I have a cat in my heating vent!

you mean you cant open crawl space door or?? can you at lease look around house to see if there is any holes where he could have gotten into? he crying any louder when heat is on or same?

There is no door. The crawl space entrance is covered by some weird vinyl siding stuff. I thought I'd be able to just move it aside, but it's stuck together and It's too hard to pry it apart.

There's another little hole near the base of the house where he probably got inside, but it's way too small for me to fit. (my hand maybe, but not the rest of me)

Sigh. This cat is driving me up the wall. I'm sure he's not too pleased either.

His crying doesn't seem to relate to the heat being either on or off. It's just random.

I would make a call to your local radio station,Explain your predicament and how
long the cat has been trapped for,Ask them if they could appeal for a drainage
engineer who has cctv equipment that wouldn't mind volunteering his/her time
to help locate the poor kitty.You might even get some cat lady volunteers to come
and help you

Good luck

That's a great idea - or the local TV station.

Another idea is to do a search of the local newspaper (if online) to find any animal friendly journalists or feature writers. E-mail them. If it gets in the paper, it may make the local news....

In the meantime, maybe just try different food?

And you have to stay warm. Maybe the heat itself will motivate kitty to get out of there.

Poor little guy!



Laurie

I'll see about contacting a radio station. Good idea.

I made it out under the house (well the top half of me did) and I didn't see him anywhere, but I didn't exactly have the best view either so I could have missed him. I did hear him crying but I couldn't tell if it was coming from inside the house somewhere or under the house.

This is so frustrating. I just want this cat out of the house and inside it!

any update on the cat? or luck contacting radio?

I left a message with a local radio station but I'm not sure if they'll call back or not.

He's still down there. I hear him crying every ten minutes or so, his location is always random. I can't even tell if he's in the vent, under the house, under the subfloor or what...I wish I could pinpoint a location better. I'm so afraid he's going to die down there before I can get him out. It's been about three days...

Here's a story about a cat who survived 2 weeks in a NY apartment alone:
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/i...920.xml&coll=1
I sure hope that the radio station calls you back. Also, you could try calling your Methodist church - they might have some dear retired person who would love being your (and our) hero!! Sending mega {{{{prayers and vibes}}} that you get an answer very, very soon!!!!

Thanks for the link that does make me feel a little better. This cat feels like MY cat even though I haven't even seen him yet (and he could very well be a she). Needless to say, if he doesn't have an owner looking for him, he may just have a home here if I can ever get the little bugger out.

wow hope you get him out

My fingers are crossed that this little one comes out soon........I think I'd have my husband ripping up my house by now!

If I had a husband he'd be making good use of the hammer right now. I'd tear it apart myself if I had any idea where the cat is. He moves around a lot.

I feel so useless. I don't know what else to do but wait.

I found him. Apparently he's had easy access to the outside all this time and was just toying with me by meowing while he was under the house. Making humans go crazy is a good cat passtime.

I was staked out near a vent when I heard meowing, then it sounded like the meowing was right outside my door. And what do you know, when I looked outside a big grey cat greeted me. I opened the door and said cat made a beeline for under the house and resumed his meowing.

I grabbed a dish of food and shook it near the opening and out comes this huge grey kitty. Very handsome, even though he was shaved down except for a lions mane. So he belongs someone stupid enough to let their shaved cat outside in the winter. I felt even worse for him at that point.

I petted him, then grabbed his scruff to pick him up. He was fine with this. Seemed perfectly happy to let me cart him around. I go to take him inside (after nearly falling on my arse on the icy steps and dropping the cat, I'm sure the neighbors thought I was nuts) and my three dogs greet us, I forgot to put them away in my haste to make it outside with the food dish.

The cat freaked out, I tried to hold on but decided keeping my limbs intact was a better choice and let him go. He scampered off but not before giving me a nice scratch for my troubles.

I tried to block the hole the best I could but I think he'll somehow find another way in if he really wants to. I can only hope the dogs scared him enough that he won't come back. And of course that he goes home to his stupid owners and they grow half a brain and decide to keep their shaved cat inside. One can only hope.

So that's the end of this story, I'm just glad I didn't end up with a dead cat inside my vents. I would have liked to bring him in and look for his owners, but he just wasn't having that after seeing the dogs (can't say I blame him even though they'd rather suggle with him than eat him, he didn't know that).

So happy that the mystery is solved!!

Glad you found him! Isn't that typical though, you spend days worrying, nights staring at the ceiling, find they've been coming and going as they please, and then they scarper leaving you needing skin grafts when you've finally caught them

Hope he gets kept in by his owners from now on, and that your scratches heal quickly

He's back already, I just heard him crying under my kitchen sink. I guess I've got myself an outside cat. Funny how they always know exactly which house to run too... and he picked well because I just might put some food out for him tomorrow since he was looking a little skinny. I know, then I've really done it and he'll never leave. lol

I'd have been happy to bring him in eventually, but he seemed really scared of the dogs so I'm ditching that idea, I don't want to scar the poor thing for life.

Oh well, at least I know he's toasty warm at night in my heating vents. They're mutli-purpose, good for heating humans and also for keeping stray kitties warm....let's just hope he doesn't tell his friends about the new place he's found.

maybe in a week or two he will trust you again and you can introduce the dogs and cat slowly.

Thank God he wasn't actually stuck! I'm so glad he is (relatively) safe & (relatively) warm!

I am so glad to hear the end of this story, I am also glad that he wasn't stuck in the heating stuff.

You were wonderful in trying to help this cat.

I'm so glad to hear he had access to outside the whole time. I cannot imagine how relieve YOU were!

Just one quick thought.... is he neutered? You may want to trap the guy and get him to the vet. Since he's included your home in his territory, if you release him where you trap him, there is a super-high probability he'll stick around and continue to be your outside kitty. If you he's intact - you may have quite a few more kitties to deal with come Spring time.

On the other hand - it shouldn't be your financial responsibility to neuter him.

Maybe take pics and put up posters - see if he belongs to someone?

Or... if you decide to use the same "rules" we do (if it is on our property, we're going to sterilize it), you can search for low-cost services in your area by clicking on the SaveSamoa picture in my signature line.

What a story! And what an angel you are for wanting to save (and help) this kitty!

Laurie