Just after 6am on Tuesday morning, a curious young ginger cat boarded a train at St Albans station in Melbourne’s western suburbs and journeyed to Flinders Street station in the city centre.

In CCTV footage you can see the carriage doors open on platform one before the unexpected passenger casually tails morning commuters to catch the city loop service.

On Wednesday Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, took to social media to share footage of the cat’s adventures in the hope that his owners might see it and come forward to claim their missing pet.

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“They didn’t have a Myki to touch on or off but some kind passengers took care of them all the way to Flinders Street,” Allan wrote on X.

The young commuter on his way into the city

“So if you’re missing a well-behaved ginger cat who loves the train please get in touch.”

On the premier’s Facebook page commenters seized the opportunity to drop some jokes.

“This is peak orange cat behaviour,” one said, while another said: “Let’s just ‘paws’ for a moment here and consider the cat followed its owner as they’ve gone to the office. WFH is far more purr-fect, and productive.”

A Metro Trains Melbourne spokesperson told Guardian Australia that the cat had been cared for by passengers before they handed him to staff.

The pet is now being looked after by the Lost Dogs Home, which has requested that only the cat’s owners reach out to claim him.

According to Victoria’s cat management strategy for 2025-35, tens of thousands of domestic cats find themselves in the state’s pounds and shelters each year, with only about 10% of them claimed by their owners.

In contrast, more than 50% of dogs are typically collected from pounds and shelters by their owners.