The Cat's MIA-ow

Boots, our resident feline and furry family member, enjoyed the whole moving process even less than we did. She wasn't overly excited about trading her familiar comfortable digs with the Ugly Duckling but we didn't give her much of a choice on the matter.

The fact that she doesn't like the travel box at all didn't really help either. Ever since we used it to whisk her away to the vet to have her fixed, the travel box and even more so being locked up inside of it is a sign that the world is coming to an end and is heralded to one and all by the most pitiful yowling.

Alas, into the travel box she went, end of world yowling ensued and the adventure she could have lived without, thank you very much, began. We really tried to make it as easy on her as possible. Really. Her new life at the Darling Duckling started in our Master Bedroom with our old bed with 'smells like family' not yet washed bedding installed and a pile of dirty family laundry in place for additional comfort.

I kid you not. She (literally) digs that kind of stuff. Her kitty heaven will consist of mounds of dirty laundry smelling like family. There have been numerous times both she and I shrieked running unexpectedly into each other: me reaching for the darks to toss into the wash and Boots's dream interrupted abruptly because I thought of her as a towel.

Anyways, here she is, meekly hiding underneath the covers

[Yeah, that is so not a staged shot: mismatched bedding, no bed frame in place

and a miserable, depressed looking cat ... we slept just fine though]

Fortunately, Ms Boots seemed to be on the way to recovery: every day she'd perk up just a little more and even venture out into the hallway peering down the stairs to the - yet unknown - territory on the first floor.

Until the day the cable guy came ...

I guess the noise from attempting to drill holes into our house upset her little world too much and off she went in search for that perfect hiding spot. When I went to check on her, she was no where to be found: not underneath the bed, not in a closet, not in the Little Man's room, not in an empty suitcase. The pile of laundry was cat-free and there was not the meekest meow anywhere to be heard.

However, knowing her penchant for dirty laundry I decided to check the pile one more time (washer and dryer installation were still a few days aways so there was plenty). Maybe she'd dug herself into it and I'd missed it the first time around?

Watch out: dirty laundry picture ahead!

[Yeah, gross, I know ... ]

See that little hole? We peered through that to check out the situation underneath the tub (all nice and dry, by the way, so no worries there). My first thought was "No way, she couldn't have ..."

Famous last words.

That's when I discovered this

[Close-up of the ittibitty hole: Yes, that's soft white belly fur stuck to the edge

of the hole and waving in the breeze]

Oh no, she didn't!

Unfortunately she had indeed.

Ms Boots had squooshed herself through the tiny hole into the dark safety of the space beneath the built-in tub. With a bit of effort and a flashlight I was just able to spy the tip of her furry tail. Suffice to say, I panicked a bit wondering how much of a blow to the budget it'd pose if we had to rip out the bathtub in order to rescue our kitty? I mean, you couldn't let her stay in there. What if she was stuck for good? A dead mouse in the wall smells to high heaven, I don't want to even imagine how bad it'd be if a 20 pound cat went the same way...!

No baiting, no begging and no amount of pleading made her come out.

In fact, as the day progressed and afternoon turned to night, she obviously felt rather at home in her little space and she started moving around. That must have been the time when she discovered that there's an entire in-between level to our house thanks to the hung ceilings and interconnecting wall spaces that openend up a solid 1,100 sqft of cat crawl space to her.

Which she happily explored. It sounded like we had a supersized mouse roaming the inside of our house.

Well, to make a long story short: all is well that ends well. Around 9pm Boots managed to discover the larger crawl space above the laundry room which comes with a scuttle hole. Thanks to the magic properties of Salmon Creamcheese I managed to bait her close enough to grab her by her scruff and haul her out of her world of darkness and into the light. Hallelujah!

[Keeping an eye on what's going on on both levels]

So much about her escapade. Life has almost returned to normal for her. Sure, there are still those weird boxes everywhere and the food bowl keeps moving around but all in all, life's good as long as you have a family providing you with a steady supply of dirty laundry.

Well, that is if your name is Boots ;o)