Published Jul 28, 2025
lifeofthe.artie / Instagram.com
After a scary cat-napping ordeal that went viral on social media and mobilized animal lovers around Philadelphia to search for the abductee, Artemis – a gray-spotted white cat that mostly goes by “Artie” – has come home and settled back in, thanks largely to his tracking device and microchip.
Poor Artie – a “goober” that his humans have nicknamed McFarts and Bubs – was acting uncharacteristically timid when he came home last month after six nights with the strangers who stole him from his South Philly neighborhood, thanks to the help of a Philadelphia animal shelter, say Andrew Mojica and Dominique Kalpakidou, the married human parents of Artie. But after a week and a half or so, Artie was acting like his usual friendly and loving self.
“There were those sleepless nights we had together,” says a relieved Mojica, 32. “It felt like we were playing the lottery – we got him! We won!”
The cat heist happened on April 26, when Artie – a favorite neighborhood mascot who loves walking around his block and visiting people – encountered two juveniles in front of Mojica’s and Kalpakidou’s house. About 8 minutes after Kalpakidou came inside, she used the app to check Artie’s Apple AirTag, attached to his collar, to make sure he was nearby as usual. She was alarmed when she saw the cat was about two miles away! She checked the Ring door camera and panicked when she saw the scene shown in this video: Two boys, who looked to be about middle school age, abducted their beloved Artie. One of them shouted “We got another one!” before both boys got into a white Dodge with a woman driver.
lifeofthe.artie / Instagram.com
Kalpakidou and Mojica were distraught, as Artie was their only cat since their other feline, Gabby the Tabby, died in February. Mojica, a seventh grade math teacher, grabbed his iPhone, jumped onto his Vespa scooter, and followed the pings on the app as he located the car and chased the villain for more than 70 miles around Philadelphia. When he approached the vehicle, the driver – maybe the mother of one of the boys – peeled out on him, and Mojica lost track. He came home, then the next morning, he went to look for the collar, which the thieves had dumped in a park. But there was no sign of Artie. They were crushed.
The couple enlisted the help of police and local residents via social media. Artie’s story spread on Facebook and got attention from Philadelphia news stations, and residents who love Artie felt invested in his return. Neighbors donated to a $1,000 reward Artie’s family was offering for his safe return, no questions asked.
“He’s human!” a neighbor named Charles Simpkins told ABC News. “Everybody loves him. … He’s actually part of the family.”
The neighbors were organizing a search party, but thankfully, they didn’t have to follow through. On May 1, two unidentified women brought Artie to ACCT Philly, an agency that provides animal care and control and operates a shelter in North Philly. Shelter workers identified the cat and his family by scanning his microchip, and Artie’s family was overjoyed to hear their boy was found and safe. They brought him home the next day.
Mojica suspects the people who brought the cat to ACCT Philly are the parents of the kids who took him, and perhaps they had a crisis of conscience – or, with the way the story spread, they concluded it was too risky to keep such a wanted cat.
“They messed with the wrong cat!” Mojica says. “They quickly found out.”
What motivated the catnappers remains a mystery. The “We got another one!” comment indicates that the boys likely had taken several animals. But why? Not to abuse the cats: Artemis, strangely, returned cleaner and even chunkier.
lifeofthe.artie / Instagram.com
“There are plenty of stray cats,” Mojica says. “To take a cat who is very loved and already had another family – it’s confusing, to say the least.”
Artie doesn’t just have an immediate family, he says; the cat has an extended family in his South Philly neighborhood, where Artie adopted a secret second family whose house he spends time at every day.
“We call him ‘The Block Captain,’” Mojica says. “He knows everyone on the block, and everyone knows him. Sometimes he brings stray cats, and they follow him home. We foster them and he socializes them. … It’s basically Artie’s school of socializing now.”
Now, Artie still goes outside, but only under in-person supervision for protection from another catnapping. His humans know that if it weren’t for modern pet technology, they’d probably never have seen their baby again – and they highly recommend that pet parents get a GPS tracker like an AirTag.
“Without the AirTag, we never would have thought to look in North Philly,” says Kalpakidou, 32. “We would have thought he was within a half-mile radius, tops.”
You can follow Artie – who came to his family as a stray about two and a half years ago, and is about 4 years old – on Instagram at @lifeofthe.artie.
Artie’s story is about the happiest ending a cat parent can hope for, and it wouldn’t have happened without modern pet-tracking technology. In this case, the Apple AirTag alerted the family that Artie had been taken and zeroed in on his location range. Then, once the cat was brought to the animal shelter, the microchip identified Artie’s parents and reunited the cat with his grateful family. They highly recommend getting an AirTag!
Interestingly, the Apple company does not recommend using the AirTag on pets; the tracker is intended to help users find easily lost items like wallets, keys, and backpacks. Still, many people have found AirTags and their Bluetooth technology to be an affordable way (about $25) to get some peace of mind. The technology has a range up to about 100 feet, and the AirTag registers when your cat wearing it comes near someone with an iPhone. If your cat hides at home, you can ping the tag, and get an idea of the hiding place.
lifeofthe.artie / Instagram.com
The AirTag is one of many high-tech cat trackers, and our reviewer rated it the best choice for indoor cats in our roundup review of the 10 best cat trackers. We also rate brands including Tractive, Jiobit, Pawscout, Tabcat and more, and we evaluate which type of cat or situation each one suits best.
The reviewer does note that, as valuable as cat trackers can be, they do not eliminate the need for supervision and microchipping. Still, the trackers can give cat parents peace of mind, even with an indoor cat that is known for being an escape artist. Trackers provide important safety if your cat goes outdoors, or if you travel with your cat.
If your cat goes missing, we have published many articles that will help you locate your beloved cat and reunite. If your indoor cat sneaks outside, you can take action by doing things including looking nearby, and notifying the neighbors. In this article with a larger angle, we give a comprehensive list of things you can do if your cat goes missing, and tips to avoid a lost cat in the future. These tips include getting a collar with a tag showing your phone number, getting your cat microchipped, and getting a GPS tracker like an AirTag for your cat’s collar.
