‘He could be anywhere’: Woman living in van with her cat ‘Jules’ drives an hour north before realizing he isn’t in the van

A woman who recorded the panicked moments after she realized she’d left her cat at a rest stop is going viral after posting the clip to TikTok. Nikki Jabs posts content revolving around van life and traveling across the country with her cat Jules, but after stopping at a rest stop she failed to notice her cat had left the van before driving away.

In a clip which has received almost 6 million views as of writing, Nikki can be seen in floods of tears as she speeds down the highway in her van. Through sobs she can be heard saying, “Jules is not in my van… I think he ran out at the rest stop.” The in-video captions give a little more context, explaining that Nikki had left the rest stop and driven an hour North before realizing that her cat was missing.

Nikki explained that she was panicking due to it being so late at night and her cat was 11-years-old which would make it a senior cat. Of course, it’s normal for any pet owner to panic upon realizing their pet is missing, especially when Nikki doesn’t know if she’ll ever see her cat again. 

“Oh my god my chest hurts so bad,” she says as she continues to drive, worrying that “he could be anywhere.” The video continues for almost three minutes as Nikki drives down I-75.

Nikki gets back to the rest stop

Thankfully the next video shows Nikki being reunited with her beloved Jules. “I almost had a f—ing heart attack coming here,” she tells the elderly cat who, at this point, is safe and back in the van. Nikki looks relieved if a little worn out from her stressful evening but at the very least she can rest easy knowing she has her cat back safe and sound.

While many viewers were just as relieved as Nikki to know that Jules was safe, many didn’t hold back on chastising the woman for not paying enough attention to where her cat was before driving off the first time. “He depends on you to be alert and attentive to him,” wrote one person.

Another, who commented on the initial video, wrote, “your first instinct was to set up your phone and start recording.” A few called Nikki out for apparently taking the time to set up her phone to record her panic attack while driving back to the rest stop. Another claimed it was “weird” to even think about recording for TikTok given the situation.

Whatever the case, most were simply relieved to hear that Jules was safe. Hopefully Nikki will remember to double check that her cat is where he’s supposed to be in the future.