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I lost my cat....inside the apartment


l2 0 5 5

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Hey all, 

Thanks again for the well-wishes and advice. Renly is making good progress. He's eating normally and drinking his water, and even using the litterbox (;)). He still gets nervous when we come to the kitchen area, and runs under the dishwasher. This is clearly a safe haven for him. I still want him out of there but feel OK knowing that it makes him feel safe.

My fiance and I racked our brains together to find a way to get him out of the dishwasher so I can seal it back up. We asked ourselves what motivates this young feline? Simple answer: food. We made a trail in the kitchen before from the dishwasher to his bed and litterbox, and he eats the whole trail of food mixed in with the occasional treat. He even goes into his bed and roots out the treats I hide there. We had a ceiling tile that has yet to be placed in our bedroom (that's a whole separate annoying apartment issue) that has blocked him into the kitchen area as we wait to get him out of the dishwasher. Tonight we removed it and made a trail from the kitchen to the eating area, down the hallway into the office. Single file dry food with the occasional treat...

My plan is that I would go to the back porch and watch through the door/window that stares straight into the kitchen where he crawls out from the dishwasher. Once he followed the trail long enough, I would open the door and block out the kitchen area from him so he could not get back in, and I could secure the dishwasher, forever banishing him from said area. Well, I got a good vantage point, and as soon as my fiance saw me in my hiding area, she left the kitchen and went down the hallway. Like always, a minute or two passed and Ren came out form the dishwasher and began to eat his food. He made it all the way towards the point where the ceiling tile normally is and he froze. He's so used to it being up that I think it threw him off. He turned around and went back towards the dishwasher and just curled up and laid down for almost ten minutes before going under the washer again. It was nice to see him with my own eyes drink some water and just relax in the kitchen, I think he does that pretty normally when we're not around. 

I waited a good ten minutes before wrapping it up as I figured he wasn't coming back out. I didn't want to force anything tonight. I think there's a 50/50 chance I coulda opened the back door and snagged him up before he got back under the dishwasher. But that would've just frightened him, and if I botched it, would've just made him more hesitant in the future. I need him to go at least to the kitchen table with 100% certainty that I will block off the kitchen before he can turn around and get back to where he hides.

With that said, I went back into the kitchen not so long ago and low and behold the little guy made his way into the kitchen by the table and ate his food trail pretty much to the point where I need him to go with certainty that I'll block off the washer area. I think he'll make his way further and further now that he has free reign. I have a good feeling that tomorrow night will yield positive results. I think he'll follow the trail longer tomorrow night in one sitting as opposed to over a long period of time which he is doing tonight. I am happy to see that he's making progress, but just want to get him out of that area already. I believe we are getting closer.

Is there a way I can post his picture on here? I tried to add it in but it keeps removing it from my post.

 

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That's awesome!  

Yes, I'd be careful with trying to minimize the trauma once you block off the dishwater, and make sure that there are other areas in the apartment that 1) he can hide in, but 2) he won't get stuck in or disappear in again, LOL.

You could also try leaving some food trails that bring him out toward the living room and you guys can sit quietly, to help him get used to the idea you are not his enemy.  I wouldn't try grabbing him though, that will just set him back, you're right about that.  It sounds like things are progressing, if slowly.  Keep us posted!

PS...you will want to make sure there is no way the cat can get to the hole in your ceiling where the missing tile is!  If there is any combination of furniture that could get him up to the ceiling you could lose him again!!  

 

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I'm glad he's coming out regularly.

Does his bed have a cover, or is it open? a box or something enclosed might make him feel safer (with a blanket or something on the bottom to sleep on)

We have a hobbit home with a castle above it for our cat, and re rarely uses either.  I should find someone to give them to (but really, I'm saving them for the next cat. I really want another)  [it is pretty big and takes up a lot of space]

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm happy and relieved to announce that Renly has officially been brought to safety. Last report on here was that he was now safely travelling out from underneath the dishwasher to get food, water, and litter box but only when he was in the kitchen by himself. 

Last Saturday my mom and dad came over and my dad, being mr macho man himself, swore to me that he could remove the dishwasher and grab that cat from its depths with ease. His heart was in the right place but I told him that we need to make sure all other escape routes from that point were covered, as I thought he had another hole back there to travel through. My dad scoped the area and declared it to be safe. I told him my skepticism, but he waved it away. Eh, waht the fuck do I know? I only live here after all. Long story short, he pulled out the washer and Renly ran away through another hole.

A few minutes later we heard him running above the ceiling. My mom opened a door in our office where the furnace is located and Renly was sitting on top of the furnace. I grabbed a chair and went to pick him up and as my fingers touched his fur he took off like an effing rocket ship to a hole that led back to the ceiling. He was then gone...

Throughout the past week my fiance and I have heard him scuttling about the nasty ceiling laden with drop tiles. There's an opening in one tile and I put food and water up there. He took care of business as usual. This didn't ease my mind as we live on the top floor and when I propped the tile I noticed a shit ton of openings that led to the attic. So basically that cat could be anywhere up there, and there's no way I could catch him as he has entirely more room to roam considering his size than I do. 

My dad actually had a brilliant idea, and left his ladder at our apartment, and told me to use his box trap that he has at our house. i got the box trap and made sure I knew how to work it. Pretty simple, and not dangerous for Renly as the door simply shuts behind the critter when it touches the step pad at the end of the cage. I put some delicious wet food at the end of the cage and placed it in the tile where I put his food before. At this point, I'm figuring this is our last idea to get him down to safety. The ceiling and attic is the fucking abyss, and he's a scared kitten that isn't used to human contact.

Well, I put the trap in the ceiling and about 3 hours later I heard a bang. I went to look, heart hammering the whole way down the hallway, knowing if I heard him scramming than the trap had botched the hit. I didn't hear anything... I put the ladder up and moved the tile, and saw that the door to the trap had closed. I moved the towel off the top of the trap and saw our little buddy sitting in there. He was scared, but was there, and was not hurt. I pulled the cage down and took him into the office and got a look at him in the light. Once again, reassured that he was nervous, but not hurt at all. 

I can't even begin to explain the amount of joy and relief I felt that I got him down. I was nervous that I'd never see him again, or he'd get into trouble and not make it. I opened the trap into a large cat carrier that has a blanket and food in it. He crawled right into it. I'm going to let him sleep in there tonight. I am sealing up every single hole in this decrepit apartment so he can't get away again. 

Whew.... Once again, I feel absolutely relieved... 

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LOL, did I not tell you that the cat would end up in the ceiling if you didn't close up the holes.

I don't know what your situation is with the landlord.....or even what country you live in, but pretty sure an apartment that has holes that lead to the attic is probably some kind of code violation.  If you like the space you probably don't want to report him...but you could either mention that someone told you it was a code violation, hint, hint, or you could offer to do the work yourself and have him take it off the rent.  But, holes in the ceiling to my mind should not be existing in a rental unit.

At this point, you might want to keep him in a room, if one exists where he can't get out anywhere so he has more freedome of movment, he's not going to be too thrilled to stay in the carrier for too long but was probably exhausted from his ceiling adventures.

Keep us posted!!!!!

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Yes the holes have now been dealt with. The main hole concern was in the kitchen. That hole leads to more behind the sink. They've now all been sealed. We have him in our office where I checked a dozen times for hole and found none. It's the best room for him right now, and to get acclimated with us. It's a good size and clean so he will appreciate that. He's now wondering around in there exploring, surely looking for a place to hid, but he feels comfortable around us, which feels good.

I'll keep posting regarding his progress. Thank you to everyone for your advice and well-wishes. It really means a lot that you all care, and it certainly felt good to be able to share this with people.

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22 hours ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

Yes the holes have now been dealt with. The main hole concern was in the kitchen. That hole leads to more behind the sink. They've now all been sealed. We have him in our office where I checked a dozen times for hole and found none. It's the best room for him right now, and to get acclimated with us. It's a good size and clean so he will appreciate that. He's now wondering around in there exploring, surely looking for a place to hid, but he feels comfortable around us, which feels good.

I'll keep posting regarding his progress. Thank you to everyone for your advice and well-wishes. It really means a lot that you all care, and it certainly felt good to be able to share this with people.

I still think you should ask your landlord to take $$ off your rent for labor and supplies.  Now I see you are in PA, and I can't imagine it's legal to rent a unit full of ceiling holes big enough for a cat to get through, unless the place is in the midst of a renovation or something.

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You should start trying to bond with the kitten.  Hold him, pet him a little, then let him go (I did it until he started purring).  Do it several times a day, but only for a minute or two each time. Let him know you are safe, that he doesn't need to be afraid of you. My kitten was 6 months old and had never been socialized so I had some similar problems. It wasn't that long before he started coming to me.

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I also second the cardboard box idea.  My cat is great, but I can spend all the money in the world on toys and treats, he loves nothing more than fresh cardboard box from amazon, He'll jump in, hide in them, sit in them and use them as an ambush to hope out and playfully chase my feet like he's stalking prey, peer out of the cracks, use them as a claw toy, 

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