The Vanishing Cat

We stayed at a place (StudioPlus it is called) across from Wright University in Dayton, OH that has a kitchenette and was just so-so qualitywise - comfy bed but smelled weird. We were awakened from our very restful sleep this morning (5:00 am) to ravenously hungry kitties. After feeding them, I went back to sleep until the alarm at 7am.

At 7 we got up and were readying our things for departure. Dave and I took a load down to the car and retrieved the kitty valium from the car so that we could dose the kitties for our departure. When we returned to the room 5 minutes later... Snowflake was nowhere to be found... he had VANISHED!!

Now, I must emphasize that there were quite a few nooks, crannies, and cupboards he could hide in but we are essentially talking about ONE room with only ONE door which exited to a long hallway on the second floor of the hotel! We checked all the obvious places... cupboards, drawers, stove, refrigerator, freezer, under the bed, inside the box springs, all the obvious kitty hiding places. He was nowhere and after 30 minutes of searching we were starting to panic... Maybe he'd escaped into the hallway and stealthily made his way to the outdoors, craving the grass beneath his paws and the fresh air in his nose. Maybe he'd been kitty-napped by some evil-doer who wanted nothing more than to fuck with some cat people at 7am on a Sunday morning. Who knows...

Finally, after literally an hour plus of searching inside, outside, and even checking with the front receptionist for any "lost and found" pets :) - it was his big brother, ever the protector, that helped to locate the scaredy-cat named Snowflake.

As we pulled out and lifted the mattress and boxspring for the second or third time, Swayze stuck his head around the edge of the back of the nightstand and attempted to crawl UNDER the nightstand through a gap roughly 5'' high. Because Swayze is big boned, he was unable to actually get underneath the nightstand but of course in watching his ill-conceived attempt, a great big light bulb went off.

Sure enough, we moved out the other nightstand and tilted it up to have a look...



Tonight we are in Springfield, MO. Cozy at the (free popcorn in the lobby at all locations) pet-friendly (no charges, no questions) hotel "Drury Inn & Suites". Where will he find to hide tonight?