Well, that's a unique place to find a cat.

Whenever I get up, the first thing I do is look for my kitties.  Vodka's usually lounging around somewhere and Sake is either playing with Alex, or anxiously waiting for me to wake up to play with her a little.

Yesterday afternoon when we woke up, I couldn't find Sake.  I asked Alex if she went outside at all and he mentioned not seeing her since he woke up.  I causally looked around for her.  She likes to attack ankles and will hide in the most unique places to surprise you, so I wasn't too worried.

However, when she wasn't responding to Alex's calls and we checked every room for her, I started to panic.  Alex followed me to the bedroom to look in the places I can't get to and heard her meowing in the utility room.

She wasn't on the shelves.  She wasn't in the waste basket.  She wasn't in the laundry basket.  She wasn't hiding in my lab coats.  She wasn't behind the dryer, either.

She was in the dryer.  :|

We have absolutely no idea how the hell she got in there, or how long she was in there for.  I'd taken a tee shirt out of the dryer ealier in the day and lazily left the dryer door open.  Either Alex closed it before going to bed, not knowing she was in there (and not recalling doing so), or the dog knocked it closed throughout the night.

I've found her in cabinets before, and once in the fridge, sometimes sleeping in a sink or a basket, but in a closed dryer?  I'm thinking that's a first for us.  Anyone else find their kitties in some rather unique places or do I have a little explorer on the loose?

I've found lots of kitties in the dryer.  They'd climb through the vent outside.  Stupid kitties.

I've found cats in the drier.

I've found them in the washer too (not when it's on)

I've found them in clean laundry and on top of dirty laundry in a bin. I've found them hiding between garbage cans and up on the counter.

I think I've found my cats pretty much place every place they shouldn't be.

haha good story. never had a cat. i did have a pair of bearded dragons though and i would let them roam from time to time. they are desert beasts so can go until they cant absorb heat and once they cool they stop they wont go any more.

anyways, the male (just this side of psycho) would explore and try to climb things...so i always had to look look look for him. one time i could not find him anywhere.

after several hours i found him crashed out in a limb of the christmas tree, sprawled out longways, head facing out with legs dangling on either side of the branch, he almost made it to the end of the branch. crazyass lizard. haha

I'm glad you found your cat and that nothing happened to her, CD!

That's awful, jewels. Kitties are dangerously curious...

I live in an apartment so not really many places for my 2 cats to get into.

Once I couldn't find my cat after I woke up from a short nap. I looked all over the apartment. I started to cry and freak out until I saw a pair of eyes coming through the patio door on the balcony. Apparently, she had zipped through when I came in from a smoke. That was the worst sinking feeling I've ever had yet the best feeling knowing she was okay.  

Another one- I remember when I was a little girl and it was just mom and I in an apartment. I just got a kitten from my dad's girlfriend... I don't remember much but my mom told me I terrorized the poor kitten and scared it so much it went under the opening through the bathroom cabinets. Couldn't get it out without hurting it so we had to saw through the inside of the cabinet and got it out. Needless to say, I never got a kitten again until after I was grown. I still feel awful about it to this day when I think about it.

My kitty(in my icon) loves the dryer.  He will jump in there every chance he gets so now we are used to checking before we close the door.

He is a strictly indoor kitty and loves to look out the windows at our neighbors dogs.  When they notice him and bark at him, he gets really excited and meows back.  One day, I woke from a nap and ran outside because I heard something funny.  I was pretty disoriented from just waking up and somehow, he slipped outside without me knowing.  The next day we couldn't find him and we searched the whole neighborhood.  At one point, DH decided to take a toy outside and shake it around in case he was close by.  I happened to be in the bathroom at the time and I heard meowing as soon as he started to shake it.  Turns out he was hiding under the house and the only place we could hear him meow was from the bathroom.  Talk about good luck!  I felt so sorry for him though.  He was probably sooo excited to get to play with his best friends for the first time when he realized they all just wanted to eat him :/

We were getting ready to go and heard our van meowing.  After looking under the van, around the van, in the van, we discovered the cutest kitty - on top of the engine.  Who then left oily paw prints on my favorite dress.

Rocky, my cat, was outside during the afternoon, while I was home.  But I was getting ready to leave for work.  I called his name a few times, nothing.  (Not unusual.)  I give him a few minutes, usually he makes his way home by then.  Still no cat.  I go to the garage and start the car, then he pokes his head from between the passanger and the driver seats!  He was sleeping in the back seat of the car!  (I left the windows down.)  Good thing I didn't drive away and get the whole way to work before he decided to show his head.

My cats used to love the airing cupboard.  Second shelf in with the towels, all warm and snuggly.  I just had to remember to leave the door open a tiny bit.

My friend had a camper van and their cat used to get in there and sleep.  One day they went away in it not knowing that he was still in there until they got to where they were going.  From then on he went on holiday with them in the van - he loved it.  I would be too scared that he would get out and not come back but he always did.

Not a cat story, but my dog got stuck in the dryer once. 

He was about 15 years old and mostly blind.  The dryer door was open and I'm guessing he saw the light and wnet towards it.... "go to the light..."

Once he got in he was disoriented and apparently couldn't figure out how to get out, so he started barking... at 3 am... He barked and barked until my husband got up and found him. 

@ebbz: your cat has gorgeous eyes!

Every cat I've ever had has loved dryers (not when you put the wet clothes in).  Also cupboards, any sneaky little hiding place that you won't think to look in.

My husband took our cat to work one time...he's in new home construction, had opened the side door to his utility trailer to put a tool away, then left.   He got to the jobsite 10 miles away, dropped the tailgate of the trailer and she streaked out!    Thank goodness she didn't run too far like cats will sometimes do when they're scared, we'd probably have never found her since we live in such a rural area. She ran under the truck and he was able to get her out, throw her in the cab and bring her home.   Bet she never gets in the trailer again. I can't imagine how bouncy and noisy that ride was!

And on finding kitties "lost" in the house...I had a Siamese kitten a long time ago.  We looked EVERYwhere for her one time, or so we thought.  After hours of searching, we finally finally saw a pair of blue eyes peeking out from about a 1/2 inch gap of a dresser drawer.  She had climbed in through the open bottom, up around the back of the drawers and had been napping in the clothes. 

My cat likes to hang out in the bathroom cabinet, under the sink...and the doors have to be closed. He'll sleep there for hours at a time and come out when he wants to be sociable. I think he likes the dark, quiet, and he's able to get away from the dogs. It's my roommate's bathroom and he keeps the cabinet empty for that purpuse. Spoiled cat ;)

I knew a cat who liked dryers too. Unfortunately, the dryer wasn't checked before it was turned on and....... well, I guess he wasn't ever the same. Poor kitty .

I have an indoor only cat (although he REALLY wants it to be the other way around!) that sleeps in the garage at night. I left my windows down in the car and he jumped inside. I had the garage door remote in the console...silly kitty stepped on it! Needless to say - I was devastated when I couldn't find him! He thought he was free until he realized it was too scary for him and came 24 hours later...

I also look for my kitty as soon as I wake up! It became a habit because one morning many years ago she was no longer in the apartment, she'd fallen off my 7th floor balcony and actually survived, then found her way back about a month later (btw, if you even lose a cat from an apartment, a really great tip to help them find their way back is to dump some of their used kitty litter ouside the building, like in the bushes or something. They follow the smell). So now every morning I make sure she's in attendance...I am only on a third floor now, but since she came back from the cold cruel world she's shown no interest in flying the coop again.

Anyway she likes to hide in weird places that I don't even know about. I can search and search and not find her, I used to get a little panicky but now I know that if I call her she'll always come out. She's a great little cat.

I guess dryers are common.  Whiskey and Vodka must've been some unique cats because they liked to sleep in open cabinets or on top of the book shelf, everywhere else they went was in plain sight.  Only Sake has ever gotten really good at hide and seek.

Of course there was that one time when Whiskey got wedged behind the hot water tank.  Thank goodness in this house it's down in the pit and not in an open pantry.