The cat in the wall

Prior to leaving town, we always do a cat check to make sure that no one is locked in the closet or in the bathroom. While preparing to leave for home on Tuesday, I scanned the cats in the house and could not find Mike Waszowski. My husband, her favored person, called and called. No sign of Mike. We checked all of her favorite spots. No Mike. We rustled cat food in the bag around, as well as cracked a can of moist cat food. No Mike.

We'd had people in the house on Tuesday afternoon, working on installing new fixtures in the bathroom/shower. They'd been in and out of the house several times. We figured Mike had lain in wait by the front door (as she normally does) and skittered out. We scoured the yard. No Mike. I checked with the neighbors. No one had seen her.

After an hour of searching, we had to assume that she'd escaped outside and would show back up. I wasn't especially worried. Cats usually do fine outside, although Mike did disappear once for 3 weeks. We had to leave, so leave we did.

When my technician called me the next night to update me on the pets, she told me that Mike was in the house, acting perfectly normal. I was perplexed. Where could she have possibly hidden that we couldn't find her? We know all her spots, and the house is very organized...so, where?

We came home on Thursday, and I set about changing the parrots' food and water. While in the bird room, I noticed that the new access panel that the plumbers had installed in the wall behind the shower was lying on the floor. Hmmm, I thought, guess they didn't do a very good job installing that panel, as it seems to have fallen onto the floor. I mentioned it to Jim as I came out of the room. He looked thunderstruck for a moment, and then said, "Oh my God - that's where Mike was!"

I realized he was right! The plumbers had left the access panel open and had made a trip to Lowe's, leaving the opening there with no cover for an hour or more. Mike had undoubtedly gone into the hole and decided to explore within the walls and around the shower. When the plumbers came back, she was probably deep in the opening, nowhere in sight, and they had gone ahead and placed the access panel and caulked it in place. Mike was sealed in a la the Cask of Amontillado.

Luckily, she was able to claw her way out and knock the access panel down without too much difficulty. She seems none the worse for the wear, but I'm very, very thankful that she was able to let herself out!