner and CEO of a food and beverage marketing agency that bears his name, owns the train car. 

Henry spoke with KPRC about the ordeal. He said the night before the train was to depart for Chicago via Amtrak’s service, a railroad employee told him he heard some meowing underneath his train cars.

When the Amtrak employee went to investigate, he eventually pulled a black kitten from the pipe. That kitten found a new home at a farm, but the other kitten -- Hobo --  was still inside the pipe, too deep to be reached.

Train officials, Henry said, eventually had to no choice but to depart for Chicago.

During the 420-mile trip -- at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour -- Henry said he expected the kitten to pop out of the pipe.

“Our stomachs were upset (the entire trip),” Henry said of himself and his fiance, Terry Graham.

When the train arrived in Chicago, railroad employees went back to peer into the pipe, but didn’t see anything.

It wasn’t until the next night that a train inspector heard the kitten meowing again.

“It could barely make a noise,” Henry said.

Railroad employees opened the other end of the pipe and were able to coax out the kitten.

Henry eventually took the kitten – covered in grease and grime -- into his rail car.

“We brought him in – brushed him off,” Henry said. “He would just not leave our side. He didn’t even meow.”

Henry said he and his fiance didn’t have a lot of options because they were leaving the next morning for Denver. They managed to get the kitten some food and litter at a nearby Target just in time for the next leg of their journey.

The kitten that survived as a stowaway made herself right at home in the businessman’s luxurious seven-bedroom sleeper car.

“That poor kitten just never left our side,” Henry said. “It was so funny. There are big windows on the train. (She would) get up on (her) hind legs like (she) had been there (her) whole life. She was just fantastic."

The name Hobo was Henry's idea.

"When we saw Hobo, we didn’t have a choice,” he said.

After Harvey, Hobo eventually flew to her new home in Houston first-class aboard United.

“The flight attendants fell in love with her,” Henry said.

Now that Hobo has a new home in Houston, she is a kind of mascot for Henry’s company. She recently visited his company’s office.

“We brought it to the office,” Henry said. “That cat was never scared.”

Maybe Hobo knows that whole "nine lives" thing actually works -- she’s got at least a few left after her railroad adventures.