Or very nearly did. My cat, Charcoal, has been missing for nearly 3 days. When I went to feed her 3 nights ago, she wouldn’t appear to eat. I figure she ran off and will be back later that night, which she sometimes does. But she didn’t show up around midnight when I called for her. The next day, I called for her again, but no sign of her. My roommate was getting worried, and I tried to figure out why she would disappear. The only things I could come up with is that she is in heat, and was hiding from the male cats, or someone in the neighborhood decided to take her inside and feed her. She has no collar on, nor any sign of ownership by me. We both looked all around the house, opened up the door to the guest room, closets, looked in cabinets, searched around the house, under the house, the cars, looked in the trunks, and asked the neighbors if they’ve seen her. Nothing, no Charcoal.

Last night, while watching TV, I smelled urine. Bootsy, one of our maturing male cats, has had a bad habit lately of spraying piss on the walls when he would get inside. He used to be an inside cat most of the time, but when he started spraying, we left him outside. I figured that Bootsy got inside again, and sprayed. This morning, I was curious to see where the urine was so I could clean it up. The roommate was talking to me, and suddenly she hears a meow. She pointed to the recliner that I never use, and when I lifted the footrest out from under the chair, out ran Charcoal. She was bewildered at first, but recognized me enough to want to rub up against me.

I was freaking out and unsure what to think. I never use the chair, and neither of us knew it had a hole under the chair for a curious cat to get stuck in. I immediately went and got a can of cat food, filled up a bowl with fresh cold water, and gave her half a can of food, and set the bowl of water in front of her too. I remember in the movies I’d watch where a person had gone without food or drink for a long period, not to give them too much, or they’d ralph it all up. So I’ll have to feed Charcoal in tiny amounts about 4-5 times today to make sure she gets nutrition back. She has peed under the chair, but that’s all. She’s outside now, and I’m going to have to watch her closely to make sure she’s ok.

I intend to get a collar, to make sure noone steals her away from me. I also learned a valuable lesson; turn the house upside down if the cat goes missing, even furniture and other objects that may contain spaces for a cat to get stuck in. What’s odd is that Charcoal didn’t meow much, didn’t vocalize that she was stuck in there, until this morning. The roommate said she heard meowing last night, but assumed it was one of the cats outside (we do have 5 of them, after all.) I’m just grateful that we were able to find Charcoal in time, and that she will be okay. The curiousity killed the cat? Not this time, thankfully.