Cat Count Camouflage – Hiding in Plain Sight!
Glasses, check. Phone, check. Lunch, check. Purse, check. Keys, check. One, two, three, four, five, six. Six. Six. And then it begins. The mad rush in which I gain an inordinately high number of Fitbit steps first thing in the morning before I leave for work as I look for whichever cat of mine, in my “cat-count-before-I-go-to-work” ritual is missing because I have seven cats, not six.
This is a cat blog, so I’m sure I’m not alone in this obsession of mine. But I absolutely cannot go to work until I’ve accounted for all seven of my gang and say goodbye to them. Some mornings are easy-peasy. They tend to gravitate toward the same places, so I’ll typically find several cats on my bed, one or two on the bathroom hamper, one in the guest bedroom, and a couple scattered on various pieces of human furniture throughout the house.
With the hamper, it’s “first-come, first-serve.” In this case, Zoey and Zee have claimed this primo real-estate spot.
Blame my poor eyesight, my rush to get out the door so I can get to work on time, or the fact I was looking while it was still semi-dark out and I didn’t have any lights turned on, but the other day I went nuts looking for Mia. I looked in her usual hangouts – on top of a box in the hallway, the couch in the living room, the settee in our den, and our bedroom bed. I called her name. Several times. I opened doors to rooms I had not been in, and I looked in places I had already checked four or five times previously. Still no Mia.
One of Mia’s easy to spot napping places is on the couch. It’s hard to miss her when she’s there.
I was getting ready for my last resort – opening the door to the pantry where we keep all the kitty goodies and shaking a bag of tempting tuna treats, a fail-safe trick for sure. I prefer not to do this, however, as treats are meant to be something I give my gang after some of our bonding moments, such as grooming or playtime, not as a reward for me waking them from a nap, because once I shake the bag, not only will Mia come running, they all will.
I was alone in the kitchen…until I opened the pantry door where the treats are…
I went into the bedroom one more time, and this time I turned the light on. And there she was, snuggled into the body of her papa, Zee! In the darkness, they must have looked like one cat to me, and when I exclaimed my joy at finding her, she looked at me like I had lost my mind, as clearly she knew she wasn’t lost!
In the darkness, Zee just looked like one big cat to me. I did not realize Mia was sleeping next to him!
That was just one moment. There have been others, of course. A cat hiding under a blanket, or with some stuffed animals, or in a basket, or behind a curtain. Those are the hiding in plain sight stories. Don’t get me started on the ones where a cat actually is hiding. Such as when medication is involved, or a visiting dog, or pulling out the cat carrier. On those instances when a cat truly doesn’t want to be found, I swear their little bodies can vanish into thin air, they’re that good at hiding…
One of those “hiding in plain sight spots” – Zoey peeking from under a blanket.
Does anyone know where Jazmine is? If only I could find her!
Jazmine is not really hiding, but her coloring is so similar to this box that sometimes it’s easy to walk right past her without seeing her!
Zoey blends so well with the leopard-print bedspread and stuffed animals, that you’d almost swear she was one of them!
A basket of cat toys and a cat. In this case, Rolz.
What’s your “I can’t find my cat in plain sight story?”
I remember one time when I fed the cats Ozma didn’t show up. She never missed a meal so I went on my own journey searching in all the normal and abnormal places several times over. No Ozma. Then I thought to check under my loveseat in my bedroom. Still no Ozma but I thought I heard something so I investigated further. My precious Ozzie was tucked away inside the loveseat stuffing!
Unfortunately Ozma had a health condition that caused her to hide away. She died the next day. Definitely not a happy story. So now I panic big time whenever I can’t find someone.
Zoey on the bedspread with the stuffies is very easy to miss!
Flynn had a hiding place in the garden where I assume he would go to sleep. I never did find where it was.
Such a great post – love the photos, definitely relate to cats in the treat pantry and having to count cats when I come and go!
(In all fairness, they count humans too – they can’t settle down until all of their people have been accounted for!)
I have written about the importance of a cat count so I know what you go through . . . almost. I have never had to count past six. 🙂
Mrs H always says to me “More haste means less speed, Erin” and she is nearly always right.
Still, they do make for great fun when they get it wrong themselves so I just hide out and watch the fun.
Purrs to all your family
ERin
Cats can disappear completely sometimes, it drives me crazy! I’ve been late to work plenty of times when my count came up short – MOL!
This happens often at our house, so I empathize. So much. There are still times when I can’t find a cat. I think I know all of their favorite places and where they hide. WRONG.
Enjoy your Sunday, all!
Your kitties are so good looking. You take great photographs too.
Have a purrfect Sunday Selfie. My best to your peeps. ♥
I always count noses before locking the front door behind me. If I cannot find one, I ask The Hubby, who invariably asks, “You’ve lost another cat!” Then, the hidden cats walks out of thin air to show that they were there the whole time!
What a fun thing to do! We love that sometimes you find a group of cats in unexpected places. 🙂
That sounds very familiar to us ! Claire has only “one-two” to count, but it often takes time to go from “one” to “two”, MOL (blame Pixie, the under-blanket cat…). Purrs
We love hiding in plain sight from the mom. Seems like we can get away with it a lot with her.
Oh you did make me laugh!I know exactly that feeling and, yes I have to go and find them too!
I even do a count when I get up during the night to go to the bathroom which leads to a round of treats for all. Thank you for the kind words you left on my blog for the loss of Tallulah. XO