AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) — A 34-hour search for a missing Austin cat ended on Monday with Tux being reunited with her owner.

The search for Tux started on Saturday afternoon when a Lyft driver reportedly drove off with the cat. Early Monday morning, Tux was found outdoors in the 11700 block of Jollyville Road in North Austin. Her cat carrier was nowhere to be found.

“She is doing really well. No issues at all. She just had some fleas because she was outside. They gave her like an ointment for that, but other than that she is healthy. She is fine,” said Palash Pandey, Tux’s owner.

Tux went missing Saturday afternoon when Pandey said he used Lyft to take her to the Banfield Pet Hospital. He added Tux was vomiting and he wanted to get her checked out. When he got out of the car and started to walk around to the opposite side of the vehicle to get Tux, he said the driver took off with the cat still in the car.

I am screaming stop, stop. Wait, wait. And he just takes off,” said Pandey. “Just walking from one door to another and just doing that he started peeling off. I am running behind him banging on his doors and banging on his windows and he just takes off.

Lost cat flyers went up in North Austin and Lyft put alerts on its app to help find Tux. Early Monday morning investigators hired by Lyft found Tux 1.2 miles from the pet hospital on Jollyville Road. The cat was outdoors and no longer inside her carrier.

“How can a cat inside a carrier just get out and hide herself somewhere so close to where he dropped me off,” said Pandey.

Lyft CEO David Risher posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Very good news. Thanks to all who pitched in.”

Pandey said the entire situation could have been avoided if the driver had either not driven away or not waited hours to answer his messages.

“I tried communicating with him every way possible and he did not respond to me. He only called me back once police called him first,” said Pandey.

KEYE asked Lyft for an interview or statement on the situation and received the following statement:

We are so happy to report that Tux has been reunited with her owner and we are focused on ensuring Tux has everything she needs right now, including covering all of her veterinary bills. We will continue to work directly with Palash to provide the support that they both need. We are actively working with all involved to fully understand the situation - to help prevent it from happening again. We are evaluating our policies to improve support for our community, including in cases like this.

Pandey said he is considering taking legal action and hopes to get more information on why the driver drove off so quickly with his cat still in the car.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

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