Cat survives one month trapped in box during family move

A cat has survived 36 days without food or water inside a shipping container bound for Hawaii after finding itself sealed up in a box of belongings.

It was moving day for Virginia woman Ashley Barth when pet cat Mee Moowe went missing, NBC News reports.

"I was really worried and I was starting to think the worst, that maybe she ran away or maybe the movers scared her," she said.

The Barth family stayed in their empty home for a few more days in September in the hope that she might show up, but eventually they couldn't wait any longer.

"My girls were devastated," she said.

After more than a month at sea, the family's belongings arrived at their new home in Hawaii.

Inside one of the boxes, they found Mee Moowe clinging to life having lost half its body weight.

"She was alive, I was grateful for that but I was furious that this happened to her," Ms Barth said.

Mee Moowe is on the mend but must now spend three months at a vet in quarantine at a cost of $4000 because it had not been given the correct shots prior to arriving in Hawaii.