Cat in the furnace

[Stormin Mormon]

Another look into my life =======================

A couple weeks ago, a firned of mine had a kitten which fell into the heater duct. She called the fire department, who came out and took the duct apart. And left it in pieces. I got to put it back together.

Well, she called again. Thinks a different cat went downt he duct (from second floor bathroom, no less). I'm out the door to rescue the cat. ths time without fail we screw some covers over the duct, to cover the vent. Or maybe staple some screen or something like that.

====================== Figuring this was another one of the same, I took apart the same duct I'd put back together the last time. No signs of cat, in the seven inch round duct. I followed that back to the furnace, there was a patch piece of metal over where there used to be a humidifier. So, I started to take that apart. I looked in as best possible, no cat. Went out to the truck and got my miror, and used that to look into the heat exchanger, and back through the duct. No cat.

Gwen asked if the cat might be in the heater. Not likely, but I did pull the cover panel off. No cat by the burners. I pulled the lower panel, which exposed the circuit board, and the blower fan. Look in with my mini mag, and surprise!

Cat looking back at me.... and blast, I didn't have my camera with me. That was a total Kodak moment.

I talked to the cat for a moment, and Gwen came over. She was pleased the cat was still alive. She reached in, and pulled the cat out. They went upstairs to get the cat a drink of water, and some to eat.

I put the furnace covers back on, and also the duct back together. I'd brought some screen wire to staple over the vents. And screwed shut a part of the vent that was open, in the back. Hope not to do this again.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, What kinda house has that kinda duct work? I have 3 cats in the house. Will never happen here. Sounds like a unsafe house there wherever that is. Buy the cat a tread mill, LOL!

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Just to entertain us, can you describe what kind of covers were on the vents before you improved them?

[m Ransley]

You better use Chicken wire so the Chickens dont fall in. You think she would have learned the first time.

[Dick Adams]

If this was not true, it would be funny. If you ever encounter this problem again, bring a spray bottle of cold tap water. When my cat gets somewhere I don't want her to be, a spray of cold water will get her to move and move very fast.

Dick

[Stormin Mormon]

Most of the vents have old metal grilles. Rather weighty. The ones in question had no grilles at all.

[Stormin Mormon]

Since the cat was in the blower compartment, I coulda squirted and it woulda not been able to do much about it. But I'm not quite that sadistic. I just arrived after it fell into the furnace (plenty time to let eyes adjust to the dark) and then shined a flash light in its face.

[Stormin Mormon]

YEs, it does sound unsafe. She (the human) has done what she can to seal off the ducts. I helped a bit, with screen mesh and staple gun.

[hallerb]

I had a hamster in the furnace return air line. he was successfully recovered

[JoeSpareBedroom]

How big were the holes in these grills?

[HeyBub]

This sounds like the reverse of the "cat trapped in tree" conundrum.

Inasmuch as no one has ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree, they evidently find their own way down.

What do you think would have happened if you'd done nothing?

[maradcliff]

Are they just bare ended pipes or what? Why dont she just put registers on them? You can get them for under 5 bucks for the cheapie ones. It's no major expense, and not hard to put in a few screws to fasten them. Sure beats losing your pet, or running up a vet bill that would cost far more than the registers. Some people just have no common sense or brains. I think she should find a new home for that poor cat if she cant afford to make the house safe for it. If the humane society finds out, she could be charged with animal abuse, and the fine would cost many times the cost of registers, plus she will have her cat taken away. I hope she dont have children..... I think I would have called child protective services and/or the humane socirty by now. On the first instance there was an excuse (called stupidity), but not the second time.

[maradcliff]

And a few minutes later the cat would have been history from electricution or getting chopped up in the blower fan. What a sad state of affairs. If that happened, I'd be tempted to shove the owner in the fan. I like animals and this is purely abuse, and just reading it really pisses me off.

[badgolferman]

That could have been one hot p*ssy...!!!

[mm]

I think it very unlikely the cat would be in the theater. There are very few movies suitable for cats these days, and most cats can't afford to buy tickets for the dramatic stage.

[<aemeijers]

(snip) . Hope not to do this

More like a &#39;cat down the smooth-sided well&#39; problem. I&#39;ve had birds in the furnace before, in spaces I could have sworn there was no access to. Never a cat. The cat&#39;s owner sounds like a bit of a flake- how hard is it to buy and install some damn heater outlet covers?

aem sends...

[DIYguy]

A few years ago I heard a scratching sound coming from the heating ducts in the house. I went to the basement and listened by the furnace. The sound was coming from inside the heat exchanger! I opened the draft regulator door on the flue pipe and placed a 1x6 board from the door to the top of the washing machine about six feet away. I also opened the outside basement door. I retreated from the furnace area and waited. A few minutes went by and a very dirty gray squirrel poked his head out of the draft door. He cautiously started down the board and on to the washing machine. Then he got a glimpse of me and panicked. He jumped off the washing machine and ran out the basement door. I went upstairs and watched out a window as the new &#39;black&#39; squirrel tried to mingle with his gray peers. They must have thought he was a mutant since we don&#39;t have natural black squirrels in the area. I learned from this experience that it&#39;s a good idea to have some kind of screen or animal proof cap on your chimney.

[Stormin Mormon]

Only if the movie is rated "mm" for mega-meow.

[Stormin Mormon]

Lucky it wasn&#39;t a bird. I coulda had shredded tweet. It was in the fan blower cabinet, after all.

[Stormin Mormon]

Since the only way out of the blower cabinet was either through the fan (and the heat exchanger) or up a 8 foot vertical run of return air trunk.....

eventually the cat would have dehydrated and starved to death. In about two days. Or three. Or four. After that, we&#39;d have had the smell of drying and rotting cat for about the next year.

Incidentally, my Dad told me many years ago that he had seen a dead cat in a tree. The cat was wedged in the fork of a tree, where it had aparently been trying to jump from one place to another. It was there for many weeks, increasing stages of decay.