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27 February 2007
We're moved! And the cat's missing. Like, seriously missing. I'm sure she's curled up in a corner somewhere, but I'm starting to worry.
Also, I do know she was here at 5am, because I saw her, and I'm failing to see how she could have escaped the house between then and now... but I'm starting to get worried she's trapped somewhere that we can't see.
occhi - my cats always got seriously freaked out after a move, like "find a small space and hide" freaked out. If she's stuck somewhere, she'll probably start meowing soon, so at least you'll be able to hear her.
She could be ... on top of fridge, on top of cabinets, inside cabinets (kitchen & bathroom), behind washing machine, behind dryer, behind dressers, behind/under couches/chairs, behind bookcases, behind clothes hanging in closets, in bathtub/shower, behind toilet, in empty boxes, in not-so-empty boxes, in laundry basket, under bed, under bedcovers and, quite possibly, a million other places I haven't thought of.
deborah, hee. I think we've looked in all those places, but I'm guessing we must be missing something.
The last few times she's managed to escape have also been right after a move, and she somehow managed to find her way home each time, so I'm just trying to hang out and wait and hope she appears from somewhere. Hopefully an inside somewhere.
If she *did* go outside, she's a seriously stupid cat, because it's pouring out there.
But the poor thing -- we brought her here last night, let her out of the cage to explore... and it immediately started hailing. It sounded like we were under attack. And then she managed to knock over some heavy loud wood things during the night, which I'm sure freaked her out even more. I'd probably be in retreat mode, too.
Actually, I am in retreat mode -- all I want to do is curl up and sleep -- but I have to go to class. Grr.
w00t! Congratulations on the move! Have you checked the kitty carrier? Starting the vacuum cleaner may not be the best idea but if you start vacuuming near the kitty's hiding place, she might come running out.
I'm sure she's in your apartment, and has found a creative hiding place. Do not worry.
I got a new cat who completely disappeared for 36 hours. I was convinced she had gotten out of our tiny, shoebox-sized studio and was wandering the streets, dazed. I even started putting up "Lost Cat" posters. Turns out she was in my husband's bass amp the whole time. Fuckin' cat.
occhiblu, when we moved here, I had three cats, one of whom, Barry, was a big scaredy boy. My then-husband arrived back from taking the van back to find me in a panic.
"Barry's missing" I sobbed. I'd looked everywhere, and I was convinced he'd escaped and got lost in the forest.
So, on a cold, dark October night, pouring with rain, my husband and stepson went out into the forest to look for Barry.
And, naturally, Barry wasn't in the forest at all, he was hiding behind a table-top that had been leaned up against the wall. I still can't believe he got behind it, he was so fat.
I think that was the first and only time my husband ever set foot in the forest.
Turns out she was in my husband's bass amp the whole time.
How did you make that discovery?
We were sitting in the living room, dejected and hopeless, and we heard a tiny meow. (I was so distraught, I literally thought I was hallucinating meow noises.) We traced subsequent meows to the bass amp, which I had pushed against the wall in one of my frantic searches through the entire apartment. The cat-sized hole in the amp had been pushed flush to the wall, with only about an inch to spare. I saw her nose poking out of the hole and rolled the amp away from the wall and she hopped out. Fuckin' cat.
Yep, cats love this game. I had a cat (who weighed less than 6 pounds) who climbed into the furnace (after sneaking under the closed basement door) and ended up sleeping in the ductwork. She would meow and it would sound like she was in every room of the house. In my panic I was convinced she had died and would haunt me forever. But then while I had my head on the floor, I heard a metallicy echoey pop. "Sheet metal!" I thought. "Furnace!" I thought. "I'm so going to kill her if she's filthy," I thought. She was, but I didn't.
I tried to find one of occhiblu's compacts this morning, so I could scope the space behind the stove, but I couldn't. So I used a chrome martini shaker. There was something that looked vaguely calico back there, but it was dark and the thing didn't move.
So tonight Lisa and I are unpacking and what should emerge from behind the stove, but a very dusty Zoe the cat!
The first night at our current apartment, one of our cats did a similar vanishing trick. He had somehow got himself into an unpacked, vertical suitcase that had been partly unzipped so that one item could be removed from it, the unzipped gap being no more than nine inches long. After several hours' frantic searching, we opened up the case to find a sleeping moggy in the midst of the clothes therein.
And Miko, I somehow missed your question. We ended up going with the bigger place, and so far I'm really, really glad we did. I've been running around like a crazy woman this week, with classes and interviews and things, and it's SO NICE to have a place that's convenient to most of those practical things. I think, right now, I needed a place that was convenient rather than in the midst of neighborhood excitement.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
