Stupid Pet Plumbing Tricks

By Bill Aldridge

You know in my line of work I have experienced a number of “I can’t believe you did that” moments such as when children flush toys and such down the commode.  But lately I have begun hearing tales of stupid pet tricks that revolve around plumbing.  In this week’s blog I will share a couple of these.  I will also request that you share yours with me by emailing any plumbing related pet stories to billy@aldridgesonsplumbing.com.  We will share them with the crowd on Facebook.

Cable TV for Cats

As everybody knows, cats are some of the most curious, intelligent and sometimes downright infuriating creatures that exist on the planet.  I have known felines who could seemingly defy gravity, or otherwise would perform gymnastic feats that no human could hope to match. 

Recently I was told a couple of detective a stories by friends that revolved around their cat.  The first story began oddly enough when his water bill arrived in the mail.  Most people know approximately how much water they use on a monthly basis.  When the bill suddenly skyrockets, as did my friends, the hunt is on for a hidden leak.  The problem was that after two months had passed with an inordinately high water bill, they still had not discovered the leak.

One day the owner returned early from work to retrieve something he had left behind.  This meant that no one other than the cat remained in the house.  Imagine my friend’s surprise upon opening the door to hear the toilet flushing in the guest bathroom.  Nervously creeping down the hallway, my friend was hoping that he wasn’t about to startle an intruder.  However, upon peering cautiously around the door jamb what did he see?  None other than his cat standing atop the toilet tank watching the water swirl round and round in the bowl.  Apparently the cat had been spending the day by reaching down and flushing the toilet in order to entertain himself.   I guess it beats watching cable TV.  Mystery solved.

Cat in a Hot Tan Wall

Another friend’s brother was busy doing some plumbing DIY one afternoon last summer.  He had removed the access panel in the bathroom in order to get at a pipe that was located behind the wall.  (He had promised his wife that he was going to fix a slow leak while she was at her sisters for the weekend.) No sooner did he take off the panel when he realized that he had left his tools in the garage.  So he scampered down to the garage leaving the panel on the floor. 

Coming back to the bathroom he began working on the pipe.  Once or twice during the procedure he heard his wife’s cat meowing from somewhere in the house.  Figuring the cat must be crying for his supper, he quickly finished the repair, closed the panel and went down to feed the cat.  It wasn’t until an hour after filling the cat’s bowl that he realized he had a problem.

You see, while the cat’s food remained untouched, it continued to keep meowing.  Searching high and low, 

Cat (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

the brother couldn’t seem to locate the cat.  It wasn’t until he managed to localize the sound from behind the wall in the bedroom that he realized he had a problem.  Apparently while he had been getting his tools from the garage, the cat had wandered into the bathroom and decided to explore the interesting space behind the wall. 

Running back to the bathroom, he quickly removed the panel and called to the cat.  The cat answered back from some distance away, which meant that he had wormed his way who knew how far inside the wall.  The way he explained it he spent the better part of an hour trying to coax the cat out.  While the cat would respond, he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to return.  Returning to the bedroom, he listened for the cat again only to discover that it had moved even further away from the bathroom.  Now in a panic, he knew he was in deep trouble if his wife came home and found her cat trapped behind the wall.  He was starting to consider knocking a hole in the drywall in order to extricate the cat when he remembered that his neighbor was a veterinarian. 

Running next door, he found the neighbor watching a ball game and drinking a beer.  After explaining his situation and waiting for the vet to stop laughing, the neighbor gave him some advice that precluded his having to start knocking holes in the wall.  He told him to simply leave some cat food outside the opening in the bathroom.  When the cat got hungry enough it would follow the scent to the food and come back out of the wall.  Anxious to find any solution that would not give his wife an excuse to remind him that he was anything but a handyman, he did as he was told and about an hour later, the cat magically reappeared. Needless to say, this is one brother who will never again leave any access panel open anywhere in the house.

Bill Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, Florida.  Visit his website at http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com