Locked cat in the closet!!! Has it happened to you?

I came home on Saturday from a long date and expected my two cats at the door, hungry for dinner. I only saw one...Uh oh. I called out her name, thinking NO WAY DID I? And opened the closet. Sure enough, all the clothes and bags are on the floor, and my poor girl comes out all scared!

I apologized profusely and looked/smelled to see if she had peed in the closet while she was locked in for 10 hours! I haven't found any so far. Aloo ate some dinner then hid for a bit, but the good-natured girl got over it and back to normal the next day. I felt so TERRIBLE!!!

This was the second time it happened to me, and the first time was with my boy, Billi, when he was much younger (3-4 months). I was gone to work all day, came home and realized in horror that he had snack into the closet without me knowing, while I took out my coat. Since then, I always had visually confirmed two cats before leaving the house, but this time, I was too distracted with the huge recycle trash that I was gonna take down to the basement.

Has anyone else locked their cats into closets? I really have to be more diligent in making sure they are out!

You are not alone.....I have done something similar, thought luckily it wasn't as long.
About three years ago when living on the third floor of a condo building, I come home to Ritz looking at me from OUTSIDE on the balcony. There was a hole in the screen just big enough for her to get through. But Ritz couldn't figure out how to get back in. I apologized profusely, she was a little skittish, but returned to normal shortly thereafter.
Heart Attack City. Had she seen a bird flying that she wanted to chase after, she could easily have fallen to her death.
Needless to say, I called my brother who came over almost immediately to patch the hole.

I admit to having locked one of my cats in the closet quite a few times.  They are sneaky and go deep inside when I'm not looking.  Most of them will cry or scratch to get out in a few minutes but there have been a couple who have just settled down for a very long nap until I get home.  The biggest surprise, though, was when I actually shut a cat in a bureau drawer!  I guess I had left the drawer partially open and she slipped in, and then later I pushed the drawer all the way in, not noticing there was a black cat on my black sweater in there.  I was just about asleep when I began to hear odd noises coming from the bureau.  No meow, just some scuffling.  Opened the drawer and out she popped.  For that reason I always TRIPLE check the dryer before turning it on.

Yep.  My 2 love the linen closet in my 2nd bathroom.  It's not a walk-in; but it is nice and deep with boxes on the floor so they can really hide!  It's also where I stash the bags of cat food before transferring it to the plastic containers.  I forget which one it was the last time; but they had a feast while they were locked in there!   They are so sneaky!  I have to shut the bathroom door before I open that closet door!  They've gotten in there without me hearing or feeling a thing!  I keep our guest linens in there too and we have a few family members that are allergic; so I do my best to keep those things cat hair free. 

Not recently, but years ago we had two cats, Midnight and Snowball who have both gone to the Rainbow Bridge now.  Occasionally we would accidently  lock Midnight in the kitchen pantry closet and then go off to work for about 8 hours.  We would come home and Snowball would come to greet us and then go and sit in front of this kitchen closet and stay there.   When the closet door was opened Midnight would come out but would always be relaxed and calm...so maybe Snowball  kept her company by staying near the closet door most of the day and she sensed his presence.  Who knows????

Don't have to lock Tony in the closet -- he's extemely proficient at opening the door and curling up in a corner. He loves the closet - and then Angel follows him in there. Angel did get locked in the cabinet under the kitchen sink a couple of weeks ago. I must have opened it and she's so quick that I never saw her sneak in there.

Mouse got himself shut in the bathroom a couple of days ago but was only in there a couple of minutes before my houseguests heard him and realized what they'd done.  The way he yeowled and ran to me the second he got out you'd think he'd been in there for a week!  

Years ago I lived in an apartment with a young cat belonging to my landlady.  She was getting improvement work done on the bathroom:   I was first home one day and no sign of cat so I just thought OK she's waiting for her human momma, made my tea but when there was still no sign I called everywhere and searched the whole apartment, nothing. Panic.  I figured she must have run out when the workmen had been there earlier in the day.  Out I went calling all round the nieghbourhood.  Nothing again.  Upset and panicking I decided to have a bath to relax and try to think how I'd break the news to the landlady. I heard the front door unlock while I was taking a long soak to calm down and the next thing I hear is little meows from underneath the bath of all places!   Turns out the little munster had been using the ashes where the floorboards were missing under the bath as her secret toy mouse stash!  She must have gone in there to guard them from the workmen, they hadn't seen her and fixed the boxing in place around the bath with kitty in place. She'd been quite happy there, even with me running the bath, until she couldn't get out to welcome her human momma home from work.  Human momma must have loved her lots because the brand new boxing around the bath had to get pulled off and then replaced the next day.

I am somewhat comforted to know I'm not the only one that has done this! @Ritz, how long was she on the balcony? I understand the horror of the possibility she could have fallen off! @Red Top Rescue, My cat tries to get in the drawers too! Thankfully, my drawers are too full for them to get inside, hahaha.

@MoochNNoodles, I really don't know why they want to get into those closets so badly! They are super sneaky, too. They often jump on top of my fresh clean towels in the linen closet -_- so I can have hair when I dry my face. How thoughtful. @Lorie D. Relaxed? That is fascinating. You would think they'd panic and want to get out! I guess Midnight did not have claustrophobia lol!

@kookycats Whoa! You have a very smart kitty. Mine can't really open cabinets or doors (thankfully). They can get really quiet when they want to...unlike they are running around like crazies!

@MServant Oh my. She got herself boxed in! I'm so glad you guys were able to find her! It's a scary thought if she was lost in there somehow. Cats seem to really enjoy dark small places. I guess it makes them feel safe? My girl still runs inside the closet every time I open it. *facepalm* Lesson has not been learned!

I don't know how long Ritz was on the balcony, I was at work that day, so it could have been anywhere from 8 to 10 hours! Fortunately, the temperature was mild.
I moved about 18 months ago and am now on the ground floor (single level townhouse). Ritz has lots of windows, with screens on them, to peer out from. When we first moved in, she would occasionally charge at the screen, wanting to get that bird or chipmunk. She's learned that the screens prevent that, luckily. I know there is a chance the screen could break or pop out, but I'll more or less comfortable with the threat level. Also, she's made no indications that she longs for the outdoors.

I locked Holly in the linen closet last year.  Sometimes she likes to go in there and nap.  I guess I had the door open and she snuck in there without me noticing.  I shut the door.  I then left the house at 7am to go to my temp job- my daughter left at 8am for school.  She got home at 4 and heard this MEOW!  Went upstairs and the cat came flying out of the closet.  Dd told me what I did, Holly gave me an evil eye that night LOL. 

I check closets before I go anywhere now.  She's not gotten locked in a closet since. 

Connor used to get locked in (or out) of somewhere on a fairly regular basis. Closets, the basement, the attic space...you name it he ended up there at some point. He spent a few nights (not in a row) out on a 3 season porch too...luckily never in winter. One of the problems with having a black cat...you can't ever see them in the dark lol.

I also had a cat (Chaos) who would get his fat head squished in all kinds of doors. Mostly the fridge. If you opened it of course he had to look and see what you were getting him. XD But sometimes we wouldn't notice him there and go to close the door. He was never injured, it was just him being a goofball.

I accidentally shut Monet in my FRIDGE once. He has a habit of jumping into the fridge, and I failed to see him when my back was turned. I realized about 15 minutes later that Monet was no where to be found.

He was happy to eat my bread while waiting for me to open the door. revenge? probably!

Zoe got locked in the car overnight once.  I felt awful.  Plus I was worried--we looked for her everywhere, called her name....couldn't find her anywhere.  The next morning we started the search again and hubby noticed that the turn signal on my car was on!  She must have hit it accidentally in exploring or trying to get out of the car.  She must have jumped in the back when I was unloading groceries.  She's black, the car interior was black, and she has this tiny little squeaky meow so I guess if she meowed at me after I shut her in, I didn't hear it.  Poor girl.  Amazingly she was a good girl all night, no accidents in my car!  

Draco said:

I accidentally shut Monet in my FRIDGE once. He has a habit of jumping into the fridge, and I failed to see him when my back was turned. I realized about 15 minutes later that Monet was no where to be found.

He was happy to eat my bread while waiting for me to open the door. revenge? probably!

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OMG!  

Have twice locked a cat in a closet.  First one,Spook, only a few hours;but  when I opened that door. He was in a sitting position, and with what was left of his dignity stalked past me, ignoring my offers to pet, and went to sit & stare out a patio door, still ignoring me.  When I began to pet him, he rose, and this time stalked to the back balcony door, still refusing any sign of friendship.  I just had to go away and let him "get over it".

The other cat I   locked in my walk-in (years later), and went off to spend the night at my mom's.  That night when we were doing dishes, my mom said she kept thinking she heard a cat meowing in the distance, and jokingly said it  was probably Slate wanting me to come home.  A friend went over early the next morning to check on my place and found poor Slate closed in.  Slate was forgiving, and thank you had not even peed or anything, that I could ever detect. 

Thirty five years ago, while living with my then girlfriend (and 2 cats, 3 kittens), one of the kittens jumped into the refrigerator while my back was turned. With so many animals I didn't really notice she was missing. It wasn't until the next MORNING that we both heard a rather insistent meowing from the refrigerator! I opened the door and the little thing leaped straight out onto my chest! She was no worse for it (I guess), but never tried that stunt again. She also explored the entire refrigerator - we laughed when we saw paw prints in the butter.

It happens.

Yes.  A few weeks ago I opened the front porch closet to get my shoes and went outside.  I was out maybe 30 minutes and when I came back in Ruby wasn't at the door to greet me.  I thought it was odd, but figured she was asleep somewhere.  I looked everywhere, including under the beds and the dryer and still couldn't find her.  But when I shook her treats and she still didn't come, I started to really worry.   THEN I remembered I'd opened the closet door and sure enough when I opened it, she wandered out.

My cats have never been stuck in a closet.  However, two of them did get stuck in my coffee table.  The coffee table I have has a top that lifts.  Starbuck and Casey have both gotten stuck in there.  Starbuck hid in the coffee table and took a nap while I was eating lunch before going to work.  She was about 8 weeks old then.  She was stuck for 4 hours and was meowing to get out when hubby got home from work.

Last weekend we had company and our kitten Casey got in the coffee table while my hubby's friend was eating.  He had never tried to go in there before so we did not warn our company to look for him before closing the table.  He actually spent the night in there.  He never made any noise at all.  Hubby's friend was sleeping on the couch and would have woken up if Casey had started talking.  The next morning I could not find Casey and asked our friend if he had seen him overnight at all.  While I was getting ready for work hubby's friend stood in our living room and started meowing.  Casey replied by meowing back and was promptly released from the coffee table.  Neither one had any accidents in there.  

Starbuck stayed out of the coffee table after that.  Casey still goes in there and will also run into the fridge.  Everyone that comes over was being warned about the fridge and will now be warned about the coffee table too.