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I just went on a 6-day vacation, leaving two cats behind. I had someone coming in to feed/water/clean litter for the cats. The friend never saw one of the cats, but that didn't raise any alarms because she is very shy. However, when I came home I found the cat in a drawer that she cannot get into or out of on her own, unless the drawer is left open, and the drawer was closed.

Now, it's possible that we left the drawer open by accident, and it got bumped closed by my other cat while she was inside one or two days ago, but it's also possible that she's been trapped there for the whole 6 days. There's no evidence of pee or poop in the drawer. How concerned should I be?

She seems normal enough, and didn't appear any more starving than normal when I put out food, and she did not flee the drawer with any excessive speed. It's a little hard to judge because she's always a little skittish for a day or so after we come back from a week trip.

Arcanist Lupus
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2 Answers2

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The cat doesn't go into suspended animation when in the drawer. If she was really trapped there the whole time you would find, uhm, metabolic byproducts, in addition to claw marks where she tried to get out, and her health would be severely damaged at best.

More likely that, like many cats, she discovered a way to climb up inside the cabinet. Many do have a space behind the drawers, and if the bottom is open and there's space to go underneath, a cat can often climb through that space and squeeze into the drawers from the back.

If you're worried, bring the cat to the vet for a checkup. But I suspect she just found herself a safe den and stayed there when the strange human might notice her.

keshlam
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I had a cat that was locked in a garage down the street for 6 weeks. All we knew was "vanished". We did the whole "lost cat" routine, posts, posters, Humane Society, ... Nada.

When the people finally came home and opened the garage, there she was, dehydrated, eyes, gums and skin yellowed, weak ("mew"). There wasn't much poop in the garage - no input, no output. Thanks to Ottawa Humane Society for scanning her microchip.

Off to the vet, who kept her a couple of days, rehydrated/restarted her systems, and implanted a stomach tube. C$3K, but she's my cat. When we got her home, we had to prepare and inject food goo into her stomach every 4 hours, day and night for several weeks. She was not amused. Eventually, the tube was removed, she ate, regained weight, and had a full life.

All this to say check for obvious signs of jaundice (yellowing), if so, rush to vet, if not, go to the vet for a checkup.

waltinator
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