shipperx | Ever Blow Dry a Cat at 2am?

Sure. She looks sweet, but she's crazy!

So my baby, pictured above, is the ripe old age of 18. She has lived the entirety of those 18 years as a 100% indoor cat. I mean, 100%. The only time she has ever been outside, it's been on my back porch with me carrying her... and she doesn't like being outside (because she grew up as an indoor cat). I've always been able to leave the garage door open for whatever reason and not worry that she would go outside.

So last night, due to the heat, I left the garage door open about a foot (with the attic door pulled down) so that it could pull some cooler air into the attic. But thunder began rolling and a really hellacious lightening storm started, so I closed the door.

Around 10 pm I started to get ready for bed. (Oh, did I forget that the thunderstorm became huge in the meantime). Usually, at bedtime Carly is around demanding to be fed and given fresh water.

No Carly.

I search her normal spots.

No Carly.

I search everywhere. No Carly.

Well, okay, she's good at hiding when she wants to. So I pulled out her bag of treats and shook them. She almost always comes for the bag of treats.

No Carly.

Now, I'm getting desperate. I pull out potato chips (she's crazy for potato chips. I don't know why). No Carly.

Now I'm worried. I really, really search the house for her. Everywhere I can think of. No Carly.

She couldn't possibly... be outside. She never goes outside... and it's a MASSIVE thunderstorm. it had already blown out the cable and the lights once. (And strangely, the house lights came back on, but the street lights hadn't). No way could she be outside.

But... just in case, I checked the front and back porches. If she were caught outside, surely she'd end up on the porches, out of the rain.

No Carly.

She was just... nowhere. I kept searching the house until midnight. I raised the garage door in case she was locked out. Nothing.

I seached again. She wasn't here. I mean, she really wasn't here. Her... I don't know... presence(?) was missing. But... she HAD to be here. Where would she go? She never goes outside, and it's a lightening storm from hell outside.

Needless to say, I knew something was wrong. But...well... usually when I lay down for bed, she shows up for a cuddle. So it being 12:30 (on a work night), I get into bed...

Still no Carly.

I couldn't sleep. There were none of her noises. Usually she eats at bedtime so there are noises in the kitchen, and she goes to the litter box and I hear the click of her door into the garage, and then she insists on drinking from a bowl in my bathroom and I hear her bell clack against the bowl. But... nothing.

1am I have to get up to search the house one. more. time. And I look into the garage (I've left the garage door open for hours). I search the porchs one more time. Still nothing.

I go to bed again.

TWO FREAKING A.M. I hear a plaintive cry. It's her! She's coming down the hall. I start searching for the light. Before I can reach it, she tries to jump onto the bed... and doesn't make it. She falls. I turn on the light and...

There stands the most pathetic little creature you've ever seen. She's wet. I don't mean "she got damp" wet. I mean dripping, sopping, thoroughly soaks to the skin WET. And shivering (because I keep the house cool when I sleep), with her heart racing and looking traumatized.

The freaking crazy kitty had been out IN THE THUNDERSTORM -- not even on the porch that was right next to the garage. I don't know where the hell she was hiding (if 'hiding' can even be the term) but... she's insane!

So I wrapped her up on a towel and tried to calm her down. I cuddled her, but she was quite upset. She was so miserable, I pulled the hair dryer out... and she was so miserably wet that she actually tolerated my blow-drying her! At 2 am.

Crazy cat.

Good thing I love her. (And I won't be so free with leaving her access to her cat door to the garage if the garage door is open in the future).

Crazy cat. She had me really worried.