EDIT: Cat was finally recovered after being trapped for nine days. :thumbup:
Got a referral from a very loyal customer to go help out a co-worker who just moved into a townhouse with her three cats.
One of them is missing, somewhere in the bowels of the house.
She's heard the cat crying; even has recordings of it. I tore open ductwork and made swiss cheese of the drywall with a 4" hole saw with no luck. She called a historical restoration company, and the guy came over with a scope and high-end thermal imager--no luck.
Her dad stopped by with HIS hole saw and made Alpine Lace out of my swiss cheese. Still no cat.
She's not just being sneaky, either. Food and water left out are untouched, and she's sounding weaker all the time. Unfortunately, she's not very talkative, and absolutely clams up when strangers are in the house, so I haven't had a chance to hear her myself.
It's been seven days.
Any ideas? You can keep the smartass ones to yourself; this is serious.
I responded with two very helpful suggestions and had my posts removed so here's another idea.
Don't drywall the cat into the ceiling. If I was the lady I'd make you strip the sheet rock off until you found my cat way before 9 days went by. If I was the gc I'd make the drywaller strip drywall until the cat was found before I went on a witch hunt for some voodoo trick to make it right.
And just to be clear, what have you been doing for the last 9 or 10 now days to find the cat whiles it's been starving to death?
I sure as hell wouldn't be doing anything but finding the cat.
Ofcourse that being said I always make sure my clients animals are contained and or boarded off site while we work in homes with pets, because I like pets..
Matt, that's an easy call from where you are, but she doesn't have unlimited funds nor do I have the luxury of donating all of my time and materials for free. There are practical limits.
As I said, the FD guys told her they had never seen anyone do that much demo looking for a pet.
I agree Tin, it's like anything, if the budgets there. Depending. on what the cats worth to her, hopefully not but it will have to be found sooner or later.
I haven't read anything that suggests the cat is missing due to construction.
Friday I went on a service call where the HO said something had got in the walls "somewhere" and died July 4 weekend, and must have chewed some wires. No one was able to find it. They had masked the smell pretty well.
Found it while trouble shooting the circuit, it was a dead fox, It had found it's way to the attic and got into the wall thru a lower closet ceiling.
That exact nature of finished construction is why we haven't completely gutted the place. It would make no sense. And if you bothered to read the whole thread, you would have seen that all of the ducts have been thoroughly investigated.
If it was my cat, I would take the day off and search every corner of the house, but then again, I don't like cats, so I wouldn't have that problem, and last time I checked, dogs don't climb trees.
I'd rather hang and finish 10 sheets of drywall than patch 50 wholes. If it was my kids cat, it would be found and my wife would be picking out new wall colors.
Have they tried looking under the fridge? Sometimes a cat can squeeze into that cardboard panel on the back and get stuck. Also, have they tried looking outside when they heard the cat? Maybe the cat got out and has been stuck the whole time and only meows when he thinks that he hears humans inside.
Are you nuts? What do you mean you can't find a cat?
I would not quit til I found it. I don't care how much money she has or doesn't have. I would not leave until I found it.
It would be kind of like a scavenger hunt or something.
What about a motion detector in the basement or a security camera that works off motion . Was the cat old or maybe sick , sometimes an animal will hide for this reason so as not to show weakness .
I was doing a small job in an apartment and given explicit directions to keep the cats closed in this one room. I had to open and close the door a few times though. When I was leaving I noticed the cats were gone. It was getting dark and I was freaking out even up and down city alleys looking for these cats. I was going to have to tell this lady her cats were gone. Practically crying, I noticed something move on the bed in that room. Those two cats were right where the pillows go under the comforter! Bastards
I don't know the sex of a cat in question here but if you got a cat of the opposite sex that was in heat... well.. you know.. love and sex has been a strong motivating factor in impossible situations that suddenly became possible.
Typical cat says, "Help! I'm stuck! I can't get out! HELP ME- wait...is that another cat? I'll be right there!"
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