A cat survived a two-hour flight to Toronto and a one-hour car ride inside its owner's suitcase, even though security at St. John Airport had scanned the bag before boarding.

The cat, named Ginger, had apparently slipped into owner Mary Martell's suitcase while she was packing and wasn't noticed until Martell got to her Niagara-on-the-Lake hotel.

Apparently, the security at the small New Brunswick airport thought the cat was some sort of poultry.

"They had asked me, when they put the luggage through the X-Ray, whether I had a turkey."

Security spent a long time staring at the perplexing mass on their screens but in the end let Martell through without searching her luggage.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority will be investigating the incident and the cat will fly home in a proper container for free on Air Canada.