Houdini cats!

I don't know how they do it.

I'm at my parents' house for the Christmas break, and of course the boys are with me. Since the parents' house is not in any way cat-proofed (and the boys would get into something even if it was ) we keep them back where all the bedrooms are, with a sliding wooden door between the rest of the house and the bedrooms.

Every once in awhile, we'll see a cat in the living room, and escort them back to the door. This evening, Mom saw Billy out, even though the door was already closed. So we opened it and got him back inside.

Then Mom says that another cat is out. So I chase him down into my parents' bedroom (which is separate from the rest). He's hiding under the bed, around some underbed storage units. So I move them around trying to get them out, and suddenly, he just disappears!

I checked in their bathroom, in the closet, under the bed, everywhere! Couldn't find him. Searched for probably 10-20 minutes.

So I go back into the closed off area, see Billy, ask him where his brother is. Billy just looked at me. Mention to my human brother that I can't find Chay anywhere. He says "He's right behind you." And lo and behold, there he is!!

He somehow got all the way through the house and through the closed sliding door back to where he belonged, without anyone seeing him!!

I think they do it to me on purpose. They probably know how to get in and out of the door and do it just to confuse me!


Does anyone else have magical Houdini kitties?

I think all cats can do this. Even in my apartment I will be absolutely SURE Holden is in the bedroom, I will see him there on the bed. Then I will look down the hallway into the kitchen and he is there at his food bowl. There is only one way to get there and he basically would have to walk over me to get there. I swear, they are either Ninjas or magicians!

We used to have a Siamese that could literally disappear in our house. We could look and look and not find her. Then she would magically turn up. I think she hid in the ceiling or something!

Usually we can find Butzie and she comes when I call her. She is not very creative about her "hiding places," so I think that she wants to be found and loved.

Hmm, I wonder if he could have hidden in the bed? My parents' bed for years was a favorite hiding spot for the kitties. The filmy fabric on the bottom of the box spring had come off, and my mom's cat Hannah would hide inside the box spring at the first sign of danger. If that isn't possible, perhaps there is an uncovered vent?

When we were in the process of moving to Oregon, we stopped at my aunt and uncle's house and let the cat and dog out. The cat somehow ended up under the house in the crawlspace. A couple of years ago, I was sure Willow had escaped because I couldn't find her anywhere. After panicking for a couple of hours, she crawled out of a pile of stuff on my floor that I know I had searched. My boyfriend's cat gave us a similar scare by hiding in a closet where we didn't think he could possibly have fit.

I have no doubt cats can walk thru walls (also a title of a good book, by the way!) Pixie-witch has twice managed to get herself into a room that had a firmly closed door, leaving the door closed. So either she can walk thru walls, or she not only has mastered the trick of opening doors...but is smart enough to close them behind her to avoid detection! And this isn't counting the one door that I know she can open on her own.

Baby, baby, baby... yeah. Baby.

I don't know how many times I pull her out of cupboards and closets that I could swear were closed, catless, and secure!