Ceiling Cat:An Unwelcome House Guest

     This past week, the hubby and I moved into a (rental) house. And it came with a surprise: a cat living/hiding in the basement ceiling! It was not a nice surprise! It was quite unexpected and bizarre actually. Let me start from the beginning. We moved in on a Saturday, and the cat was already there. However, we did not know this. We found some poop in the basement, assumed it was from the landlord's dog and maybe he forgot to clean it up. Later that day, hubby says he thinks allergies are acting up and thought he heard a cat meow. I kind of brushed it off, not thinking more about it. Sunday rolls around, and there is more poop in the basement! Now we know there is there is some kind of animal in the basement. I felt like I was in an episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia", expect not as funny. Later on that day, we hear the cat loud and clear. Then hubby sees it later as it came out of hiding and into the kitchen. Hubby yells at it and it retreats to the basement. It finds a favorite hiding spot in the ceiling, and we try to coax it out, with no luck.
     At this time, we decide to call it am night and go back to our old place, which luckily we still had. Next day, we call animal control. Not much help. "Just because we can see it, doesn't mean we can catch it." Great. He did come and put two traps down though. They were meant for a raccoon or some other animal, but he put cat food in them. Then he left. I went upstairs and sat on a chair to study. I heard meowing really loud, but thought it was coming from the basement. To my surprise, the cat sauntered out from behind the couch! It scared the crap out of me. I thought it was still in the basement. Cat then ran into the basement, and I try to coax it out by meowing and offering it tuna. It ALMOST worked. I had it at the top of the basement stairs, on it's way out the side door. But as soon as I fully opened the door, where it was storming and raining outside, cat took one look and ran back down the stairs. NO! I was so upset, being so close to getting it out. Hubby comes home that night and we get smart and board up the door to the laundry room. At least we knew where it was at that point.
     We leave for the night yet again. Next night we return to the cat infested house. How are we going to catch this?! We thought it may be too smart for the trap. Filled with anticipation, we de-board the basement door to find the cat in the trap!! Yes! I was soo relieved. What an unwelcome house guest. It was hungry enough to go into the trap for the food. It went in the first trap and ate the food, but the trap didn't work. Luckily he got greedy and went to the second trap for more food, where he was finally trapped. Animal control came back to get him, and just let him outside in our driveway. It was definitely someone's pet because it had a flea collar on. So I hope someone got their pet back that night. I was just so relieved to finally have our house critter free!

Trapped!