Conference misery::feline_v1

    Oh Fran, this is a good one.  I already mentioned about Silver in
    the Silverware drawer, and about Tabbatha and Silver on top of a
    mattress that was proped up against the wall in the celler.
    
    There have been a few other odd places that I have found my furry
    monsters.  They can't hide under my bed because my bed is on a
    pedestool.  They LOVE to hide in drawers.  One morning, when I caught
    Tabbatha in my dresser drawer I took her out as usual and went to
    shut the drawer.  All of the sudden I heard a "MEOWR" from inside
    the drawer.  I took the drawer out and found Silver hiding BEHIND
    the drawer.  She has done this a number of times since then, also.
    
    And then sometimes, I just never find them.  I look for them for
    hours, and all of the sudden they "Appear" either in coming around
    a corner or walking up the stairs.  It is TRUELY amazing!!!
    
    
    Holly
    

    In the couch(between the lining and the springs)
    In the bed  (as above)
    In the ceiling (between the insulation and the ceiling on rafter)
    In behind drawers
    In between the shower curtain and the tub
    In the mop bucket
    In the wastebasket
    
    I am sure they will think of new ones now that I know all these!
    

    Alexander the Great (Alex) likes to hide behind the living room
    chair, on the side of the tub between the shower curtin and liner,
    and his favorite, the laundry basket when there are clothes in it.
    He won't get in if it's empty.  He has a habit of sneaking in closets
    when I open the door and getting shut in.  Then he will meow until
    I find him and let him out. He also goes under the beds on occasion,
    or on the dining room chairs that are pushed under the table.

    Once I left the "Lazy Susan" (round turning shelves) open because
    whatever I used was going to be put right back.  When I turned
    around to put it back, I just happened to get a glimpse of 2 glowing
    eyes (it's dark in there!).  How on earth Weazy found that cubby
    hole in the back corner or how he even fit through is beyond me!
    
    What a Funny Bunny!
    
    Pam
    

    I have found Schnitzel more than once in the cupboard where I keep
    my pans, all curled up and snoring away!  Other times I have looked
    upstairs, downstairs and all over the cellar for her and she's nowhere
    to be found.....then a few minutes later she comes trotting out
    of wherever she's been with the grin on her face as if to say
    "Na-na-na-na-na, you couldn't find me!".
    
    Pat.
    

    One of our furries neatly sliced open the lining on the underside
    of our boxspring, then crawled up inside.  We ALWAYS check under
    the beds, so maybe he figured that if we couldn't see him, he wouldn't
    be evicted.  However, that large lump hanging down from the underside
    of the box spring was fairly noticeable!
    
    L.

    In the drip tray under the refrigerator (when Sweetie first came
    to live with me and hadn't eaten well in a while, poor baby, so
    he could fit.)
    

Under a pillow on the waterbed....I looked for HOURS for Tabby before seeing
the tip of a siamese tail creeping out from under that pillow.

In the tan marble (formica) sink in my bathroom - Hannah fades out to exactly
the same color tone and often naps there - if she doesn't look up with
her big blue eyes, you will never see her in the sink unless you get
right over the sink and look in.

Black Samson in the cast iron frying pan in the kitchen cabinet - luckily
the glowing golden eyes gave him away.

Nicholas on the very top of a full sized hutch - he got up there by magic
because there is certainly nothing near enough to jump from.  This is
approx. 7 and 1/2 feet off the ground.  Again, I never would have found
him if not for the golden eyes.

Of course, the unknown places are in another dimension so we can't see
them - all cats are time and dimension travelers.

    Under the dining room table on the chairs is where Spunky likes
    to "hide-out".  And until last night, my two furry friends would
    hide (this is kind of hard to explain) in the organ - they would
    go thru the pedal part and hide in there.  For months we knew they
    had a hiding place cuz after about an hour of  looking they would
    find us and look at us as if to say "what is your problem, we have
    been here all along".  Then last night we saw Spunky walk out of
    there after a long nap (yawning and stretching) so Michael immediately
    checked it out to make sure they couldn't get hurt and it checked
    out alright.  I guess they will have to find a new place!
    
    anna/zildjian/spunky
    

    Merlin (as you may recall, large black Manx stubtail) is a genius
    at that.  He can open latched doors, hide on top closet shelves,
    atop refrigerators, under furniture, behind curtains, and in a false
    ceiling in the basement.  
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    You wanna talk about MAGIC cats!!  Tabbatha proved that she was
    a certified magician this morning.  I was ironing my clothes for
    work and I had locked both cats out of the room I was in.  All of
    the sudden, Tabbatha appeared from no where and jumped down onto
    the ironing board, scaring me to death!!  I figured that I just
    haddn't shut the door all of the way and she somehow got in.  I
    went to the door and it was shut all of the way.  Well, I threw
    her out and made sure I shut the door.  not even 5 minutes later,
    Tabbatha jumped down onto the ironing board again!!!  I couldn't
    believe it!!!  I truely have a MAGIC cat!!!
    
    Holly
    
   

         Loki likes to hide on top of the bookcase in the guest room.
    The shelves of the bookcase contain about 25 stuffed animals, so
    with Loki crammed between the top of the bookcase and the ceiling
    (about 10" of room up there), it's very easy to glance over and
    count him as one of the stuffed ones!  He also likes to hide under
    the covers of "his" (*our*) bed; he digs until he can get under
    the sheets (just like a person!) and then burrows in so that he's
    completely covered.  Talk about snug as a bug in a rug!
    
         Fluffy likes to hide between the couch and the wall, the micro-
    wave and the wall and (his *favorite* when he's been a *very naughty*
    kitty) under the electric stove.  He never goes there when it's
    been on, at least, and I always check to make sure he's out before
    I start it.  He also likes hiding in the woodbin, but since that's
    in the living room by the fireplace, it isn't too good a hiding
    place after all!
    
         Bigfoot never actively hides.  He'll just retire to his room.
    With 14 clawed toes in front and 10 in back, though, I guess he
    doesn't need to hide!
    

                   NOW YOU SEE HER, NOW...!
                      By F.G.
    
         In our house lives a magic cat
         You blink you eyes
         She's gone - like that!
         You then, of course, don't trust your eyes
         For how could a cat just vaporize?
    
         So around the corner you give a peak
         It's a little bit eerie
         Your knees feel weak
         For she's not there that you can see
         So you call real sweet, "Come here, Kitty!"
    
         But naturally she won't appear
         The problem now is all too clear
         She's vanished somehow in mid-air
         And where she'll land
         You know not where.
    
         So now you start to look and look
         In every space and every nook
         You open drawers, you pull back chairs
         But there's no sign
         That she was there.
    
         You flip back mattresses, check the sink
         You try to think as a cat would think
         So you pull back blankets
         Throw back the rugs
         And the freezer drawer
         You give a tug.
    
         Now you're certifiably frantic!
         You check the cellar, crawl around in the attic
         Peel back the wallpaper, plow through the trash
         Where on earth
         Could this cat be stashed?!
    
         Then suddenly you hear a "mew"
         You turn around and in the room you view
         That magical cat sitting passively there
         Comfortably in her favorite chair
         You blink your eyes to comprehend -
         That was a mistake -
         She's gone again!!!
    
    Fran
    

    How true!
    
    And cute!
    

My kid Sarah has come up with the most bizarre hiding places,
and she needs them.  A cutie who barely weighs 7 lbs., she
shares the house with three male fatties who love to harass
her.  Speed and agility are on her side, however, and her 
standard escape is a leap to the top of a 6-foot high bookcase 
in my livingroom.

One day, I noticed that Sarah had been out of sight for quite
awhile.  I checked her usual hide-outs, but there wasn't a
trace of her.  Then I moved onto more bizarre spots, like
inside the refrigerator?!?

While I was looking in our den for the umpteenth time, one of
the chairs caught my eye.  The base of the chair is hollow and
looks like it's made out of a packing crate -- if you've ever
seen "This End Up" furniture, you know what I mean.  Well, I
saw gray-and-white toes sticking thru a crack between the base
of the chair and the floor.

I took the back cushion off the chair to reveal a small, cat-
size space that leads to the inside of the base.  Sarah popped
her head out and looked at me like, "Isn't this great?  I can't
believe I never found it before!!!"

None of the other cats have tried it, but every once in a while
I find her there.  I suspect she's made it into a small cat-den
complete with magazines and snacks.

Joanne   (Willie, Sarah, Bill, and Muko's mom)
    

    
    
    A few years ago friends gave us a kitten at Christmastime, which
    we promptly named Claus.   A few months later we began renovating
    our house so there were *many* places for her to hide.  However the 
    one thing I'll never forget is going down to the basement to use
    the clothes washer and hearing this strange noise overhead, as
    though something was walking through the heating ducts !!  
    
    You guessed it !  I went back upstairs and opened up a can of cat
    food and sure enough she emerged from one of the vents, which was
    a small space in the floor at the time waiting for a new vent cover.
    
    That was one renovation task we completed post haste.
             
    *Sigh* I can't wait til it's kitty season so I can replace poor
    Claus (she was hit by a car).
    
    --Sue
           

    When my mom's cat, Sam, was a kitten, he liked to crawl into a "hole"
    in the corner of the floor cabinets and hide behind the dishwasher.
    When my Gonezo was a kitten, he did the same thing at a neighbor's
    house the second day I had him.  All of a sudden, we heard pots
    and pans clanging and then a faint little cry.  Gonezo couldn't
    figure out how to escape!
    Benjamin stumped me the best, though.  One night last summer I had
    looked out the front door for some reason or another.  A while later
    I heard Ben cry and looked high and low, inside closets, under sofas,
    in bathrooms, etc to try and find him.  I finally opened up the
    front door and there he was stuck between the door and the screen!
    I can't figure out how I closed the door without noticing that I
    was trapping Ben.
    
    Mary
    

    Poor Claus.  Our sympathy to you.
    
    Karen, Sweetie, and Holly.
    

    I'm sorry about Claus, too.
    
    Would you consider giving one or more of these nice cats advertised
    in this file a home?  
    
    Best of luck,
    
    Jane

    Milo was once found in the hood of my down sleeping bag.  It hangs
    open and breathing in the cellar between camping trips and the hood
    forms a perfectly lovely little pouch about six inches off the floor.
    
    Maggie's most bizarre retreat ever was the dryer exhaust hose. 
    I had disconnected it from the dryer to do some dryer maintenance
    and Maggie found that the white hose with its rigid spring was the
    perfect place for a dainty six-pound kitty to curl up all snug.
    
    Aslan used to crawl inside the pillow case and hang out behind the
    pillow.  
    
    But probably the best was Cecil the coal-black Persian who would
    hide out in plain sight masquerading as one of the plush throw
    pillows on my bed.  He would tuck all non-pillow-like parts [head,
    feet...] into the perfect round and wait for some unsuspecting fool
    to plump him.  Plump...YOWL!!...person on ceiling in need of new
    drawers...Cecil lolling back and snickering.  He would always try
    this when someone new came over and pout unmercifully if they left
    before he played his prank.
    
      Annie
    
    

    .21 just reminded my of Silver's favorite hiding place.  Inside
    my Fiance's coat!!  For some reason, she loves his coat.  He'll
    sit down on the couch with his coat still on and she will crawl
    over and climb up inside his coat.  It is so funny to see Tom with
    a hunch back because there is a cat on his shoulder UNDER his coat.
    
    Holly
    

    One time several years ago I was putting away the clean dishes from
    inside the dishwasher.  I had just gotten back from putting an armload
    of plates in the cupboard and was reaching for more when Sandy meowed a
    hello to me from inside the dishwasher!

    Jessica

    

    This past Friday night, after returning from a hectic business trip,
    I decided to close my bedroom door so the boys wouldn't be able
    to wake me up at 3:00 in the morning (they like to use the bed as
    a wrestling ring).  My bedroom door was firmly closed...and I woke
    up at 3:00 a.m. with both cats on my bed.  Sigh......
    
    Mary

    
    
    	Well my cats really don't disappear but they do get into
    	strange places.  Only thing is, I always hear them.
    
    	Favorite place - trash can.  First pull out trash.  T.K. gives
    	trash to Bandit.  Bandit shreds trash.  T.K. sleeps in trash
    	can.
    
    	Second Favorite place - box-spring.  Mom is sleeping.  T.K.
    	climbs up into box spring through rip.  Bandit follows.
    	Battle ensues.  Mom wakes up.  Mom starts yelling.  Battle
    	continues.  Mom gets kitty treats.  Kitties come running.
    	Mom throws them out of the room!
    
    	T.K.'s new playground - the kitchen cabinets.  Mom wakes
    	up to sound of kitchen cabinet opening and shutting.  This
    	continues for 5 minutes until cabinet is open enough to
    	get in.  This playground was discovered when mom was on
    	vacation.  
    
    	Karen
             

    Since we have a five room condo, with the door to the spare
    bedroom usually closed, how can a cat disappear?   Anyway, Bandit
    manages to disappear on occassion for lengthy periods, causing
    us to search the apartment. Often, the only way to find Bandit
    is to go in the kitchen, put fresh food in her dish, then rattle
    her dish vigorishly!  She will then deign to appear.
    
    However, some of her hiding places that we have discovered include:
    	1.  Video cassette storage cabinet
    	2.  Bathtub
    	3.  Any drawer not firmly closed
    	4.  Inside a pair of my pants that had fallen to the closet
    			floor!
    	5.  Under a floor mat in the bathroom
    	6.  On the shelf behind the video cassette recorder

    The strangest place I ever found Sherlock was in the washing machine. 
    I was loading towels into it and turned around to pick up another bunch
    of them from the floor.  When I went to put the next towel into the
    washer, the ones already in their were looking at me!
    
    He always gets into the dish washer whenever I load or unload it.  It's
    his job to make sure I do it right.
    
    
    Ande (Serena, Sherlock, and Sky)

    I found Little Whicket behind the oven yesterday.  I don't know
    how she got there or why.  The opening behind the stove is so
    tiny.  I pulled out the oven for her, but she almost seemed 
    content to stay back there.  It was kind of like her hiding place
    or hole in the ground.  Boy, I wish I had one of those :^>
    
    I just hope she can get in and out of her "hole in the ground" and
    that she wasn't waiting for me to come get her out.  I would hate
    to think she was there all day!
    
    Katie