A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent got quite the shock while operating an airport's X-ray scanner, but it wasn't weapons or drugs hidden away — it was a live cat.

The cat was sent through an X-ray security checkpoint in a carry-on bag on March 3 at Norfolk Airport in Virginia. Fabrication Service

TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein posted the striking photo of the pet from the x-ray machine on Twitter, saying a traveler had left the feline inside its carrying case for the TSA checkpoint.

"Please do not send your pet through the X-ray unit. Cat-astropic mistake!" Farbstein said in the tweet.

When asked if the cat was okay, Farbstein replied: "Yep. The traveler and cat had to go through screening the proper way once the TSA officers saw the X-ray image. The proper way being to remove the cat from the travel bag."

The tweet then sparked a series of cat-related puns from other social media users, such as "Hopefully this will be a 'cat-alyst' for change" and "I have never seen a true cat scan until today."

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The TSA website advises that if you are traveling with small pets, you must "remove your pet from the carrying case and place the case through the X-ray machine. You should maintain control of your pet with a leash and remember to remove the leash when carrying your pet through the metal detector. Animal carriers will undergo a visual and/or physical inspection."

The Virginia cat's trip through security is not the first time the TSA has found a pet left in a bag. In Dec. 2022, agents at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison discovered a dog inside a backpack after its owner inadvertently sent it through the airport security x-ray machine. And a month prior, a pet cat was found stowed away in some New York luggage.

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