My Kitten Fell Down the Heat Vent.
This morning things had settled down a bit and when I entered the room I noticed the vent cover was off and replaced it. Thankfully no cats could get in as the foster cats are all quite plump. The mornings feedings are always a bit hectic but I've got it down to a science and can dish out 20 odd dishes in a matter of mins. So far so good... So I thought.... An hour later I hear a wail from what sounds like the bowels of my home. I check all the rooms..nothing. The sound continues. Stumped I make sure all cats are accounted for. Oh no! The only one that could fit in there would have been the kitten, Petunia! I race into the foster kitty room and my heart dropped as I realized she's missing. How long has she been in there? It could have been in the wee hours of the night! I remove the vent cover and place my ear to the floor. Gasp she's in the vent! I tap and call but her meows are weak and pitiful sounding. I call 24 hour emergency vent/heater gasfitters and plead my case. The fellow sounds sympathic and says do you realize we have to take your house apart depending on how far down she's gone..probable cost up to 4 grand. I don't care I wail ...please I can't leave her there. My mind is racing and I think how am I going to arrange a bank loan as I only have a small amount in my bank account. He tells me to stick a sheet in there and she may be able to climb out. "Pull her by the tail" he tells me as better to injure her than have a dead cat. She doesn't have a tail, she's a Manx! 1 hour later. I see she's backwards..head first. She has somehow has been able to work her way back up but is unable to get out as the vent is kinda elbow shape. I race and grab tools and start goughing my floor ..thinking I could perhaps remove that L shaped pipe. I wasn't thinking straight. I see her! I grasp one leg but the other one is underneath her and I'm afraid of breaking her legs. I hang on for dear life. Eventually I'm able to grab the other leg and tug..she's so weak as I pull her out by her back legs..her body swings. It reminds me of a hunter holding a dead thing. I'm sobbing and shaking so badly. Check her over...she smells very bad as she's had diarriah and of course it's also now in my heat vent. Oh joy when I turn the heat back on. Don't care at that moment..my baby is safe! Petunia is okay! This is her after a much needed rest, water and then bath 
To prevent it from ever happening again I pushed that cabinet over. That's the heat vent on the floor which she fell or wandered into. Luckily her curiousity didn't kill her. 
The Probable Culprit...one eyed Mickey who still manages to look innocent. 
Marianne |
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| What a scare!
Petunia is soooo lucky you could reach her.  |
| How scary! So glad you were able to get her out. I can't imagine how upset you were. I wonder if the fire department would have helped if it would have come to that. |
OMG, How scary!! I'm so glad you were able to get her out. 
Maybe you should call one of the ductwork cleaning companies. I bet they'd be able to clean up the mess in there. |
| Gosh Marianne, I'm glad you were able to get her out without ripping your house apart.
I vaguely remember something like that happening with a kitten we had growing up. Somehow the kitten ended up in our basement ceiling and I remember by dad pulling the ceiling apart to get him out. btw., you can always call your local fire company for something like that. Of course half of your floor would have been chopped up, but your kitten would have been fine.  |
 Holy smoke, Marianne!  Glad Petunia is fine. By the way, Mickey looks so much better: he's getting plump! He may very well have been the culprit.  RE. poo in the vent: the heat will dry it out and you should be able to vaccuum it if you have a long hose.  |
| Is there ever a calm, normal day in your life? Poor kitty, I'm glad she is safe and no worse for wear though you might be down a few months in your life span. |
| oh how scary! I'm glad it all turned out okay. poor petunia. |
| Yikes, so much for saying animals relieve stress..LOL! Mine give it to me!
After Panda's adventure of falling in the fishpond last month and now this...I've aged 10 years! I was thinking this morning of how awful that must have been for her. I'm not sure how long she was down there for and the heat was blasting away until I realized a kitty was there and turned the heat off. While still a kitten she's not teeny and so was really wedged in there. Shudders! Anyhow glad things ended well! Something similar happened to my sister a few months ago. First day, four ferals arrived at her home. One climbed in a fireplace vent that she wasn't aware was even there. She had to call someone on a long weekend to take her fireplace apart to get the kitty out. Her fireplace still hasn't been replaced but is now boarded up. Cost her $$ but least kitty was saved! |
SheepieBoss wrote: Is there ever a calm, normal day in your life? Poor kitty, I'm glad she is safe and no worse for wear though you might be down a few months in your life span.
Ditto |
| Sounds like a wonderful weekend! I'm glad you could get her out and she is okay.
Quote: so much for saying animals relieve stress..LOL!
I was going to say the same thing.  |
| I'm so glad she didn't get hurt. I always stressed over lil j and our maltese falling in when the boy went through a " remove all the vents" stage.
The gsd I watched DID fall in and I was afraid she broke her leg by the way she cried
Hopefully that's the last time the animals scare you for awhile |
| Oh my gosh! When my "first" husband and I were married, we had a cat named Garfield. He was an outdoor cat (that was politcally correct then). We just moved into a new house, with construction all around. Garfield went out one night, and didn't come home. We were sure he had gone into some foundation and had cement poured all over him and was a goner. I cried myself to sleep for about a week! A few day later (10 days in all) he showed up at the house all full of himself. He was just checkin' out the new neighborhood! What a cool cat he was! He lived to be 19...and I still miss him! |
| Wow Deb! That was a grand ole age! You must have taken good care of Garfield. He must have been quite the character!
Hey good news! I managed to clean the vent and no bad smells! Yeah!! Again thanks for the comments, well wishes and suggestions - very much appreciated! Also correction: I keep referring to that room as foster cat room and foster cats.. some 20 odd fosters I looked after this past year, went to forever homes. Just wanted you guys to know that I really don't keep them all.
The ones currently in there, were all eventually adopted by me as they were considered "unadoptable" by the spca due to their ages or medical condition. These were the sickest of the URI cats. Mickey was the exception,but couldn't resist him when I saw his story on You Tube. I still had to pay to adopt the SPCA cats them but it's my gain as they are all "priceless".  so none are "fosters" but now have a forever home with me.
Marianne |
| Oh my word!!! What a scare for both of you! I'm glad it all turned out ok-- WOW. |
| You're not going to believe this one, but I had the same thing happen with one of my rabbits. I was keeping him in a large extra bathroom during the day while I was at school/work. He was new, and very big - an angora.
Well, one day I came home and the grate was off the hole. He had actually removed it himself and was "in there". I had no idea if he was alive or dead. I called a heating place and they came over with a camera on a snake. It was so cool. We could see the inside of the tubes on a monitor. We could hear the "thud,thud,thud" when he'd run down the tubes. The worst thing was he went "in" the duct UPSTAIRS and went to the lower floor ducts. So we got him on tape running in the ducts. The poor heat guy went under the house too to try and cut him off at a pass. Anyway, they did not get him but we came to the conclusion that if he were hungry enough he'd come out on his own. And after 2 days, he did. I have no idea how though as he came out when I wasn't home. The "L" tube was about 3 feet in length to the straight part and was slippery. I did put food and water down there though so he was OK. It was so wonderful to see poops everywhere when I got home. I think he more so came out as he smelled the females in the kitchen, rather than food. I'm glad you didn't give up. I did turn the heat back on and was fearful of the "smell". It's so hot and dry in the vents though I'm sure it practically incinerated itself. Never a smell, not even a hint of it. Shhhhh don't tell anyone. I was already in debt from paying the heat guys from the fancy camera thing. We don't live in that house anymore thankfully. I'm not sure you'll be as lucky with cat poop though. Poor thing - glad the story had a happy ending. Jane |
| I wasn’t as lucky, my kitty fell into the heat vent and got chopped in half. May he Rest In Peace :( |
Guest wrote: I wasn’t as lucky, my kitty fell into the heat vent and got chopped in half. May he Rest In Peace   |
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