Conference misery::feline

    Pat, You'll get used to your new environment soon and so will your
    cats.  When I moved from a small condo to a 4 bedroom house, I
    experienced similar stories as yours....  

    Just last night I lost one of the cats.  Poor Chubs had been closed in
    the cat room upstairs.  (it's called "the cat room" because of the
    existing wallpaper that was there in the kids room - the border is all
    cats.)  I've learned to make a subconscious effort to account for all
    the cats.  He wasn't missing in action for very long.  And I know some
    of you must wonder how I could misplace such a big fat cat!
    
    What you need to do is get the cats used to a particular noise, such as
    rattling the box of cat food like you did.  What works for me is
    shaking a can of Pounce treats.  It gets them every time.  :^)  One of
    my previous cats was trained to the sound of a can opener.  (that was
    back when I only had one can opener!)  :^0

    
    So glad it was a very happy ending....but for the same reasons
    I try to do headcounts every two hours!!!!!
    
    Sandy

    When Monkey and Wabbit first came to live with me they were just little
    kitties, and I soon discovered just how little.  There was a hole in
    the baseboard of the livingroom, out of the way (off to the side of
    the sofa and along the side of the fireplace), apparently intended for
    an electrical outlet that was never installed.  I didn't notice the
    hole until I saw a tail disappear into it.  I don't know how much room
    they had back there (I'd guess that the wall studs on 16" or 18"
    centers, whatever the convention is, would have been a barrier), but both
    kittens disappeared into the wall for a couple of hours.  I put a bowl
    of food out for them, and sat down to watch (sort of like them watching
    a mouse hole).  When they finally came out I snatched them up and
    covered the hole with sealing tape.
    
    After that they made do with hiding behind the bookcases.  I have a
    *lot* of books (literally thousands) and the bookcases covered several
    walls.  They were open in back, so the cats could walk along the
    shelves behind the the books and go up and down levels.  When I moved
    out of that apartment and took the bookcases down, the walls behind
    them were marked with fur tracings and looked like the tunnels in an
    antfarm!
    
    The book cases allowed them to get up quite high.  This apartment had
    10' ceilings (with the two fireplaces and a prime Brookline location,
    it was one of the nicest places I've ever lived), and double doors
    closing the bedroom.  The cats would leap from the bookcase onto the
    molding of the doorframe (all of 3" wide). cross the molding to the
    other side of the room, and jump into a storage area over the bedroom
    closet.  That being where I kept spare blankets and such, it was a
    wonderful place for them to nap, completely out of sight unless I stood
    on a chair or stepladder.
    
    Cats are insatiable explorers.  I can't think of any place that I've
    lived where they didn't eventually get into every nook and cranny.
    Some places, one visit was enough; others, they adopted as favorite
    hideouts.  I have pictures of my cats in the most unlikely places...
    
    len.
      

Pat,
Your kitties must love you for all the extra excitement this is providing 
them!  I am continually pleased to read about othe people who  have 
"many" cats and how much they enjoy them.  When I have told people here 
that I have twelve cats they can't believe it!  I just think it is 
wonderful *^)
Karen and her "clan"

    Once when we were in the townhouse and Dana removed the heater grate to
    do some painting, Kelsey seized the opportunity to jump down into the
    wall for an afternoon excursion.  I darn near panicked when I saw him
    disappear, then breathed a sigh of relief when he emerged shortly
    after.
    
    Talk about stress!!
    
    -Roberta
    

    My mother moved into an apartment last October.  It's a small four room
    apartment.  Not many places to hide, so I thought.
    
    She got a shaded Golden persian kitten a few weeks after she moved in. 
    This kitten was 3 1/2 months old.  Well, she brought the kitten home on
    a friday night.  I came over on Sunday to help her with some things and
    wondered where the kitten was.  We searched for her for 1/2 hour and
    finally found her underneith one of the dressers.  We got her out and
    played with her for a while.  
    
    Shortly afterward, she disappeared again.  No big deal, she was just
    off hiding somewhere.  Well, about 2 hours later we still hadn't seen
    her.  I decided to go look for her again as it was time to be fed.  I
    couldn't find her anywhere!  After about 1/2 hour my mother decided to
    help look for her as well.  We tore that apartment apart looking for
    this kitten, but couldn't find her anywhere!  We both thought for sure
    that she had scooted outside when I went out to bring some things to
    the car.  We finally gave up after 1 1/2 hours of hunting for her,
    figuring that she had gotten outside.  I searched the property outside
    but still couldn't find her anywhere (it was 8:00 pm by then and very
    dark).  
    
    I went home and called mom to see if she had found her yet.  She
    hadn't.  
    
    About an hour later I got a call from my mother saying that Nicki was
    all right and she found her.  How did she find her?   My mother was
    watching TV and Nicki just jumped up on the bed!  We still to this day
    have no idea where she was hiding!!
    
    Holly
    

    It's great to hear your kitties are all doing so well, and some, so
    much better now thst they have room to stretch their legs, so to speak!
    
    I have a very dear friend that will be VERY happy to know that the
    stress level was relieved so markedly, when a lot of extra room became
    available to them. That person knows who I mean too! I'm sure she'll
    read this note soon! ;-)
    
    Please post the cute stories about their explorations. I love reading
    cute stories. I'm also VERY glad that the three MIA's were found no
    worse for the wear. ;-)
    
    Love,
     Yonee
                                               

    Holly,
    
     You still haven't figured out that the kitten was in the third
    dimension all that time? She was probably right in sight the whole
    time, but "chose" not to let you see her! ;-)
    
     We had a big discussion on this at your house the night of the
    gathering! How soon we forget! ;-)
    
    Love,
    
    Yonee

My cats have a tendancy to de-materialise occasionally. In 'The Unadulterated 
Cat' by Terry Pratchet he expounds a theory that cats don't ever evolve, its 
just the same cats travelling in and out of time, and thats why they all look 
basically the same (cf. dogs - dachshund, german shepherd, poodle etc.). If fact 
when a cat disappears for more than the usual period of time, it is in fact 
going forward in time to eat the 'welcome home feast' you give it when it 
eventually turns up (thus getting two meals for the effort of one!). ;-)

Andy

   These stories remind me of the two times I tried putting Peanut in
   the family room down cellar for the day (more room to move around/play
   than when he's restricted to my bedroom !!).......

   The first time, I put him down there and went back up to my bedroom
   for a little more "sleep" before getting ready to leave - starting
   hearing this really loud meowing and thought "oh-oh, I didn't shut
   the family room door tight and Peanut's at the top of the stairs".
   Well, I opened the top cellar door - no Peanut.....I went down to
   the family room - door is shut tight......opened the room  - no Peanut
   to be found **ANYWHERE**.....after much searching, calling and listening
   intently, I finally found him ..... in between the dropped ceiling in
   the family room and the floor boards to my bedroom !!!!!!!!!!!!  He
   had jumped up to an opening, managed to squeeze past some pipes and then
   couldn't squeeze back to get out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He was "grey" from
   the dust & dirt for days but otherwise, none the worse for the wear
   (can't say the same for myself, however !!!!!!!).

   The second attempt for Peanut downstairs, he STILL managed to find a
   **different** hole near the ceiling and "catwalked" his way out of the
   family room into the other side of the cellar (workroom and laundry
   room)........once again, went down looking for him and boy was I 
   surprised to see him come around the wrong corner !!!!!!!!!!!

   The outcome of all this......the contractor who did the work on our
   addition is coming back in the next month or so to "cat proof" the
   family room !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    My kitty Brutus managed to pull down the thin, spun polyester fabric
    that covers the underside of our box spring.  He pulled down just
    enough to wiggle in. Made himself a nice little hammock!  If you look
    from one side of the bed, he's undetectable.  Look in from the edge
    where he pulled it down, and you get a very dirty look from a cat who
    considers himself very clever.  I went bananas looking for him one day,
    and one of my dogs finally found him there (dogs are so helpful
    sometimes : )
    Sarah 

My guys figured this one out when they were
small (4-5lb) kittens because in moving our boxspring
undercover had gotten a tear in it. Now that they are
big boys (12-15 lbs) they've had to give it up. Why 
you might ask? becuse the silly critters are too heavy 
and keep falling through the undercover. They've done
this so much that basically that filmy stuff underneath
the box spring is thouroughly shredded. The funniest
thing was when it still work sort of. Spike (the larger of the
two) would get in there, and hed hang down so far he 
touched the floor). It was time for a new 
mattress/boxspring set any how...

Thanks
Keith

    While we're telling silly cat stories....
    Tubba my 13 -15 pound white Oriental neuter has the mind of a child.
    Anyway he discovered he could climb the recliner, got on top of the 
    air conditioner and reach over to climb up onto the valance over my
    drapes.  Well the first time he started to do this we got him down 
    in a hurry and thought he would now lose interest.  WRONG!  A week
    later he did it again, I heard a snap and a crack and down came Tubba
    and the valance!! What a sight, he was so indignant. This is one of
    my favorites cats, you never know what silliness he will get into
    next!
    Karen  

    Well, I think my Velvet Thai (Siamese lookalike) did one just a crazy.
    Last Sunday evening while I was brushing my teeth he came into the
    bathroom (has to check on what I'm doing all the time).  He got up on
    the toilet seat and for some unexplainable reason, leaped up to the
    shower curtain rod and hung on with his front paws for a few seconds.
    I was in shock as much as he was.  All I could think of was the rod and
    curtain falling with him (he's a big, solid muscled cat) and maybe
    causing him injury.  Just as I was reaching for him he released his
    grip and fell to the floor running out to the kitchen.
    
    I had to laugh as he came back in the bathroom with this wide-eyed and
    dazed look on his face, not knowing if he was going to get scolded or
    not.  I told him he was pretty silly playing the "flying cat on the
    trapeze" and how he could have hurt himself.  He could tell I wasn't
    angry with him but at the same time I was talking to HIM.
    
    Of course, with all that happening it wasn't long before we had the
    rest of the clan in to see what they missed out on. ;^)
    
    Pat & Clan
    

    Sarah, your great story brought back a not-so-great memory!  18 years
    ago my best friend's Siamese had 5 kittens; they all discovered a
    Brutus-hammock of their own, only--
    by the time Joey found this hidey-hole, it was *sagging with poop*!
    
    Time for a new box spring, indeed!
    
    Leslie

    Leslie,
    Oh, yuck!!!  I can't imagine how gross that must have been.  And I can
    picture your friend crawling around on the floor, sniffing, saying "I
    know one of them pooped in here somewhere".
    Funny you should mention your cat Spike.  I have a Maine-Coon wannabe 
    (or maybe is, who knows) named Spike.  All 20 pounds
    of this bad-boy, and he's quite miffied that he can't fit into the
    Brutus-hammock.  He has tried, looks quite comical trying to squeeze
    his large butt into that little tear spot.  When he gives up, Brutus
    waltzes by and "sloop", he's gone.  Spike is so big that he can't
    possibly hide anywhere, and I believe he's quite jealous of the fact
    that Brutus can hide just about anywhere a normal-sized cat can fit. 
    Sarah 

    All this talk of cats hiding in boxsprings makes me wonder - isn't it
    dangerous for a small cat to be crawling around near all those springs,
    especially if an adult suddenly sits on the bed?

    
    I had a cat named Smokey when I was young.  My uncle had this
    Great Pyrenees Dog (newfoundland sized) named Mate who was
    the dumbest dog, and was like a bull in the china shop.
    My uncle brought him over for the first time, and he galloped
    up the stairs into the livingroom, coming face to face with smokey.
    Smokey froze, and then turned around, and started running.
    He ran across the floor, up the wall, and across the ceiling!!!!
    He came down behind the dog and disappeared down the stairs into
    the basement.  If it were not for all the witnesses who saw it
    happened, I would never have beleived it!

    
    My 'kits' all have their own personal hiding places.  
    
    Meatbee has a requirement that she sleeps higher than any other cat in
    the house... Her way of saying "I am the number one princess".  
    In my kitchen, I have a collection of baskets way up on top of the built
    in cupboards.  A couple weeks ago I kept hearing this crunching sound.
    Upon investigation I saw a black cat tail hanging out of one of the
    larger baskets  and two paws were doing 'the claw-claw' to soften up
    some straw for a bed!   I guess since she isn't allowed on the counter
    tops, she figured it would be OK to be above them :^)   She has to
    jump on the refrigerator to get up there... Jumps like a kangaroo this
    one!  
    
    Maxwell is another story.  A couple months ago I heard him 'talking' 
    and boy was he telling a story.  I couldn't find him anywhere but I kept
    hearing him in the hallway.  I looked in both closets but no Max.
    Just as I turned to walk away he meowed again and I looked down and
    there was his face, inside the heater duct!!!  WHAT?!   Seems my
    husband had been in the crawl space under the house that day and Max
    had unknowingly gone in to help.  There ended up being a hole in the
    duct under the house and Maxwell pushed it open enough to get in and
    crawl through the house to the duct where he could call out to me.
    What a guy!  Costs us a couple hundred to repair the now enlarged hole!
     
    Stingo is in everything all the time.. we have to watch everytime
    we close a cabinet, a door ,a box, anything.... he just loves to
    hide quickkkkk....  He also loves to go for rides in the clothes
    basket when I have emptied it to do laundry.  He jumps in a looks up
    at me waiting for Mommy to start him swinging... Seems strange to
    me that a kitty would actually LIKE to get dizzy.. He always comes
    back for more... Stingo's wierd :*)
    
    BJ
    
    
    

    
    I too, think that you're cats will probably all have a ball
    finding places to hide in their new space.  The cat I grew
    up with, Snoopy, used to scare me to dath by climbing in the walls.
    Under the bathroom sink, there was this 4" x 4" hole.  I'd see her
    climb in and off she'd be for hours, coming out very dirty.
    
    Speaking of cats that climb, my yellow cat Spike loved to climb
    in my old apt.  We had this kitchen window with soft, wooden panes
    in it and a valence across the top.  We caught him on many occasions
    jumping from the ground to the window ledge, where he'd sink his
    claws in like a ice climber and continue up.  One day he got all the
    way up the the valence, where he must have hung till it split in half
    and dropped.  I've almost shut dresser drawers on that same cat cause
    he crawls in the drawer and over the back into the dresser.  By the
    time you're ready to shut the drawer, there's no sign of a cat.
    
    And even though I onld have 2 cats, I too have to count cats before
    I leave the house.
    
    Rachael
    

You won't believe what D.P. Gremlin did early Sunday morning!  He was "off the
wall" playing and running (trying to get me up before 9 to feed him) when I
heard something hit the top of my bedroom door.  I forced my eyes open and
looked up.  I almost died; there was this big, white, polydactyle beast just
sitting on the top of the door.  There isn't room for a cat Amber's size but
there this moose was.

At the same time I said it, I braced myself for impact and said "Get down 
from there, you dummy!"  And he looked down at me with those green eyes of
devilment, braced himself, and FLEW through the air landing partly on my body
and my bed.  At least he knew enough to head for soft territory.  ;-)

    re.:.20
    
    I have only one. But I must count her if I leave :^)
    
    Nat

    How would you like to be talking on the phone in your living room and
    suddenly see your couch come to life? My 3 month old kitten climbed up
    inside of my sofa couch and all you could see was the back of the couch
    coming to life (something was pressing against it trying to get out!).
    She didn't meow once and was having a grand old time. I finally got her
    out and plugged up the bottom of the couch with towels for a few
    months. As soon as I removed them she tried it again...heh heh, except
    this time she was too big couldn't even get her head under there.
    
    Her new favorite places to hide: in the back of a nice, dark, closet;
    behind furniture; on top of the refridgerator (yes, I can walk right by
    without noticing); on top of a kitchen table chair that is hidden by a
    table cloth; and in the tub!