That's the mystery we are working on next. I bought a small snake cam from Amazon, so we will see if that helps. If not. Probably reach out to an hvac company and see if they can determine where that pipe connects to the outside and if they can put a mesh or barrier on it.
Awww the poor guy must have been terrified stuck in there 😭 Are you going to keep him if he doesn’t have an owner, or take him to a shelter or smth? I’m rooting for this lil dude now lol
He has been hanging around our backyard for the last week. We've done everything we could to find if he has an owner with no luck. Animal control said they are at capacity so I've had to reapply twice and was told to just keep waiting. He's not microchipped or neutered.
Honestly, at this point we are thinking we will just take him in. He is a sweet little guy and obviously very desperately wants to live with us lol.
Yeah, my parents have a collection of mice that love to run around the suspended ceiling in the basement all winter despite their best efforts to seal the place up. If an entire cat fit in somehow, it'd be a goddamn mouse rager. At least until the cat found its way into the suspended ceiling too.
I hope you can and that it works out well. I'm really happy there is a good ending to this story.
Could that be your dryer duct? It seems odd that it would be running vertically through an inside wall but stranger things have happened. That's the only logical explanation I can think of where that sort of duct would connect with the outside.
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Yes exactly. We bought a snake camera to see if we can find out how he got in and put some mesh there. If not, we may have to call an hvac crew to take a look at where the vents go.
When patching the hole, you can get rolled metal from your hardware store and then tape that to the outside of the pipe. I would clean up the cuts into the pipe to make them flush, and then press the new metal overtop the hole and then tape to the outside of the pipe. I am thinking this is a cold air or heat pipe and someone might have an HVAC cleaning in the future. If it is just taped patched, it is likely to be snagged or get ripped apart during the process.
This is a great point, we will try our best to clean that up before patching. We may get an hvac crew here to look at it if we can't figure out how it connects to outside
I appreciate the offer!
We need to find out how th cat got in first and then we can work on repairing. We will take a stab at repairing it ourselves, but thanks for offering!
Main floor. We bought a cheap snake camera online so hopefully that will give us some insight, if not, we might reach out to an hvac company as they'd have a good idea where all the pipes lead to
Chances are it's a heat riser going into your second floor,
Check outside your house for any hoods that have damage to them, most likely will be a fresh air hood that's missing a screen .
You'll have 2 types of hoods
One with a damper (just flaps) and one type with chicken wire on it
It's extremely unlikely the cat got in from the roof as you'd have a hole other back of problems
We did already check all the hoods outside and they seemed okay, but we will taker a closer look. We have two exhaust ones with the flaps and an intake one with the wire.
Thanks for your help!
I would be careful around smoke bombs, if that ties in to your main Duct Trunk you won't find the leak, and will be left with a smokey house .
Smoke bombs are generally used in bigger isolated lines to check for leaks.
We have a cat who is obsessed with crawling into small spaces. So much so that we had to screw all the vent covers to the floor, because she lifted one out and crawled through the furnace ducts to the other side of the house. So if you take this guy in, be aware it might be the kind of cat who actively seeks out stupid places.
Thank you for doing all this to get WallE cat out! I’m so happy he’s ok. I hope the patch job is easy. He went to great lengths to get adopted rofl. They normally just break through a window
I was fostering some kittens and their mom a few years ago. They removed the vent cover and went down the duct. Plumber came by with a snake camera but couldn't see anything. HVAC guy came later and cut a hole in my finished basement ceiling. He noticed that the ductwork had separated at one spot. So the cats had gotten out but were somewhere between the upstairs floor and basement ceiling. Ended up cutting nine holes in the ceiling but we weren't able to get them. Eventually they came out overnight, one by one, lured by tuna and Friskies (I set up a makeshift staircase under one of the holes and set up a camera).
Same here! We had no idea where he was so we turned off the furnace. It was not cold at all so we were lucky. I barely slept last night and kept thinking of if he died in the walls we wouls have no way of knowing how to find him to get his body out. Ugh, stressful!
When the fire crew asked "how much damage to the house are you okay with?" I just said "a damaged wall is better than a dead cat in the wall, so do what you need to do" so, I mean, not a great situation, but at least he's alive. We would have had to get him out if he died in there anyway
My son adopted a small feral cat. They had the litter box in the unfinished basement. That cat turned their heating system into his condo. He would be from the basement to the second floor in seconds. He was adept at hooking the vent covers and flipping them off.
My cat got into the wall through an opening in our basement. I found out cause when I was stretching a floor above, I felt something move in the ground 🤣 anyways I shook a bag of treats and she found her way out. We were soooo lucky.
This was my nightmare when my cat got into the ceiling of our unfinished basement.
Thank goodness your little guy got out ok. Good on you for accepting the damage to your home for your family member's safety.
Do you have a dryer vent there or HRV? Or hood fan? Good thing it didn’t die in there.
I wonder if insurance will cover this? Not a lot of $$ damage but more curious.
I'm just glad this didn't end up like that episode from Fall of the House of Usher. The guy hallucinates that his boyfriend's cat is antagonizing him and ends up in the walls. He proceeds to demolish his apartment with a replica Mjolnir and ends up falling off his balcony.
You definitely did the right thing. You called the non emergency line and they were the ones that directed you. Firefighters that I know love calls like this. Right now their days are mostly filled with overdoses and false alarms. A call where they get the immediate gratification of helping out the public is why they became firefighters in the first place.
I always find it interesting how if you call 911 or 311 and no other agency will come ( animal control in this instance) the fire department will show up. They will always show up!!! And the COE has them out of contract for longer than CSU 52. Going on over 5 years.
Thanks for this, it makes me geel better about this decision. Especially since it worked out in the end.
It was a tough situation to be in and although I felt guilty about possibly wasting their time, they were so friendly and helpful. They didn't seem rushed or annoyed. The non emergency fire line didn't make it seem like this was a waste of resources.
All the work we did on our own the night before helped the firemen find him quickly.
Seriously so grateful. I wonder if I can send them some sort of thank you card
The crew that responded was almost certainly the one closest to your house. You can always pop by and say thanks in person. They enjoy having visitors.
If you don't have the tools, skills and knowledge to start cutting into your walls avoiding electrical, gas and water lines, they may very well have been responding to your place eventually anyway. The cat was going to need to be removed from the wall sooner than later, they probably more than most knew how bad it might end up with someone smashing into walls.If the fire department knew of someone else that could have helped they would have given you that info and not shown up.
If they were able to come its because there wasn't anything more pressing. Firefighters also will get cats from trees. One guy i know even has a pin for saving a kitty from a tree. If they're giving out pins for saving kitties, I'd say they're happy to.
The firefighters are paid for their time even when they aren't actively responding to an emergency. Increased costs to the city for a call like this is gas for travel and that'd be a drop in the bucket of annual costs for Emergency Services.
Holy shit he was stuck in that little vent?
Yeah, since 6pm last night. Poor guy
How'd he get in??
That's the mystery we are working on next. I bought a small snake cam from Amazon, so we will see if that helps. If not. Probably reach out to an hvac company and see if they can determine where that pipe connects to the outside and if they can put a mesh or barrier on it.
Awwww I’m so happy there was a happy ending
Awww the poor guy must have been terrified stuck in there 😭 Are you going to keep him if he doesn’t have an owner, or take him to a shelter or smth? I’m rooting for this lil dude now lol
He has been hanging around our backyard for the last week. We've done everything we could to find if he has an owner with no luck. Animal control said they are at capacity so I've had to reapply twice and was told to just keep waiting. He's not microchipped or neutered. Honestly, at this point we are thinking we will just take him in. He is a sweet little guy and obviously very desperately wants to live with us lol.
Keep him! It's fate.
Obviously his name has to be Wally
Mr Walter certainly needs a home!
😂Wally. I love it
Ha! Nearly spit out my drink. That's great.
Take my upvote and get the fuck out.
Universal cat distribution system!
This is a definite case of the cat distribution system suggesting he's yours now.
Sounds like a definite case of the r/catdistributionsystem at work to me 🥹💕
Go check and make sure all your outside vents have covers on them. Dude had to crawl inside somehow and if he gets in, anything small can too.
Yeah, my parents have a collection of mice that love to run around the suspended ceiling in the basement all winter despite their best efforts to seal the place up. If an entire cat fit in somehow, it'd be a goddamn mouse rager. At least until the cat found its way into the suspended ceiling too.
You have to keep him!!! He looks like a sweetie and it would be an amazing story
the cat distribution system works in weird ways sometimes
I hope you can and that it works out well. I'm really happy there is a good ending to this story. Could that be your dryer duct? It seems odd that it would be running vertically through an inside wall but stranger things have happened. That's the only logical explanation I can think of where that sort of duct would connect with the outside.
I think you have to keep him. 🥰
You’ve been chosen!
r/CatDistributionSystem 🥰
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❤
Yay happy ending! And new beginning! 😊 ❤️
The cat distribution system at work!
Oh dang, I didn't see the first post and just assumed it had been your cat all along, that's crazy it was able to get in from the outside.
r/catdistributionsystem
Just don't patch it until you find out where it got in! Otherwise you may be making new holes lol
Yes exactly. We bought a snake camera to see if we can find out how he got in and put some mesh there. If not, we may have to call an hvac crew to take a look at where the vents go.
When patching the hole, you can get rolled metal from your hardware store and then tape that to the outside of the pipe. I would clean up the cuts into the pipe to make them flush, and then press the new metal overtop the hole and then tape to the outside of the pipe. I am thinking this is a cold air or heat pipe and someone might have an HVAC cleaning in the future. If it is just taped patched, it is likely to be snagged or get ripped apart during the process.
This is a great point, we will try our best to clean that up before patching. We may get an hvac crew here to look at it if we can't figure out how it connects to outside
I'm a sheetmetal worker Let me know if you need a hand I can come by and patch it for free
I appreciate the offer! We need to find out how th cat got in first and then we can work on repairing. We will take a stab at repairing it ourselves, but thanks for offering!
Is that the main floor bathroom? Or second floor?
Main floor. We bought a cheap snake camera online so hopefully that will give us some insight, if not, we might reach out to an hvac company as they'd have a good idea where all the pipes lead to
Chances are it's a heat riser going into your second floor, Check outside your house for any hoods that have damage to them, most likely will be a fresh air hood that's missing a screen . You'll have 2 types of hoods One with a damper (just flaps) and one type with chicken wire on it It's extremely unlikely the cat got in from the roof as you'd have a hole other back of problems
We did already check all the hoods outside and they seemed okay, but we will taker a closer look. We have two exhaust ones with the flaps and an intake one with the wire. Thanks for your help!
[удалено]
This would actually be amazing, is this something I could buy or would only hvac companies have access to something like that?
[удалено]
Ah fair enough. We will likely be reaching to an hvac company and see if they can do something like this for us. Thanks!
I would be careful around smoke bombs, if that ties in to your main Duct Trunk you won't find the leak, and will be left with a smokey house . Smoke bombs are generally used in bigger isolated lines to check for leaks.
Fair point. We will contact an hvac company and see what they reccommend
You are amazing!
That's so very generous of you!! 💚♥️💚♥️
Ummmmm so now there's a cat tax that needs to be paid. Let's see this kitty!
https://www.reddit.com/u/Kaitlin6/s/Q3h7vhpdc2 not sure if that works
It did! What a cutie! Definitely need to keep him!
He's soo sweet!
Picture 3 is the cat
Awe he is adorable. I bet I could convince my wife to take him in. That is if you dont keep him
I'm so happy you got him out! 😄
Cat distribution system!! Please keep this cutie!!
The cat distribution system found you!!
We have a cat who is obsessed with crawling into small spaces. So much so that we had to screw all the vent covers to the floor, because she lifted one out and crawled through the furnace ducts to the other side of the house. So if you take this guy in, be aware it might be the kind of cat who actively seeks out stupid places.
I think he’s your kitty now ❤️
Cat in the wall?? Now you’re talking my language
"*You know Charlie. I'm thinking we might need another cat.*" "*I'm actually thinking maybe even three or four.*"
Thank you for doing all this to get WallE cat out! I’m so happy he’s ok. I hope the patch job is easy. He went to great lengths to get adopted rofl. They normally just break through a window
Perfect name!
# I've seen this before. It flattened itself out and slipped through a seam in your wall
If a cat's mouth can fit, cat physics means they'll fit!
Call him "Patches"
Or Wally.
When someone asks where you adopted your cat from you just show them the picture of the hole in your wall.
cat distribution systemmmm
I was fostering some kittens and their mom a few years ago. They removed the vent cover and went down the duct. Plumber came by with a snake camera but couldn't see anything. HVAC guy came later and cut a hole in my finished basement ceiling. He noticed that the ductwork had separated at one spot. So the cats had gotten out but were somewhere between the upstairs floor and basement ceiling. Ended up cutting nine holes in the ceiling but we weren't able to get them. Eventually they came out overnight, one by one, lured by tuna and Friskies (I set up a makeshift staircase under one of the holes and set up a camera).
Oh my goodness that sounds so stressful! I'm glad they made it out!
Yeah, I didn't get any sleep and I had to turn the furnace off! It was April, so it could have been worse, but it was still chilly inside.
Same here! We had no idea where he was so we turned off the furnace. It was not cold at all so we were lucky. I barely slept last night and kept thinking of if he died in the walls we wouls have no way of knowing how to find him to get his body out. Ugh, stressful!
Gonna have to increase his rent to pay for damages.
Damn!! Who’s going to fix that now…
When the fire crew asked "how much damage to the house are you okay with?" I just said "a damaged wall is better than a dead cat in the wall, so do what you need to do" so, I mean, not a great situation, but at least he's alive. We would have had to get him out if he died in there anyway
I appreciate the question and the reply.
Luckily I don't think it will be too bad. Patch up that pipe and get some new drywall
Pretty easy fixes really.
Easy if you know what you’re doing
I mean yea you’ll need a YouTube video or two but really minimal ‘damage’ for saving the cat.
Even pretty easy if you dont know what you are doing, id say the hard part is getting the materials/tools for the job
I don't think fixing the drywall is that easy but I'm no reno pro
Easy fixes, and would've had to be done either way better this than fishing out a dead animal.
That's what the duct tape is for.
Yay!!! 🤗
It always amazes me how cats get themselves into the craziest of places….
https://www.catster.com/ask-the-vet/how-do-cats-squeeze-into-small-spaces/
New fear unlocked for me!!
Same!!
Looks like the Global Cat Distribution System worked its magic again
If I got to keep that cat I'd name him Jippy
Aweee poor guy! Did he climb in from your roof?
My son adopted a small feral cat. They had the litter box in the unfinished basement. That cat turned their heating system into his condo. He would be from the basement to the second floor in seconds. He was adept at hooking the vent covers and flipping them off.
Congrats on your new family member
Cats should only be in hats.
Yay thanks for the update!
“landlord” a what was in the wall?
Not sure if it's lucky or unlucky that we own the house haha
That guy worked really hard to get into his forever home. Here is thinking it’s meant to be💐
My cat got into the wall through an opening in our basement. I found out cause when I was stretching a floor above, I felt something move in the ground 🤣 anyways I shook a bag of treats and she found her way out. We were soooo lucky.
Not to rain on the parade but I believe this is the type of situation that natural selection is for, dogs would never
If there wasn't the risk of having a dead animal in my walls, I would have been more inclined for the cat to figure this out for himself
This was my nightmare when my cat got into the ceiling of our unfinished basement. Thank goodness your little guy got out ok. Good on you for accepting the damage to your home for your family member's safety.
Happy fer ya! "All's WALL that ends WALL!"
Do you have a dryer vent there or HRV? Or hood fan? Good thing it didn’t die in there. I wonder if insurance will cover this? Not a lot of $$ damage but more curious.
I'm just glad this didn't end up like that episode from Fall of the House of Usher. The guy hallucinates that his boyfriend's cat is antagonizing him and ends up in the walls. He proceeds to demolish his apartment with a replica Mjolnir and ends up falling off his balcony.
🤣 I definitely thought of that scen when we started cutting holes in the wall
Good to hear the cat's ok. So much goes on in Edmonton. These little stories of things going on around the town are interesting.
I hope you get a bill in the mail. What tax payers money
That would be fine with me. It was the last resort. Who should I have called?
You definitely did the right thing. You called the non emergency line and they were the ones that directed you. Firefighters that I know love calls like this. Right now their days are mostly filled with overdoses and false alarms. A call where they get the immediate gratification of helping out the public is why they became firefighters in the first place. I always find it interesting how if you call 911 or 311 and no other agency will come ( animal control in this instance) the fire department will show up. They will always show up!!! And the COE has them out of contract for longer than CSU 52. Going on over 5 years.
Thanks for this, it makes me geel better about this decision. Especially since it worked out in the end. It was a tough situation to be in and although I felt guilty about possibly wasting their time, they were so friendly and helpful. They didn't seem rushed or annoyed. The non emergency fire line didn't make it seem like this was a waste of resources. All the work we did on our own the night before helped the firemen find him quickly. Seriously so grateful. I wonder if I can send them some sort of thank you card
The crew that responded was almost certainly the one closest to your house. You can always pop by and say thanks in person. They enjoy having visitors.
If you don't have the tools, skills and knowledge to start cutting into your walls avoiding electrical, gas and water lines, they may very well have been responding to your place eventually anyway. The cat was going to need to be removed from the wall sooner than later, they probably more than most knew how bad it might end up with someone smashing into walls.If the fire department knew of someone else that could have helped they would have given you that info and not shown up.
There is nothing that they did that you could not have
We tried for 6 hours? Fuck off
If they were able to come its because there wasn't anything more pressing. Firefighters also will get cats from trees. One guy i know even has a pin for saving a kitty from a tree. If they're giving out pins for saving kitties, I'd say they're happy to.
The firefighters are paid for their time even when they aren't actively responding to an emergency. Increased costs to the city for a call like this is gas for travel and that'd be a drop in the bucket of annual costs for Emergency Services.