Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Inadvertent Prisoner

Cammie did not come to breakfast this morning. If she doesn’t like what is on the menu she will at least smell it, and perhaps taste it, before registering a complaint with the management. If she is sick, she will stay away from the food all together. She will often resort to the cylinder-shaped house on the cat-tree downstairs. After I fed the other beasts, I went to look for her, fearing illness. She was not there.

Nor was she snoozing under the bed, against the wall. This is another of her hiding spots, where she goes when, though not necessarily ill, she still wants to be away from the other cats, and probably from me. She was not there, either.

I was becoming a little worried. I started searching for her, wherever I thought she may be, under the kitchen sink, under the bathroom basin, up a cat-tree, at the litter-boxes. She was nowhere to be found.

Then, I remembered I had put away my pyjamas earlier. I am usually careful about making sure no cat is left behind when I shut a door. I opened the door to the bedroom closet - and there she was. The princess had not raised a fuss, but was waiting patiently - not a prominent trait of hers - for freedom. She trotted out amidst my apologies and received a belated breakfast, which she enjoyed.

I have done this rarely in the years I have had cats. I remember I did this twice to Tungsten, and, I think, once to Josie. They are such silent creatures, when they wish to be, and closets, with their usually closed doors, hold an allure for them. This is why I always say good-bye to each beast individually when I go to work for the day, and make sure I know where each is when I go to bed at night. They are easily lost even within a building, and not every room or space in a house is somewhere a cat should be.

Fortunately, Cammie was not distressed by her inadvertent imprisonment, and all ended well. Perhaps I should be glad that she, and the others, are unable to master doorknobs, from either the inside or the outside…

8 comments:

  1. Oh, we bet that gave you some bad moments, while you were hunting for her. We're glad all was fine in the end and that Cammie finally got her breakfast!

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  2. this happened to me. Usually the bedroom door is closed during the day - mostly due to kittens roaming the house. I got up one morning and closed the door, then realized Mo was still in there. I tried to get him out to no avail but made a mental note to try again before leaving. On the freeway half way to work, the note went off....oops. Fortunately he was fine in there by himself all day (heck, he may have enjoyed it).

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  3. that is why most of my closet doors are never fully closed.. (we have sliding doors)

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  4. aso glad to hear Cammie was discovered safe When I lived with 4 cats, one would sometimes there was==-oooopoi--------------

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  5. Dude played a "trick" on me once that had me thinking I had truly lost it.

    I don't recall now his "set up" but when I went to look for him he was nowhere to be found.

    I knew he hadn't opened a window of his own accord, and it was winter and he wasn't about to go outside; not that he was allowed to regardless of the season, yet after repeated callings, searching things like dresser drawers that it would have been impossible for him to have gotten into; I became panic stricken to the point I called "my mommy" on the phone to ask if she'd come over to help find the missing cat.

    As I turned to set the phone down...there he was....sitting proudly as can be in the middle of the kitchen floor.

    To this day, I have NO idea where he was; needless to say cats are always accounted for in my house now too .....

    sorry for rambling ~~~~~~~ ♥♥

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  6. Yep, I do the head count on my way out the door in the morning, especially now that my son is working again. Sasha didn't come for dinner one evening, and we looked and looked, and finally found him curled up asleep under one of the chairs in the sunroom and I swear we'd looked there at least once or twice.

    Glad that Cammie was found and quite happy with her late, solitary breakfast!

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  7. I am glad Cammie wasn't too worried by her unexpected imprisonment. Flynn loves to go in the airing cupboard to curl up for a nap by the hot water tank. He has been shut in many times in the past but I always leave the door ajar for him now.

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  8. Maybe Cammie wasn't upset because she was surrounded by things belonging to you.

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