Can you find the orange tabby cat in this picture?
No, probably not. That's because he is sealed under the floor, sandwiched between insulation and nailed down with plywood.
This was only one of the adventures we've had so far in the first three days of our dormer construction. Day 1, the contractors discovered a sizeable hornets nest in the attic (and made sure to tell us that one of their workers was stung). Day 2, was far more stressful and traumatic.
We got home from work and could not find our cat, George. The other cat, Katrina was there to greet us at the door like normal. We just assumed George had found a very good hiding place as he is a wimp and is afraid of strangers and loud noises.
After about 3 hours of searching inside and out in every possible place, we assumed he got outside and would return at some point. Although we knew it was out of his character to sneak out and especially not return for food. (Both of our cats are indoor cats.)
Matt and I were on the verge of freaking out but remained relatively calm so far. Sometime after 9:00, we thought we heard a thump coming from upstairs in the construction zone. Matt ran upstairs and swore he heard a faint, scared "meow" come from somewhere in the floor.
Like a mother who lifts a 2 ton car off of her trapped child, Matt got a surge of adrenaline and began tearing up the new sub-floor plywood with a crow bar and hammer. He pulled out insulation and peered in between the floor joists with a flashlight. No sign of the cat. Matt began to doubt himself and started to worry about the contractors because he tore apart their work.
A little while later, Matt spotted George coming out of the floor joists. But George got spooked when he saw Matt and went back in. We gave him a little time to come out on his own and eventually he did. He was a little dusty and wary, but other than that unharmed.
He must have gone upstairs to explore when the workers were out at lunch and hid in an exposed floor joist when they returned - instead of running back down the stairs. He must have hid very well because the workers proceeded to seal up the floor with George inside!
We are very fortunate that Matt heard the meow and trusted his instincts. I hate to think what would have happened if we hadn't heard him.
George was pretty much back to his normal self by the next morning. Matt and I are still recovering from the experience. George is now locked up during the day in our back room with food, water, and a litter box.
Click the photo to see the construction progress in Flickr.
This was only one of the adventures we've had so far in the first three days of our dormer construction. Day 1, the contractors discovered a sizeable hornets nest in the attic (and made sure to tell us that one of their workers was stung). Day 2, was far more stressful and traumatic.
We got home from work and could not find our cat, George. The other cat, Katrina was there to greet us at the door like normal. We just assumed George had found a very good hiding place as he is a wimp and is afraid of strangers and loud noises.
After about 3 hours of searching inside and out in every possible place, we assumed he got outside and would return at some point. Although we knew it was out of his character to sneak out and especially not return for food. (Both of our cats are indoor cats.)
Matt and I were on the verge of freaking out but remained relatively calm so far. Sometime after 9:00, we thought we heard a thump coming from upstairs in the construction zone. Matt ran upstairs and swore he heard a faint, scared "meow" come from somewhere in the floor.
Like a mother who lifts a 2 ton car off of her trapped child, Matt got a surge of adrenaline and began tearing up the new sub-floor plywood with a crow bar and hammer. He pulled out insulation and peered in between the floor joists with a flashlight. No sign of the cat. Matt began to doubt himself and started to worry about the contractors because he tore apart their work.
A little while later, Matt spotted George coming out of the floor joists. But George got spooked when he saw Matt and went back in. We gave him a little time to come out on his own and eventually he did. He was a little dusty and wary, but other than that unharmed.
He must have gone upstairs to explore when the workers were out at lunch and hid in an exposed floor joist when they returned - instead of running back down the stairs. He must have hid very well because the workers proceeded to seal up the floor with George inside!
We are very fortunate that Matt heard the meow and trusted his instincts. I hate to think what would have happened if we hadn't heard him.
George was pretty much back to his normal self by the next morning. Matt and I are still recovering from the experience. George is now locked up during the day in our back room with food, water, and a litter box.
Click the photo to see the construction progress in Flickr.
posted by Stacy at 12:06 PM
4 Comments:
What an agonizing experience. Poor George! I see lots of catnip and cuddles in his future.
Oh ... those contractors had better apologize, and hard! Perhaps with a can of tuna fish in one hand ... and a bag of Rowan in the other.
One time my husband Bob was doing work on a friend's condo and after opening up a wall, found a kitty skeleton in the wall! He never told our friends (They had never had a cat.) Thank goodness Matt found George.
WOW. I'm so glad that you found him! Poor George. How scary.
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