My friend just moved into a house with a roommate who is allergic to cats. He was going to have to take his sweet, 3 yr old orange cat to the pound if no one could take him, so I volunteered. "Django" came from a hectic multiple pet / child environment and my household is a pretty lucid with 2 adults, 1 (nice) teenager and no pets - so I was THRILLED to finally get a new cat!
I have had scores of cats over the years and I realize the poor thing must be traumatized to leave all that behind and be thrust into a totally strange situation, so did all the things I'm supposed to do - put him in a safe room downstairs with food, water, toys, bed, litter box. I have had him 3 days now and for the first 24 hours I left him alone but loved on him when he would let me.
I think I blew it yesterday, though, when I found he had disappeared into the wall frame - he was kind of stuck about 2 feet down, facing up, so I reached in and caught him up by the scruff of the neck like a mother cat would do & got him out. He ran and hid from me and did not come back out. I left treats and milk, which he ignored, but basically I left him alone.
This morning, however, we awoke to the sound of Django meowing just under our bed. No, he had not escaped and snuck upstairs to hide under our bed - turns out, the laundry room has a drop ceiling which he must have clamored into (how?!) and is now roaming freely up in the ceiling / rafters between floors! We have taken ceiling tiles down, used a flashlight to see if we can see where he might be hiding, and all but climbed into the rafters to track him down, to no avail. He's not been meowing anymore and apparently made an appearance in my son's room around 6am this morning (from out of his bathroom?) where he jumped onto my son's bed, got petted, then promptly disappeared again.
At this point, I have no idea where in between floors he could be, if any of the rafters / duct work / wires / cables, etc. are safe or lead outside (!) or even how to locate him to try and tempt / trap him out! We can't possibly tear up all the floors & ceiling to find him!
I feel terrible that he probably hates me. And I'm worried he may get stuck or hurt between floors, without us knowing where he is, until 3 weeks from now when we'll suddenly start to notice a stench....
ANY ADVICE? PLEASE HELP!
I have had scores of cats over the years and I realize the poor thing must be traumatized to leave all that behind and be thrust into a totally strange situation, so did all the things I'm supposed to do - put him in a safe room downstairs with food, water, toys, bed, litter box. I have had him 3 days now and for the first 24 hours I left him alone but loved on him when he would let me.
I think I blew it yesterday, though, when I found he had disappeared into the wall frame - he was kind of stuck about 2 feet down, facing up, so I reached in and caught him up by the scruff of the neck like a mother cat would do & got him out. He ran and hid from me and did not come back out. I left treats and milk, which he ignored, but basically I left him alone.
This morning, however, we awoke to the sound of Django meowing just under our bed. No, he had not escaped and snuck upstairs to hide under our bed - turns out, the laundry room has a drop ceiling which he must have clamored into (how?!) and is now roaming freely up in the ceiling / rafters between floors! We have taken ceiling tiles down, used a flashlight to see if we can see where he might be hiding, and all but climbed into the rafters to track him down, to no avail. He's not been meowing anymore and apparently made an appearance in my son's room around 6am this morning (from out of his bathroom?) where he jumped onto my son's bed, got petted, then promptly disappeared again.
At this point, I have no idea where in between floors he could be, if any of the rafters / duct work / wires / cables, etc. are safe or lead outside (!) or even how to locate him to try and tempt / trap him out! We can't possibly tear up all the floors & ceiling to find him!
I feel terrible that he probably hates me. And I'm worried he may get stuck or hurt between floors, without us knowing where he is, until 3 weeks from now when we'll suddenly start to notice a stench....
ANY ADVICE? PLEASE HELP!