Lowe’s Staff Refuse To Give Up On Missing Cat, Find Her 85 Miles Away

December 8, 2025

At a Lowe’s store in Richmond, Virginia, one employee has always stood out — and she doesn’t wear a name tag. For nearly a decade, a former stray cat named Francine ruled the garden department, charming customers and staff alike.

Store manager Mike Sida says Francine wasn’t especially friendly at first, but that quickly changed. “After a little while, she found her way into a lot of people’s hearts,” he said.

Then, a few months ago, Francine suddenly disappeared.

Francine at Lowes / CBS News

Wayne Schneider, a Lowe’s employee who had become her main caretaker, immediately feared the worst. He believed the beloved cat may have wandered onto a freight truck headed to a massive Lowe’s distribution center in Statesville, North Carolina — about 85 miles away.

If that was the case, finding her would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. The distribution center is huge, packed with pallets, trailers, and endless places for a frightened cat to hide. Still, Schneider refused to give up.

He reached out to warehouse managers Preston Bullock and Taylor Taconet in North Carolina — and they jumped into action.

“As long as they had fight in them, we had fight in us to help,” Bullock said.

Taconet added, “We treated it like a missing family member.”

The team launched an all-out search. They tried luring Francine with cat food, flew a thermal drone over the facility, and even used a high-end 360-degree camera to scan the area. Days passed with no success — until surveillance video finally captured a grainy image of Francine in a cargo truck parking area.

Francine spotted on surveillance video

Moments later, she was safely found and collected.

“I could have cried,” Taconet said.

Schneider did cry. “Tears were just coming down my face,” he shared.

Sida and Schneider immediately drove to the distribution center, loaded Francine into their car, and brought her home to Richmond. Today, she’s back at Lowe’s, once again strolling the store, greeting customers, and soaking up the attention that made her a local favorite.

“It’s good to see her back where she belongs,” Sida said.