Overall, our trip was smooth sailing. Wylla traveled easy, the weather was incredible, there were no snow closures on the pass, no flat tires or speeding tickets. It was easy-breezey except for a wee incident at the Cave Springs Motel.
The Cave Springs Motel, nestled near Mt Shasta in Dunsmuir, Ca, is a bit of a time capsule. Most of the fixtures and furniture are original to the motel, which I'm guessing was built around 1968. It's a fine place offering wonderful amenities like VCRs and air. Most important of all, it's pet-friendly.
We spent the night there, and while were packing up and getting ready to head over to Craig's aunt and uncle's house for breakfast, Wylla was just hanging out, doing kittenish things.
The accidental slamming of a door sent her scurrying and scrambling under the bed. We were surprised - normally she's unflappable and rarely startles like that.
We finished loading up the car, expecting she would make an appearance soon, but she stayed under the bed. We couldn't easily fish her out - the bed sat on a wooden platform. There was only a small gap between the bed and the wall - large enough for a kitten pass through, but not large enough for us to get under there and grab her. Of course everything in the room was bolted down, so nothing could be moved to make access easier, so we waited. And then we realized she wasn't under the bed, she was IN the bed. She found a hole in the box springs, and burrowed deep into the queen-sized bed.
We called and called for her. She responded with tiny muffled peeps, but didn't come out. She was deep in the springs in Cave Springs.
We tapped a spoon on a can of her food, we waved her feather wand near the hole, but she wouldn't budge. I went to the car and came back with her favorite treat - a nutritional supplement that comes in a tube. I gave the tube a squeeze, and once the delicious scent made its way to her, she climbed out.
She had a few linty bits stuck to her coat and whiskers, but she was fine. Of course, after waiting for an hour for her to come out, our nerves were a little rattled.
Lesson learned. At the next hotel, we inspected the mattress before releasing the cat and stuffed hotel towels in any holes in the box springs.
Because it all turned out okay, I felt free to laugh. Your description was so well done that I felt I was in the room with you. Thank goodness for a cat with an appetite!
ReplyDeleteShe was just checking for bedbugs. ;)
ReplyDeleteSilly little kitten. One of mine climbed up inside a reclining chair at my parents' house and we had to turn it over and take the back off to get her out. Scary when they do things like that so I'm glad you were able to coax her out.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes -- the box springs! My Aggie used to crawl up into the box springs (at home) when she was frightened. When she got too big to do that, she would just stick her head into the hole - she couldn't see whatever was scary that way!
ReplyDeleteAnd you know -- Wylla's markings are a lot like Aggie's were. However, Aggie eventually got up to 18 pounds!
Oh Wylla, you naughty girl going in the mattress! poor mom and dad! Glad you came out!
ReplyDeleteSilly Wylla Francis! But I can sympathize...my nerves got frazzled when Jinx was a baby and found a way to climb up inside the back of my sofa. It was a heavy sleeper sofa, but fear of him being trapped gave me the strength to turn it over in no time flat to pull him out! :)
ReplyDeleteHAHA. I learned of that kitty trick when moving and traveling with 2 cats and 2 dogs. I remember thinking: Oh, good. The bed is on a platform so they can't get underneath, after which one of them immediately did what Wylla did. Fortunately, she was just in "explorer" phase so wasn't frightened to come out, but I had to wedge pillows and cushions to prevent it again. Those wily cats!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know that even a couple with your extensive cat experience still can have one of those, "Oh no we need to get the cat in the car to leave NOW, what are we going to do?" moments. I will feel much less panicked the next time knowing I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteOne can laugh because it turned out ok. Wylla is a wee wonderful girl.
ReplyDeleteWhen moving North we stayed in a Eugene motel where same platform bed set up, we saw it just before our Noodles the tortie did and got the access points stuffed with towels.
Long time ago I lived in an old Victorian back East. Lady, my gorgeous black cat, got up into the rafters of this four story house. She was stuck so she pushed the decorative radiator ring from the wall and jangled it with her paw to get attention. It took a while to trace her and ultimately we had to semi-demolish a part of a closet to get her. Needless to say, house owner wasn't happy. Lady was a traveler too! We could travel without a leash with no issues but being a worrier I leashed her in most circumstances as she was too precious.
Love the Out and About series. Thanks for sharing.
Poor Wee Wylla. My parents travel with their cat, Louie, when they come to WI from TX each summer. My parents have had to take many of hotel beds apart when it was time to leave. On the way up to WI, but not home. They think he doesn't like staying in the tiny camper during the summer so when it's time to go home, he is happy and can be to hope in the car and go home!
ReplyDeleteA neighbor cat who visits from time to time once crawled under the extended, unfolded footrest of a loveseat and hid inside the base. I finally coaxed him out but had been stressing about how I'd tell his mom about it. (He's a husky kitty and I was afraid he'd get stuck. Whew. Now that footrest is never extended. But it's the first thing our neighbor cat sniffs at when he visits. Well, after he checks out LG's food dish.)
ReplyDeleteOne of my 3 cats, Rubydee, is a perpetual "fraidy cat". her favorite spot to hide is in the boxspring of my mattress. At least I know where to find her when she disappears! Last time she ran for the boxspring was when we had a small fire in our clothes dryer downstairs. The firefighters came in with their big coats, hats and hatchets and Ruby flew up the stairs and into the boxspring. Meanwhile, our "old bag cat", Sassy, who is 18, visited with the firefighters and took a stroll outside to roll on the grass when the firefighters brought in a big fan to air things out. She hadn't been outdoors in 18 years but she walked down the steps to the grass and had a blast!
ReplyDeleteThere is currently a big floofy orange tabby (aka Sushi) visiting my house who has decided that he owns my closet. My roommate, who is looking after Sushi, was looking everywhere for him the other day which is when we realized he had wedged himself between some boxes in the back of my awkwardly shaped small closet. Luckily we didn't need to get anywhere...
ReplyDeleteHey, the name is CAVE SPRINGS, so Wylla found the cave with some springs...Just a little splunking before heading home.
ReplyDeleteWhen skeerd kitties need to hide, they go deep! >^..^<
ReplyDeletepoor dear Wylla
Cats are far too good at finding hiding places that humans have trouble spotting or can't get them out of. The cat I grew up with, Princess, was so frightened when we moved into a new house that she disappeared completely and was lost for 18 hours. We combed the neighborhood, thinking she'd gotten out, and we'd just about thought we'd lost her forever when we discovered that she'd somehow squeezed through a 2-inch gap to hide under the bottom stair to the basement and then couldn't get out, so was stuck there with heavy feet pounding over her all day.
ReplyDeleteShe'd apparently called out for rescue so much, although we never heard her, that when we did find her she'd lost her voice completely! Poor baby! Needless to say, that opening was promptly blocked. That was over 40 years ago, but to this day I remember how frightened and exhausted she was when we found her and still feel guilty about it!
If you wouldn't mind sharing the name of the nutritional supplement, I would appreciate it. Wylla is an absolutely adorable kitty...I was very tempted to drive out (I live in Wisconsin) and adopt her when you first started sharing pictures of her and her family. Hard to believe she could become even more adorable. Thanks for all you do for all kitties!
ReplyDeleteIt's called Supplecal. You can by it online or through your vet. Thanks for the kind words!
DeleteI feel your stress. And I'm very glad it turned out alright for Wee Wylla. Years ago my (then quite little) boy cat managed to get into a closet, under the bathtub (through a plumbing access hatch) and from there into the subflooring in an apartment I had moved into the night before. I nearly lost my mind...I had visions of the fire department, ripped up flooring, me evicted... I could hear him mewing ocassionally, but not sounding as panicked as I was. Luckily, my Mom, who is kind and wise said: Shine a light by the hole he went down, put an open tin of tuna by it, and he'll come back (I could see the bottom, it was an easy jump for him to get back up). And I waited...and a few hours later, a slightly dusty little head popped up and all was well. The access was quickly screwed shut, but for days he mewed outside the closet door demanding to be let back to the super cool space he'd been exploring. I explained that, no, he couldn't go back; My heart couldn't take it!
ReplyDeleteMy Monty Squeakman pulled the same box spring trick when we moved from Colorado to Texas. Before that, he'd always hide in the lazy Susan in my kitchen!
ReplyDeleteMy Monty Squeakman pulled the box spring trick on me when we moved to Texas from Colorado. He's always liked small spaces - especially the lazy Susan in my kitchen!
ReplyDeleteI was stationed overseas and was getting ready to move back home to Massachusetts. I shipped my kitty girls home before my pack out thinking it would be less traumatic for them.
ReplyDeleteThey arrived home to my parents' house safely. But apparently they went missing. My parents couldn't find them for a couple of days and were afraid to tell me they lost my cats.
All was well in the end. They got into a hidy place in a closet and made themselves comfortable. I guess they came out once they were hungry.
My old kitty girls (who've passed away) and my kitty boys all have (had) hidy places that I've yet to find, even in my small-ish home.
Buddy and Tiger's Mom
Oh those explorer kitties.. My husband was running some wires under the floor in the house, and had taken off the cover on the cold air intake vent to run them to me, waiting down in the basement. Suddenly he was down there in the basement, and I asked if he'd covered the vent. No, he hadn't! I ran upstairs just in time to see a brown tail disappear down the rabbit hole, so to speak. She wiggled her way around out of reach, then suddenly we heard "Meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow!", which I took to mean that she was stuck.. and had visions of having to tear up the floor to get to the cat. Canned cat food (which was a coveted treat) to the rescue.. Pushed it down the opening a little distance, then suddenly there was a Siamesey face covered with cobwebs.
ReplyDeletePhew... Good thing our cats are such slaves to their treats! :)
y'all have made my day with these lost but found kitty stories. thank you!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when they do that!
ReplyDeleteWe adopted a kitten 10 years ago from PAWS. She had been taken from her feral mom along with her sibling(s). She was very shy (at the time) and we didn't want to leave her to go on vacation because we had only had her a few months at the time. We took her on two vacations that summer, as well as a trip to Spokane for a weekend. Every place we stayed she would take a claw and neatly slit the end of the fabric under the box springs and go up inside and use it as a hammock. One motel we stayed at had the same platform-style bed that you described and she kept us up all night trying to find a way to get under THAT bed!!! Needless to say, I started traveling with clear duct tape to repair her escapades.
ReplyDeletewe have the same things and we find a solutions. when we spend time in hotel with violette, we take some cardboard. we put it all around the bed. we have scotch to maintain it. It's a great moment for us, because we laught a lot.
ReplyDeleteSweet silly face!
ReplyDeletelike you and others, we have had that same terrifying experience....our little Hallie went into the bed after traveling from Florida to Arizona.....and we thought she might not ever come out......but with food she did and then I held her the rest of the night.....Good to see you take Wylla to lot's of new places.....gloria g. Hemingway, Sc
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