[koo man]

ok here is the scoop. Mr. French is 9 yrs old and lives at my mother's house and it was shortly before thanksgiving that we noticed he was missing. We remembered seeing him on a Sunday night before and nothing seemed wrong, but come Monday and there was no sign of him. Since my mom has 7 cats it is entirely possible to not know one is missing for a little while but in Frenchy's case he was pretty always around so we began worring immediately. None the less we started searching high and low for a good week before the outside temp dropped to single digits for a few days and we gave up hope.

Before I go on I will offer a little history on frenchy as this wasn't the first time he'd gotten away. (You won't believe this story as it is a little embarrasing for me to tell) Several years back he went missing for nearly a week before we found him hiding behing some ladders in the corner of the garage. He was litterally scarred of his own shadow and must have gotten lost somehow and took refuge behind the ladders. The garage is attached to the main house and I am sure he could hear the familiar sounds inside. Finallly he began meowing and we were able to track him down.

So back to the story, Frenchy did have some health conditions and we were told that cats who sensed that the end is near will run away to die and we had figured that this must have been the case. Well there was a groundhog hole in the back yard under the shrubs right next to the house. This part of the back yard is fenced in and happens to be the poopy pasture for the dogs. So one day, 34 days to be exact from when Frenchy got lost the dogs were barking uncontrollably at the area of the shrubs where the groundhogs hole was, and in fact right on the other side of the house where his usual hang out spot was.

There he had been all along, we assume he must have gotten out of the house when the dogs went out then he got scarred and found a hiding spot and hunkered down and then became too scared to come out.

He was in awful shape when we found him but he was alive. The picture at first wasn't pretty. He once weighed 11 pounds and at that point he was down to 5.5 pounds and he couldnt eat, drink or even stand. He stayed a day or two at the vet and his condition did not progress so we brought him home with a IV and hoped for the best. Once at home he immediately too a turn for the better. he began to eat and drink on his own and stared getting around on his own once we took the IV out.

Presently he has bee home for a week and has gained almost 2 pounds and has made pretty much a full recovery. He still has an open wound on his left hip which is healing up well. Looks like somthing was dining on him while he was in the hole. Here are some pics. The first 2 are about a day after he got home (none of him before that...taking a picture didn't occur to me at that point) The next 2 were a few days later and the last 2 were from last night.

I figured I'd share since I know there are many confirmed cat lovers here this one.

So now when you hear 30 days in the hole you can think of that kooky cat Mr French that spent 34 days in the hole.

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[shinburger]

Whoa... if my cat can see the color in the bottom of her food dish for just a few hours she turns into a crazy attack cat LOL.
Maybe yours had been out and about for a little while then got stuck. I thought they had to at least would have water to survive a couple weeks like most creatures.
Glad to see he made it. Tough ol'bugger.

[NewMidMike]

As someone who has always had cats, currently 2, I'm glad to hear a happy ending. Resilient little guy you have there.

[koo man]

Yeah, when he was gone for a week I pretty much said there is no way he can be alive with the night time temps and no food. I don't believe Mr French has eaten anything other than cat food so I couldn't see him fending for himself in that regard. I can't say for certain if he was without water the entire time but if he was stuck in the hole for the whole time then there is a good chance he was.

Regardless he is a tough little bugger but not necessarily the brightest.

[S.Brothers]

that's a wild story! Interesting that he gets so spooked, yet is clearly a tough guy with ample endurance.

[bmx2112]

Wow thats a long time for him to survive under those conditions, its great to hear he is getting better and is going to be ok. Well wishes to him from me and my kitties. I have 4 now, 3 inside and one orange outside gaurd cat (shaved neck from fighting) that won't stay inside much because he was a stray before I took him in. I took in my 2nd orange cat (White Sox) after I had to put Squirt (last pic) to sleep after she got sick... R.I.P. Squirt Squirt.

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[koo man]

Thanks Brett, that's one heck of a gash. hat did he? go up against?

[bmx2112]

He got in a fight with another cat and had a tooth hole big enough to put my little finger in so he had to go to the vet for some stiches. He came home the other night with one on his butt next to his tail and a chunk of hair missing on his neck, he's a tough bugger and is out playing in the snow and ice right now.

[gptrash]

Man Brett, that cat is gangsta!