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I think I lost PJ, Paprika, & Punky
- Thread starter white cat lover
- Start Date
My first thought was the box spring too...someone got in there and the others discovered what a safe, comfy place it is
I hope you find the tykes!!
I hope you find the tykes!!
All these stories of how good kittens are at disappearing... here's mine:
The first time I ever fostered for the shelter, I brought home four gorgeous little six-weekers -- a very shy blue-eyed snowshoe, tumbling twin longhaired black tabbies with white chins, and a shorthaired brown tabby named Lyle who was more like a silly little puppy than a kitten (he was my favorite
).
I brought the carrier into the designated bedroom, where I had spread out blankets and kittybeds and toys and water and food and a litterbox... and I closed the door, sat down on the floor, and let the kittens out. I figured they would explore a bit, have a bite to eat, gradually get used to me, and settle in for the night.
Two minutes later, they had all vanished.
There were a few boxes and suitcases of stored items stashed in the corners of the room, and there was a big old '50s-era dresser, but that was all, so I didn't panic. They'd come out soon enough.
Half an hour went by. I called to them, mewed to them, begged and pleaded... and heard not a sound, not a single indication that they were there at all. I started to panic -- was it possible that they had gotten in behind some of the boxes and gotten stuck and been unable to breathe and --
Suddenly, I was sobbing and calling for the kittens and searching frantically, hauling the boxes away from the walls. Nothing! I searched inside the boxes, thinking maybe they were so tiny and squirmy they were able to slip under the edges of lids. Nothing.
Piece by piece, I searched every single thing in that room and then set each item out in the hall, watching carefully as I closed the door again to be sure nobody was slipping out of the room. I was exhausted, terrified, sick with guilt...and the only thing left in the room was the dresser.
This thing was solid, absolutely solid, a giant block of oak with no legs of any kind, just sitting right down on the carpet. The drawers fit to a hairsbreadth tolerance. And the thing was shoved up absolutely flush to the baseboard, which left perhaps as much as 3/4 of an inch between it and the wall.
It was absolutely impossible that the kittens had gotten behind there.
But there was nothing else to try, so I started carefully removing the drawers and checking inside each one... nothing again. The drawerslots were solid, too -- no spaces beside or behind or under. With the drawers out, all I had was an empty dresser shell with no nooks, no crannies... no hope.
Even with the drawers out, moving this dresser was like moving a mountain -- I tell you, in the '50s, they made furniture to last forever! But I finally edged one end of it away from the wall enough to see that no, there were no kittens back there.
I slumped to the floor in defeat. I actually started to wonder if I had hallucinated the whole thing, if there were ever any kittens to begin with!
And then I heard a tiny, tiny, tiny mew.
Feeling around with my hands, I discovered that the back of the dresser did not quite reach all the way down to the floor -- its lowest edge at the back sat up maybe as much as an inch-and-a-quarter above the bottom edges of the front and sides. It was still so low that the carpet covered the gap almost entirely... just looking at it, you would never have noticed it wasn't flush.
It looked impossible... but when I ever-so-carefully eased the dresser out far enough to get behind it with a flashlight, I was able to lie down with my right eye pressed into the carpet and just barely see eight little eyes glowing in the dark.
I have never been so relieved in all my life! Kittens okay, sanity confirmed... and bedroom nicely cleaned up, too!
The first time I ever fostered for the shelter, I brought home four gorgeous little six-weekers -- a very shy blue-eyed snowshoe, tumbling twin longhaired black tabbies with white chins, and a shorthaired brown tabby named Lyle who was more like a silly little puppy than a kitten (he was my favorite
I brought the carrier into the designated bedroom, where I had spread out blankets and kittybeds and toys and water and food and a litterbox... and I closed the door, sat down on the floor, and let the kittens out. I figured they would explore a bit, have a bite to eat, gradually get used to me, and settle in for the night.
Two minutes later, they had all vanished.
There were a few boxes and suitcases of stored items stashed in the corners of the room, and there was a big old '50s-era dresser, but that was all, so I didn't panic. They'd come out soon enough.
Half an hour went by. I called to them, mewed to them, begged and pleaded... and heard not a sound, not a single indication that they were there at all. I started to panic -- was it possible that they had gotten in behind some of the boxes and gotten stuck and been unable to breathe and --
Suddenly, I was sobbing and calling for the kittens and searching frantically, hauling the boxes away from the walls. Nothing! I searched inside the boxes, thinking maybe they were so tiny and squirmy they were able to slip under the edges of lids. Nothing.
Piece by piece, I searched every single thing in that room and then set each item out in the hall, watching carefully as I closed the door again to be sure nobody was slipping out of the room. I was exhausted, terrified, sick with guilt...and the only thing left in the room was the dresser.
This thing was solid, absolutely solid, a giant block of oak with no legs of any kind, just sitting right down on the carpet. The drawers fit to a hairsbreadth tolerance. And the thing was shoved up absolutely flush to the baseboard, which left perhaps as much as 3/4 of an inch between it and the wall.
It was absolutely impossible that the kittens had gotten behind there.
But there was nothing else to try, so I started carefully removing the drawers and checking inside each one... nothing again. The drawerslots were solid, too -- no spaces beside or behind or under. With the drawers out, all I had was an empty dresser shell with no nooks, no crannies... no hope.
Even with the drawers out, moving this dresser was like moving a mountain -- I tell you, in the '50s, they made furniture to last forever! But I finally edged one end of it away from the wall enough to see that no, there were no kittens back there.
I slumped to the floor in defeat. I actually started to wonder if I had hallucinated the whole thing, if there were ever any kittens to begin with!
And then I heard a tiny, tiny, tiny mew.
Feeling around with my hands, I discovered that the back of the dresser did not quite reach all the way down to the floor -- its lowest edge at the back sat up maybe as much as an inch-and-a-quarter above the bottom edges of the front and sides. It was still so low that the carpet covered the gap almost entirely... just looking at it, you would never have noticed it wasn't flush.
It looked impossible... but when I ever-so-carefully eased the dresser out far enough to get behind it with a flashlight, I was able to lie down with my right eye pressed into the carpet and just barely see eight little eyes glowing in the dark.
I have never been so relieved in all my life! Kittens okay, sanity confirmed... and bedroom nicely cleaned up, too!
Oh gosh... I thought by the time I finished my usual longwinded post, they would surely have reappeared! Come on, babies... come out come out wherever you are...
Natalie you're killing us!!!!
Yeah really!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
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I've been at the shelter all day. And it's the city's holiday festival.
No kittens as of bedtime last night. Got up this morning, to one wide eyed Paprika. No brothers, though. As I was about to leave...I decided I couldn't take just one & explain I'd lost the other three, so I put Paprika back in my bedroom. As I opened the door, there were two very smug brothers.
I haven't the slightest idea where those brats were!!
No kittens as of bedtime last night. Got up this morning, to one wide eyed Paprika. No brothers, though. As I was about to leave...I decided I couldn't take just one & explain I'd lost the other three, so I put Paprika back in my bedroom. As I opened the door, there were two very smug brothers.
Oh, thank goodness! Sneaky little devils!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
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Oh I called them something else!Originally Posted by CarolPetunia
Oh, thank goodness! Sneaky little devils!
lol yes definitely sneaky little devils... maybe you should put bells on this little ones!
You must have a HUGE room and/or have alot of stuff in there for them to hide in/under!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
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It's only 12 X 16 or 12 X 12....can't remember which. I've kitten proofed it! I swear, Dorky Fish really must be a bad influence, he can hide in my room & I still haven't figured out where!Originally Posted by PookieBoy
You must have a HUGE room and/or have alot of stuff in there for them to hide in/under!
