hours later they called me and said they heard meowing coming from the floor and had a missing cat. they asked what they should do. I told them they could tear up the floor again, crawl under the trailer, or let the the little idiot starve.

they crawled under the trailer.

before you get upset about the last option, I made it in jest but I did tell them to lock up all their pets because something like that would happen.

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Another story, same cat:

I was installing a window unit air conditioner. Step one, pull the unit out of it's shell. Step two, mount the empty shell in the window. Step three, install the unit back in the mounted shell.

Later as we were enjoying the new coolness of the house, we discovered the cat was missing. I figured out pretty quickly that the little pain in the ass jumped through the empty shell and out the window when I turned around to pick up the unit and finish the install.

Both our cats were indoor-only cats. The older cat would have been able to feed himself, but he also wouldn't have been stupid enough to go outside in the first place. She in particular did not know how to survive. She got her ass kicked by a beetle once.

We were leaving on vacation the next day. We printed up signs, put them around the neighborhood, and I figured she was gone for good.

When we got back, there was a message on the answering machine that someone had found her, and put her inside our enclosed side porch with a bit of cat food.

We checked, and she was there on the porch. Skinny, dirty, and stupid, but alive.