Owners Lose Senior Cat in Locked Hotel Room—in Disbelief Where She’s Hiding

A recent cross-country move was met with a hiccup after a couple couldn’t find one of their cats in a hotel room.

Owner Haley, known on TikTok as @hayleyyjay, and her partner were driving from California to Wisconsin when they stopped in Nevada after the first leg of the move. They drove through the night and then crashed at a pet-friendly hotel around 5 a.m., she told Newsweek. But when they woke up about five hours later, they couldn’t find one of their cats, Lemons, anywhere.

Hayley was wondering if she sleepwalked and let the cat outside into the hotel hallway, but no one at the front desk heard or saw a cat. Hayley and her partner spent between eight and 10 hours turning the hotel room upside down searching. They hoped the 13-year-old cat would eventually “pop out,” or at least make a sound, but being a nonvocal cat, they heard nothing for hours.

“We knew she was in the room, but where in the room I wasn’t quite sure,” she said.

Hayley was “panic-stricken” as the hours went on before she finally recruited the front desk workers to help. Thankfully, as soon as they came to the room, Hayley’s partner said he found Lemons after wedging himself under the sink and sticking his arm in the back of the cabinet where he could finally feel the cat. Somehow the cat managed to get into an invisible wall by the bathroom sink.

The video posted on July 15 shows Hayley’s partner getting to work on rescuing the stuck cat. Since they were moving, he had his toolset, which he used to unscrew the cabinet, get her out, and reassemble it. The shelf came down along with the senior cat.

The couple is still in disbelief that the cat managed to sneak into the tiniest and most random spot. Hayley estimates the opening to be about three inches wide.

“She turned herself into a little octopus and got in there,” she said.

And while they were worried for hours, the cat looked completely annoyed that she was finally set free. Hayley said the cat was “really irritated” and “pissed” they pulled her out.

Hayley only took the cat out to clean the kennel or walked her on a leash to relieve herself for the rest of the journey to Wisconsin. She admits that’s what they should’ve done prior because her vet recommended it, but Hayley wanted to let out the pets in the hotel room to stretch her legs. The stress and anxiety of moving likely scared Lemons into hiding.

As of Thursday, the rescue mission was viewed over 2.2 million times and received 52,700 likes on TikTok.

“It’s too peaceful in this house. I should change that. – your cat probably,” joked a viewer.

Another added: “And it was a tuxedo cat but of course. My tuxie has the best worst ideas.”

A third person commented: “Found the little void between the cabinet and the wall. That’s cats for ya.”

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