Conference misery::feline_v1

    How about the cat who walks through walls? What was
    the name of that cat in the book?
    

    Dave,
    
    Your experience is a prime example why cats and other small animal
    pets should ALWAYS be transported in a closed carrier.  Automobiles
    are strange and frightening to most animals, particularly the first
    trip.  You are lucky you and the kitten survived.
    
    Frank
    

    re .2
    
    Yes, I agree.  it wasn't a smart thing to do on my part.  We did
    use (and will continue to use) a Pet Taxi when we brought it to
    the vet on Sunday.  I suppose I could have put a moral to the end
    of my note saying something to that effect.
    
    Dave

    Wow!  Osco has Pet Taxi's on sale this week.  I know someone else
    that used the name you chose - the Fancy Feast cat's name is
    S.H. The Third - It stand for Sh*t Head, his owner told me!
    Sounds like both kitties have something in common!  Good Luck...
    
    E.T.

    I had a kitty that got loose in the car (before I had bought kitty
    carriers) and crawled behind the clutch pedal.  My friend had to
    open his door and lie on his back to reach the kitty.  Never again,
    I have many kitty boxes in all shapes and sizes.
    

    RE:  .4
    
    Is there an Osco Drug in the Nashua area?  I'll be getting two Maine
    Coon kittens at the end of August so I'd like to pick up a Pet Taxi
    on sale now.  Thanks...
    

    There's one in Hudson.  Take the DW south (exit 3 off Route 3),
    then turn left at the intersection where the State liquor store
    is.  Cross the river into Hudson.  Turn left at the lights and
    Osco will be just ahead on your right.
    
    Mary

    My hardly-small Merlin used to climb under the front seat of my
    car and hook his leg over a seat-control wire to make it almost
    impossible for me to extract him.  Of course, every time he went
    in the car, it was to go to the vet's.
    
    On your kitten:  Name him "Houdini."
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    The cat who walked through walls.............. Pixel.
    
    Good name for a DEC cat!

    
    
    I would like to add that when bringing a kitten home, also, check
    your dwelling for small holes, crevices, interesting looking spaces
    that a kitten, tiny and curious as it is, would be intrigued by.
    When I first brought home my kitty, the first night I had him he
    disappeared completely.  I was frantic!  I lived alone, and
    was in a brand new apartment that I was even relatively unfamiliar
    with myself.  I searched the closets, bathroom, heater closet, drawers,
    EVERYTHING I could think of.  I felt awful and was certain that
    he was in terrible danger because I had turned my back on him for
    a short while.  I couldn't remember opening doors, but searched
    my balcony, hallways of the building, outside and everything.  I
    was so upset, I made a long-distance semi-hysterical phone call
    to my parents (as if they could do much besides offering moral
    support).  As I was talking to them, I glanced over at the dishwasher,
    and out from underneath came one little gray and white paw, then
    another, then two more.  Then a little kitty face, and an entire
    kitty body!  If I hadn't been so upset, I would have been laughing.
    I was so glad to see him, he certainly got his share of love that
    evening.  Needless to say, I stuffed an old rug up next to the
    dishwasher where the metal guard should have been!  It never happened
    again.  
    
    He must have been sitting in there, nice, cozy and warm, missing
    his mummy, and when he heard me talking about him on the phone with
    such worry in my voice, he decided that I was fit to take his mummy's
    place, so he came out.  Either that, or he was having a good little
    chuckle under there, and came out when it became tiresome.  You
    never know with Sebastion...
    
    Amy. 
                          

    
    RE: .10
    
    Some twenty years ago the exact same thing happened to me.  I had
    just moved into my first apartment in Norfolk, Virginia.  My new
    kitty, Missy had vanished.  I was beside myself.  I had looked
    "everywhere".  I, too, was so upset that I placed a phone call to
    my mother in Connecticut for moral support from the phone in the
    kitchen.  As I was talking, I was walking around the kitchen.  As
    I passed the Fridge, the top of which was right at eye level, I
    peered into the dark little space between the top of the fridge
    and the upper cabinets (not more then 3 inches).  As I did that
    I jumped back nearly a foot.  All I could see was two glowing yellow
    eyes only inches from mine.  She really startled me!  I must have
    let out a cry, because missy then stuck her head out to see what
    was up.  She looked at me as if to say "So what's *your* problem?"
    My mom and I had a good chuckle about that.   
                                                             
    Marion

    Re .11:
    
    Merlin, who is highlyy intelligent and who has a penchant for hiding,
    was a guest when I went to visit my mother in Florida.  He quickly
    found a spot over her refrigerator (he's jet black); we thought
    he'd disappeared until he materialized on the top of the 'fridge.
    As a Manx, he has a penchant for opening doors, but he didn't use
    this talent to help him hide.  However, once when my mother was
    straightening the cushions on a bamboo chair in her large leisure
    room, she lifted the cushion and found a pair of eyes staring at
    her.... (The effect was heightened by the fact that the floor was
    tiled in black linoleum.)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    When my husband and I brought home our 6 week old kitten, she also
    disappeared on her first night in her new home.  Knowing how nervous
    the poor baby was when we let her out of her carrier we generally
    let her explore the apartment so she would get used to her new
    surroundings. After a while of exploring we noticed her missing,
    we searched, and searched, and searched becoming very nervous
    ourselves. Now, after about half and hour of tearing apart a scarcely
    furnished apartment we found her wedged between the couch cushions
    we had arranged on the floor to sleep on because we hadn't even
    moved the bed in yet.  It's a good thing we didn't decide to just
    go to bed and she would turn up in the morning; I would have gone
    to straighten out the sheets and found a squashed kitten!!

    
    
    	It seems kittens love appliances, because mine tried to crawl
    under the fridge on her first night home - good thing I caught 
    her - I don't know how I would've gotten her out!
    
    

    re .14:
    
    I think it's less that they love appliances than that they like
    warm places.  A refrigerator cooling system gives off heat, and
    the kitten may be attracted to that.  Some adult cats will crawl
    into automobile engine compartments to soask up warmth from engines
    (and occasionally are injured when the engine's kicked over).
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    When we first got Pokey she was only 7 weeks old; just a tiny little
    thing.  She roamed around the apartment, me following her! She crawled
    in between the stove and the cabinets that were next to it (couldn't
    have been more than four inches) and she didn't want to come out.
    My husband had to move the stove out so I could grab her, then move
    it back as close as possible to the cabinets.  Now, just over two
    months later, she's too fat to stick her little toe in that 4 inch
    crack!  (Just exagerating!)

    
    Like .16 I have a kitten who likes to explore.  He has only lived
    with us for about 6 weeks and has already discovered that there
    is an opening underneath all the cabinets in our house.  (Kitchen
    and bathrooms.)  So one minute  he will be there on the floor in
    the kitchen and the next minute he's disappeared.  So far he has
    always come out o.k. by himself.  I'm just waiting for him to get
    too big to do this. 
    
    	Myra
    

    So.... what's the kitty's name?
    
    janet b. (as curious as the cats)
    
    ps - our Merlin loves any small space that he can find, the more
    secluded (and the more it startles me when I find him...) the better!

    
    re .17:
    
    Be careful with that one!  Several years ago I had a lovely white
    longhair named Tasha.  When Tasha was little, she would "visit" anyone
    using the bathroom by squeezing under the door. (We lived in an
    old three-decker with doors that never really fit the openings; there
    were significant spaces beneath all the doors.)                
    
    After a while she grew too big to do this.  That was fine, until
    about six months later.  She apparently forgot her size.  Tasha's
    head wound up wedged under the bathroom door, and one of our
    houseguests got trapped in the bathroom, looking at Tasha's pathetic
    mewing kitty-face stuck under the door.  We had to take the door
    off the hinges to get the both of them out.  Poor kitty got a nasty
    gash on her neck from struggling when she realized she was caught,
    and our friend visited much less frequently!
    
    So, after your kitty grows to big for his favorite crawl spaces,
    you may want to close them off and avoid this unpleasant scene.
    
    Rita
    
    

    
    	RE:  .18
    		
    	>So...what's kitty's name?? 
    
    		Well, he has several.  He belongs to my daughter
    		who named him J.J.  (Why, I don't know!)  But the
    		rest of us call him things like  "Pest", "Speedy",
    		and "Powder Puff". 
    
    	re:  .19
    
    	>closing off the openings. 
    
    		Yes, I think that's definitely a wise decision.  I
    		am very upset that the builders left them that way
    		when the house was built last year.  Think I'll try
    		to get them to do it.  But that may be difficult. 
    
    			My
    

    
    RE:  .19
    
    Though I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, I did have to chuckle
    at the mental image of that scene.  One of the strangest I've heard
    yet! :-)
    
    Carole