Pawrent leaves cats with mom while on vacation, comes back to one cat hiding in the walls, 3 days later cat is safe and out the wall, pawrent says: ‘It took a lot of hissing and scratching on her part but I got her and she’s safe in her carrier cage.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Feb 26, 2026 3:00 PM EST

If you thought picking up your cats when coming back from vacation is as easy as popping them in the carrier, then this story will make you think twice and hatch a backup plan in case your cats decided to pull a runner just as you come to carry them home.

It is a heartbreaking scene to hear about. A pawrent comes back from a much needed vacation, missing their cats deeply. Only to have one of them bolt the moment their pawrent approaches. Not only making their pawrent's longing go unquashed, but also making them feel deeply unwanted. Of course no pawrent comes prepared for such a pick up situation, which makes the event even more stressful and you are left with a pawrent whose rest and relaxation has gone out the window never to be seen again, a holiday wasted if you ask us.

But being the diligent cat mom that this hooman is, she did not give up and persisted in the purrsuit of her cat child until they were reunited. One thing is for sure, this pawrent will come prepared for madness upon pick up the next time they leave their cat in the care of someone else. 
 

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  • 01
    "She can hate me and not let me near her anymore, I only care that she's alive and safe."
    via for-a-dreamer
  • 02
    I go for a vacation for one week and left my two cats in my mother's care. When I come back, I get one of them but the other, the younger one, gets
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  • 03
    scared super easily and runs off before I could grab her. She could still be in the house, she could be in the attic, there are a lot of nooks
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  • 04
    and crannies to hide in, but I've searched everywhere and can't find her. She could have gotten outside, I pray to f g god she
    via for-a-dreamer
  • 05
    didn't get outside.. I've had her for 6 months but she's such a small and skittish cat. She hates people and won't even let me
    via for-a-dreamer

  • Man, cats just know how to hit you in the places that hurt the most when you least expect it. Like, this pawrent likely spent at least a portion of their vacation missing their cats. No one likes being separated from their cat children after all. And just as it hurts when your hooman child says they want to live with their friend because their mom makes dino bites for dinner, it hurts that your cat child would run away from you after you have spent all that time away missing them. Not to mention that now this pawrent has to embark on a search and rescue mission to find this escaped lunatic. 

  • 06
    near her or pick her up. How in the h am I going to find her, or have any strangers look for her. If she's scared of me, she's terrified of everyone else. I'm
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  • 07
    also obviously worried about other animals, and the road.. I don't know what to do. My only solace is thinking that, because she's such a skittish cat, if
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  • 08
    she got outside, she's hiding under a shed or something rather than wandering the forest and getting more lost.
    via for-a-dreamer
  • 09
    I don't know what to do. She's an indoor cat, an apartment cat, she's never even been outside before save for my balcony a few times.. This is a nightmare.
    via for-a-dreamer
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    Cheezburger Image 10606693376
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  • 11
    Part of me wants to post her picture and location on here on the off chance that someone is in the
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    same area, but it's such a small town I'm kind of worried about doxxing myself
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  • Jheez, is this the point that we have gotten to in hooman society that we are scared to ask for help from fellow hoomans all because we might face some unwarranted consequences? Surely asking for help should rally a community not turn it against you, especially when it is not an act that happened out of negligence. It was purely a result of this cat being a skittish sally who likes nothing more than causing chaos. If anyone should be getting doxxed here it is the cat that ran away. Maybe a pack of puppers could come over and carry out the doxxing and in doing so help find the cat…

  • 13
    My cat is trapped somewhere in the walls. I could hear her scratching in one spot, but it's been a while since I've heard her so I don't
    via for-a-dreamer
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    know if she's moved or if she's even still okay (the possibility that she's not okay is not even something I want to entertain). I need her back. I
    via for-a-dreamer
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    don't have the tools or skilled necessary to cut a hole in the wall myself, and I'll have to wait until morning to call the handyman back. I have two fears: 1,
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    she's going to hurt herself and possibly de in the walls, maybe find herself in a dangerous spot, or she'll sur te. Or 2, she'll get hurt or kd while we're
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    trying to cut through the walls. (Apparently I'm the bad guy for telling my mom to wait for the professionals and stop using a
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    power saw to the walls) What do I do if the handyman can't come in tomorrow? Is there anyone else I can call? Does the
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    SPCA deal with this stuff? Can fire rescue help? I'm beside myself at this point. I've been working trying to get her back for the
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    last 3 days (she wasn't in the walls that whole time, last I physically saw her was this morning. See my previous 2 posts on this sub). I've left food out,
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    I've tried toys, I've tried cornering her and coaxing her out. Nothing. Is. Working. There's still food and water left by the opening where she got in from, it hasn't
    via for-a-dreamer
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    been touched since I left it there this afternoon. My concern is that she's fallen somewhere or is stuck somewhere and can't make it back where she
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    came. I want her back, and I want to go home. I need help.
    via for-a-dreamer
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    Cheezburger Image 10606693632
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    After 3 awful days, and 1 instance of me literally falling through the ceiling, I got her. I had really convinced myself in the last 12 hours that she had ά d
    via for-a-dreamer
  • 26
    because I couldn't see or hear her and she wasn't eating anything I left out. I can't put into words how devastated and heartbroken I was feeling, I spent the early hours sobbing
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    uncontrollably. I took one last look around and I found her, it took a lot of hissing and scratching on her part but I got her and she's safe in her
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    carrier cage. Where she's going to be staying until I can get a ride home. I'm so f g relieved, I was really about to give up and accept that I had to go
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    home without her. She's terrified, and probably hates me right now, but I don't care. She can hate me and not let me near her anymore, I only care
    via for-a-dreamer
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    that she's alive and safe. And I'm going home with both of my cats.
    via for-a-dreamer

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scratching safe walls reddit story cat story pawrents leaves mom Cats hiding vacation hissing carrier days
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