I saw the headline on MSN last night and heard the story on the radio this morning: a cat survived inside the bathroom walls for seven weeks.
Here’s how it happened: workers were replacing pipes in an apartment building in Stadthagen, Germany. Little black cat Bonny was last seen wandering around a neighbor’s apartment. Bonny’s owner believes that the cat snuck in underneath the bathtub and was sealed in.
Owner Monika Hoppert eventually heard the little cat’s meowing from behind the tiles. At first, the woman couldn’t believe it. But eventually she realized it was indeed her missing Bonny — “I knew it was my cat because they all have their own voice,” she said. And it was Bonny’s voice she heard in the walls.
When Bonny emerged from the bathroom walls, she had gone from a healthy thirteen pounds to just four pounds. She was very weak, and the veterinarian suggested that euthanasia might be the kindest option. Hoppert refused and nursed Bonny back to health with a diet of watered-down kitten food.
These days, Bonny is nearly back to her old self again. She recently jumped up onto Hoppert’s bed for the first time since the cat went missing. Hoppert calls Bonny’s survival and recovery a miracle, and believes that her cat has a guardian angel.
Seven weeks! That’s pretty amazing — what could little Bonny have eaten in that time? Bugs in the walls? Mice? What did she drink? Condensation on the pipes? It’s hard to believe. I have to imagine that she found something to eat and drink here and there — seven weeks without even water would be hard to survive.
Bonny has definitely used up at least one of her nine lives on this adventure, don’t you think? Hopefully the four year old cat will have a long, peaceful, healthy, adventure-free life from here on out.