# Always do a cat check when you leave!!



## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

I accidentally locked Sinatra in the bathroom for 7 hours today . I feel like a horrible mom, and to make it worse is the first thing he did when he came out was kiss me!!!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Oh no!!! My flatmate accidentally locked Pumpkin outside yesterday after we finished bringing in some groceries. My poor baby was standing at the front door mewing when I remembered a half hour later


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

He hasn't used the potty yet so I really hope he didn't go in the bathroom!! If he did and I haven't found it yet I wouldn't blame him, I just hope he didn't for obvious reasons. I feel so bad that he was locked in there with no food or water or potty . He tore up all the toilet paper rolls but that is my fault for locking him in there!! It is also why we keep the bathroom door closed...


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Sinatra-Butters said:


> to make it worse is the first thing he did when he came out was kiss me!!!


That's because he wasn't thinking of how evil mommy was to lock him up...he was thinking how mommy was his hero for SAVING him. 

I would totally play that up. "Awwww, did my poor baby get locked in?! It's good thing mommy rushed home to SAVE you!"


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Don't feel bad. I came home one night last week and saw a dish of food on the counter. I had forgotten to bring Gigi's food into her half of the house before I left for work. 

On the other hand, she had been picky and refusing her food the night before. But she sure ate good when I fed her right then!


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Sinatra-Butters said:


> He hasn't used the potty yet so I really hope he didn't go in the bathroom!! If he did and I haven't found it yet I wouldn't blame him, I just hope he didn't for obvious reasons. I feel so bad that he was locked in there with no food or water or potty . *He tore up all the toilet paper rolls* but that is my fault for locking him in there!! It is also why we keep the bathroom door closed...


Uh-oh. I hope he didn't just find a new toy.


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## KittieLover (May 2, 2011)

Oh gosh! Poor Sinatra!
A couple of weeks ago I accidently locked Kitty in the cupboard for around 45 mins!


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

He already loves tearing up the toilet paper, that's why we keep the door closed.

I know he has probably already forgot but I still feel horrible


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## love.my.cats (Jan 29, 2009)

If you usually keep the door closed to stop him tearing up toilet paper, he probably loved being in there making a mess - plus he didn't get in trouble for it this time!!


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

In the last three weeks, Hersh learned how to open the bedroom dresser drawer above the one where I "hide" kitty treats for Snowby when she goes to her safe room, so I moved the treats elsewhere. But Hersh opens that drawer now several times a day. Last night, before going to bed, I closed that drawer, then turned out the lights. Little Hersh hopped onto my bed, as usual, but there was no sign of Hersh, who always sleeps with me. About five minutes later, I heard a scratching sound, and then some loud mewing. I turned on the light and got up. Hersh was trapped in the dresser drawer where the treats used to be! He must have climbed in there just before lights out. He was as surprised as I was at his predicament!


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## Ritzpg (Dec 7, 2010)

This is true whether you have one cat or five. Not only check where your cats are, but where they might end up. Like, am I *sure* I closed the bacolny door/shut the window/hid all sharp objects and drugs/made sure there are no holes in screens.
I came home one day and Ritz was looking at me from OUTSIDE the balcony. The screen had torn just enough so that she could escape onto the balcony, but she couldn't figure how to get back in. Balcony = death drop.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Don't feel bad. A couple weeks ago I heard Murphy meowing loudly from the basement. I figured he was just excited at seeing something out the window. Then more meowing, and more ignoring. Then more. Finally when I went down 20 minutes later to get the laundry, it turned out he was meowing because he was locked in the storage closet! It was a good thing I was doing laundry at the time.


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## blondie1483 (Jan 19, 2011)

A few weeks ago I accidentally left Mr. T outside on our balcony while I ran to shoprite for some emergency olives. Yeah, it was THAT important. I got back, and T had chewed a quarter-size hole through the screen. I felt so bad!


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

I live alone and I have one cat, Missy. I always make a point of telling her I'm going out. A bit crazy, I know. Often I'll just go and stroke her head before I go. I always call out to her when I come home so that she'll know it's me and not some stranger. Probably unnecessary, but it's what I do.

When I first got Zenobi, I accidentally locked her out on the balcony. The poor girl frantically scratched at the door, and gave me a dirty look when I let her in.

(In the bathroom with all that paper. He probably thought he was getting a special treat.)


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## LilRed (Jul 16, 2008)

Yep, do a cat check.
I left for 8hrs one time with Lucy in the closet, in the dark, with no food, water or toilet paper rolls to play with. I think she just slept the whole time. And she forgave me, thank goodness.


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## Goldtanker (Jan 9, 2011)

In the Summertime, when it is hot in the garage, I always have to check to see that Midnight, the wild cat, is outside and on one of this beds on the front porch before I leave and close the garage door, as it might be a little warm in there before I get back. In the Winter - not a problem - he is in his heated house sleeping, with food and water and a litter-box. Poor guy!


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## christinaja (Aug 28, 2011)

YES! This is usually pretty routine in our home. But one day, hubby went outside to go check the mail while I was at work. I got home a couple of hours later, and took the dog out to do his business. I stood there, waiting on Jet, praying he would hurry the heck up so I could get inside to the air conditioning. We had a nasty heat wave at the time, with high temps of 112 F! As I was waiting, I heard a tiny "meow!" I strated looking around, and Frodo came racing over to me from behind the neighbor's car!!!! Poor guy only has three legs and a very thick coat, so he was panting like crazy!!!! Evidently, he slipped out when my husband checked the mail, and he never realized he had gotten out. My poor baby! I got him cooled off quickly with some cool water and a drink. But it served as a lesson for hubby to always do a head count!


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## Abbie (Jan 13, 2011)

jusjim said:


> I live alone and I have one cat, Missy. I always make a point of telling her I'm going out. A bit crazy, I know. Often I'll just go and stroke her head before I go. I always call out to her when I come home so that she'll know it's me and not some stranger. Probably unnecessary, but it's what I do.


I do this too! I always give my girls a pat on the head before I leave, and tell them I'll be back soon. They always run to meet me at the door too!


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## Salemcat2 (Dec 28, 2010)

Awww....poor baby! atback

I always do a cat check when I leave home. I make sure if he's not right there, I go looking for him and I tell him, "Mommy's going to work." And give him a good pet. I live in fear he will be locked up in the closet or something if I don't. My husband did find him in the cupboard where the cat/dog food/treats are kept (he loves it in there) one night where I had accidentally closed him in. I don't think it was for long that he was in there. My daughter told me though, that one day she came home from work to her apartment and heard a faint meowing. Much to her horror, she had accidentally closed her cat up in the closet all day. So, it happens.


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## purpleprincess22 (Jul 15, 2011)

I've started doing cat checks right before I go to work... just to make sure I didn't lock anyone in a closet or my room. I think my kittens would have too much fun peeing on the floor if I gave them the excuse.....


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

That is not bad compared to a story I have to tell.

A friend of mine adopted an orange cat from the SPCA. At the time her and her boyfriend had just moved into an old turn of the century home with an attic. The cat was fearful at first and hid for the first week. Even though they never saw it, the food and water dish was emptying out each night so they knew it was still in the house. Then all of a sudden the orange cat started to come out becoming friendly quite rapidly. A month goes by and they keep hearing muffled sounds when they were in the lofted bedroom but they could not figure out where it was coming from. Their cat was either downstairs, outside or in bed with them so they assumed it was the mice in the attic, or their neighbors cat that liked to sit on it's window sill and talk to everything. Sometimes the sounds were like a muffled cat meow, other times it was scratching noises. At that time there were always people in the house, music or TV going and they were mostly gone on the weekends. 

One morning they heard the noise again and decided to thoroughly investigate. Their cat was no where to be found so they pulled open the attic door and the insulation behind it and out comes an orange cat extremely emancipated and starved. They could not figure out how a cat got in there in the first place but it was obvious it had been stuck up there for a long time. They brought it food and water and it gobbled it all up but left a trail of puke piles. Thinking a stray had gotten into their house somehow, or perhaps it was left behind by the previous tenant, they brought it to a vet who placed the cat on fluids. They came home and there was their orange cat. It was so similar to the other that they got thinking. What if the orange cat they got from the SPCA hid in the attic and got locked in there somehow....well then where did this other orange cat come from? They called the vet and it's tattoo confirmed that it was indeed the cat they got from the SPCA. They felt so awful and decided to pay the whopping vet bill (they submitted the cat as a stray originally) and brought the cat back home after a few days at the vets. The very day they brought the cat back, the healthy orange cat disappeared and never returned. They put up posters and continuously checked with the SPCA but he never turned up. Meanwhile the emaciated cat improved but continued to hide from them. They left the attic door open just in case it decided to hide up there again and made sure there were food dishes throughout the house which were being eaten so they knew the cat was mobile. Two weeks later, after beefing up the cat took off as they were coming into the house and never turned up despite their efforts to find him. What they know of his history is that he was a stray before arriving at the SPCA. They were pretty torn up about it but didn't blame the cat one bit. 

Thank god they had a mouse problem or that cat would have died in there. It the only logic we can think of as to how it survived. It had to have been up there for nearly a month. I know many of you will say you should be able to tell your cat from another but she only saw it for maybe two hours, the day she picked it out and brought it home from the shelter. As soon as they got home and it was out if the cat carrier it hid. They didn't see it for a week till another similar looking cat waltzed into the house and decided to stay for a month, gobbling up the food ignoring the cat stuck in the attic. As far as they knew their cat was fine. Its hard for me to imagine a cat ignoring another that is locked up like that, their hearing is so much better then ours. They never saw the cat at the attic walls investigating or crying at something. My cats always alerted me if one was outside wanting to get in or if one was locked up in the basement or in one of our rooms. 

After that I am very diligent about checking out noises in my house and if my cats have not been seen in a few hours I make everyone in the house is look for them. Angel has been locked up in the basement a few times but she has no problems defecting on our dirty clothes!


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## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

Identify places they're keen on getting into. My guy likes cupboards,high places,and the door. Before I leave I make sure the bar is between the handles on the cupboard,and that he's WAY back from the door. He's just doing what comes natural I guess. Has Sinatra recovered?


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## Cats&Plants (Aug 20, 2011)

When Logan was a kitten he got stuck in a dresser drawer overnight. We heard a cat crying but every time we got up it would stop so we just thought he was playing in the closet. When hubby opened his sock drawer the next morning out pops Logan, he was hungry and beelined for the litter box, but otherwise was unscathed. Hubby or I must not have closed the drawer all the way when we were putting laundry away and he crawled in and his weight shut the drawer... I felt bad but he still likes sleeping in drawers, but now he's big enough that he won't get stuck lol

I always check the dryer before I close the door and do a head count before turning it on, I am a little OCD about the dryer....


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

Oh he's just fine, thank you for asking. He was never not fine, he didn't even seem that bothered, he just wanted some treats as usual! It was more about me feeling horrible about it.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Sinatra-Butters, so glad he's okay. But yeah. 

Oh Tarah44, that was a heartbreaking story and also very strange how it turned out.

I'm OCD about where my cats are at all times even when I'm home. I check before I leave and I call them when I come home even though my mother is at home. (she's a bit alzheimic..so I don't 100% trust her.). I check on them several times a day when I'm home.

When I leave, I walk backwards out of the door as I shut it (with one eye on the cat if they're staring at me) so there's no chance a kitty can squeeze by me. All the doors leading outdoors are double-doored. In case one does make it thru the first door, there's a second door to stop them. Nevertheless, I'm still paranoid because my dad often doesn't wait for the first door to close b4 opening the 2nd. If a cat takes the opportunity, it would be easy to rush through both doors at the same time.

I know I'm obsessed by normal standards, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. It would literally kill me if one of them were to dash outside.


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## blondie1483 (Jan 19, 2011)

I had to kick this back up because I just closed Lumen in my bedroom closet for three hours while I went to get my hair cut, tanning, and out to lunch. I was freaking out when I came home because I saw T and no L.. and then I realized what I did, ran to the bedroom, and she came strolling out with her tail up like nothing was wrong. AH! Bad owner!!


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

We are awful, maybe kitty protective services should take them away from us!


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