When people talk about owning cats and dogs, I can’t help but laugh. It really is true that they are completely different animals to keep as companions. Whereas dogs generally are always full of energy and excitement when they see you, cats will give you a lacklustre response or simply hide. In fact, our most recent cat was so afraid of humans that she often would hide for weeks before we could find her. During this time, we would be absolutely panicked, searching high and low for our missing cat. It turns out, all those lost cat posters were for nothing. She was always inside the house, somehow, thanks to the central heating and cooling system and a careless HVAC technician. I guess that our problem all started when my boyfriend mentioned some unfortunate air quality fluctuations in the house. He had noticed that our indoor air temperature was regularly changing from hot to cold, and it didn’t matter if we were using the furnace or air conditioning system. We simply weren’t getting high quality treated air flowing through our air vents like one would expect. At that point, we called out a local HVAC technician and he performed a routine diagnostics appointment, including cleaning out the extensive air duct system. I guess that he never replaced the air vent cover in our mudroom, which was located behind some storage cabinets. We never knew about it, but our kitty did. For the next three years, every time our cat got upset, she climbed straight into the air vent opening and took residence in our warm air ducts. All those freezing cold nights spent looking outdoors, our missing cat was safely tucked into the air ducts, enjoying the heat we had left behind.
