It is such a relief when finally found and sometimes a great mystery as to where they have been, when they just suddenly reappear! Glad he was safe inside!

Pets can certainly raise your blood pressure! My spaniel could not be trusted off leash or in an unfenced yard. He would get a scent and take off for parts unknown!! It didn't happen often (thankfully) but every now and again, he'd find a means of escape and off he'd go, leaving me in a panic when I discovered him missing. 🤣 Fortunately, I lived were traffic was not an issue and he was chipped and had his name and phone number on a tag for his collar. We were always reunited pretty quickly but I aged a lot in that hour or two before he was located and returned.

My pup now as a Velcro attachment and does not like to let me out of his sight. Even when loose or off leash, he is always close by. Good thing - I am getting too old for those panic attacks!

Lily, I can relate! Our Chloe was an indoor cat and disappeared one day. Shaking her food always worked but not that time. Our son was here and the two of us searched everywhere, or so we thought. I was convinced she’d somehow gotten outside. Finally our son motioned to me to come. He’d found her curled up in a fireplace behind the logs, something she’d never done. She was filthy but fine. I think she realized it might get HOT in there! She never did it again.

We had a cat who vanished. We thought maybe she got out when we all walked out the front door to an event at school, so after searching the house, the yard, shaking kibble, we rewalked the route. Came home and searched some more. After a couple of hours, byt this time it’s 9pm, we walked into the main level and there she was, sitting in the middle of the floor, like she’d been there all day. It was a split level with fairly open plan, the bedroom and family room stairs both led right to the living room. Where had she been?

Very long story short but our son “disappeared“ once when he was 18 months old. Talk about FRANTIC! The entire neighborhood was searching while I was on the phone with 911. I heard a neighbor yell, ”There he is!” He was sound asleep on a sofa in our family room that had been searched several times. Not only searched, but the sofa had been leaned on to look behind it. The mystery of where on earth he was that entire time was never solved. I told the 911 dispatcher we found him. You might imagine how silly I felt to say he was sleeping on the sofa. NO, he wasn’t when we were looking!!!

Had to look up "jelly cupboard"! Learned a new expression.

Ninapearl, what a lovely and fascinating story! You might enjoy an equally lovely and interesting book called, The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar.

laceyvail thank you so much for the link, that looks like a wonderful book! i will add it to my reading list. 😊

We have a cat that could give hiding lessons to the CIA. Both of our current cats are totally indoor cats.

Once, we were having some work done on replastering inside by a friend who is a plasterer. Since we both were working full time, he had a key so he could let himself in and do the work. One morning I wasn't feeling well and didn't go to work. I ended up sleeping on the couch. When I woke up, Dave was working in one of the bedrooms and the cats were nowhere to be found. I panicked and thought that they may have escaped while Dave was bringing in his ladders and other equipment, though he assured me they hadn't. Frantically searching the house, I was getting desperate for places to look and slid open the hallway linen closet door. Two sleepy cats on top of the sheets lifted there heads and gave me a "What?" look. Somehow they had slid open the door, jumped in then slid the door closed again.

Another cat we had was allowed out during the day, but came in at dinner time and stayed in during the night. I was going out for the evening so I was calling her a bit early to come in so she wouldn't be left outside after I left. She wasn't coming so I was going through the neighbourhood calling her name, and went up along the railway line near our house, still calling but no luck. Giving up as the time for my departure was close, I was walking back home and suddenly spotted the cat sitting under a bush with the legs tucked under her, calmly watching me go back and forth calling her. What a brat!

The worst was my first cat, who disappeared for three days. We searched the house and neighbourhood, driving around the streets and calling him to no avail. I was really sad. Then I opened the towel closet and on the very bottom, where there was a cardboard box of stuff so large that there was only an inch or so between the top edge of the box and the next shelf up, out popped Sugarpuss' head. Somehow he had got into that box when the door was open and then couldn't get back out. He didn't meow or scratch to get out that we heard so we had no idea he was in there.

I have a new part time job. I am walking a neighbor's beagle, Milo, two days a week around noontime. He is confined to just the living room and kitchen. He has several beds and a crate with bedding and the door is always open. Maybe my third time there, I came in and called him and he didn't come. I looked everywhere for him, even out in the backyard though I was certain his owner wouldn't have left him out there and then gone to work. When I came back in, he was sitting in the kitchen!! I was ready to call her in a panic. So we took our walk. When she came up to my house to pay me for the week, I told what had happened. She told me he likes to get UNDER the covers in the crate and that is where he was all the time! At least now I know his tricks.

I tried to post his picture but Houzz seems to be rejecting all photos today.

It's thanks to a cat that I discovered there was a space between my electric oven and the gas stove on top of it.

This happened many years ago, when I lived in a third-floor flat. Being a scaredy-cat, she went into hiding the minute I let in a repairman for some job. He was early, so I didn't have time to lock her up in one of the rooms as I always do. I made sure the front door was shut the entire time he was working in the flat, but after he left she didn't show up. I went pspsps till I was blue in the face. No cat. I opened a can of tuna - a sound she couldn't resist. No cat. I ran a frantic search throughout the flat. I peeped inside the fridge. No cat. Staircase - no cat. The parking lot under the building - no cat. The street - no cat.

I knew she was lost, would never find her way back, doomed to some horrid death. So I climbed back up to the flat. I could barely move. I was so desperate. I put the kettle on for a cup of tea. A couple minutes later there was a strange little bang and scaredy-cat clambered down from under the stove top. I put my hand behind it and lo and behold there was a space between the top and the electric oven. Good to know.