HOUSTON, Dec. 4 - A Houston family lost a cat while camping at Yellowstone National Park and thought the kitty was dead, until it turned up alive and thinner three months later.

Philip Wattenbarger said Fluffy the cat went missing while he was camping with his wife, Elizabeth Ayers, and their three daughters at the northeastern U. S. park in August, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.

Wattenbarger said the family searched the area for days but could find no sign of Fluffy. He said they eventually concluded that the family cat would not be able to survive for long in woods, what with the bears, wolves and other predators.

However, the family said they received a call Nov. 15 from Shirley Armstrong, 79, who lives for part of the year by the western edge of Yellowstone. She said the cat, which was wearing a collar bearing her name and family's phone number, had been caught while wandering her neighborhood.

Fluffy was escorted back to Texas by a friend of Armstrong's who works as a flight attendant. The family it's a delight to have the cat back home and they're working to get her weight back up to normal.

"She's been on double rations since she came back," Wattenbarger said. (UPI)