Okay, we have never had any situation like this observed or described to us, so we are working on theory alone!

A swan depending on size, and we are assuming that you are speaking of a Whooper Swan since they are your National Bird, is approximately 22-40 lbs with a wingspan of 6-7 feet long. Now, we need to take into consideration of how big the cat was and what it weighed. Was it a small cat? Was it a juvenile or adult cat? All of this information would be necessary to ascertain if the swan could carry it for any great distance. Did someone (hopefully, did several people) see this occur? Eyewitnesses are the least reliable and if the eyewitness was a young child, distance and size could be greatly miscalculated.

In any case, for argument sake, if the swan was an adult swan weighing 30-40 lbs and the cat was a small cat or a very young cat weighing 5-6 lbs, theoretically, it could have flown on top the swan for a short distance, that means probably 2-3 feet over the water. If it was hanging on for dear life, it may have been able to hold on a little longer. However, the reason that we are skeptical about the length of the cat being on the swan, is:

1. The cat would have been scared and dislodged the minute that the swan started to run or fly.

2. If the swan was scared enough, it would have gone into the water and taken the cat with it and attempted to drown the cat. A small dog was drowned by a swan in a New York city park many years ago.

3. If the cat was still hangling slightly to the bird upon airbone, it would have probably released its hold not wanting to have anything to do with the swan.

Again, never having seen or heard of anything like this before, so we can only assume what might have occurred. In any case, if there was an observer, it was too bad they did not have a camera in their phone or other recording device to let us and many others see this spectacle! The Regal Swan