We had something similar happen this morning.

Our office is collecting clothes and food for Katrina evacuees. Nancy and
I were boxing up clothes, and Ranger kitten was helping from *inside* the
box. Every couple of minutes I'd take him out of the box, and as soon as I
would turn my back he would jump back in.

When we got the box pretty well full I looked pretty carefully to be sure
we didn't have a kitten in the box, then folded the top flaps over to seal
the box. As I was finishing up tucking the last flap under I felt
something soft and fluffy brush against my fingers - a kitten tail. I
opened up the box and took out the top few inches of clothes, and there
was Ranger again.

I guess he thought the evacuees needed a kitten to cheer them up. But he
was overruled by his humans, who want to keep him around.

Dan

Years ago, I was packing for graduate school -- several states away, so
*everything* was packed.  I was going to travel by train, and I packed a
couple of foot lockers.  One was fully packed with a winter coat on top.
The coat had a faux fur collar, and I left to get one final item.  When I
returned, I started to close the lid -- and the "fur collar" *moved.*  It
was my cat, who definitely was *not* intended to travel that way.  I still
get shivers when I think of what could have happened, and it taught me a
lesson about checking *everything.*  For example, I now carefully check the
dishwasher before ever closing the door because both cats (but especially
Duffy) have shown an interest in it, and it only takes a momen for a cat to
get into a tight space.

MaryL

Good grief! I'm glad Harvey made his presence known sooner, rather than
later! I'm sure you'd have gotten him back, but the scare of having him go
temporarily missing would have been awful.

Chalk another one up under "check EVERYTHING that a cat might possibly fit
his fuzzy self into, before closing it". A friend of mine had issues with
her (now senior-citizen) cat when he was a kitten. Toy used to like to go
in the refrigerator. He got himself closed in there a couple of times.
Fortunately, both times, she only needed a few minutes to realize that he
wasn't running around the apartment wreaking havoc. It didn't take her
long to track him down and get him out of the fridge.

I happened to be on the phone with her, the first time this happened.
"Hold on... I don't see Toy anywhere. Let me check on where he is".

[puts phone receiver down]
[noise of a person walking around, moving things to see if a cat's behind
them]
["TOY! Get out of there! Bad cat!"]
[indignant "MEEEEEOW!"]

She came back to the phone. "He was in the refrigerator!"

I'm glad to report that Toy's 15 years old now and still in good shape,
but I think he used up one of his nine lives on that escapade. There's
nothing like an inquisitive feline to keep us all on our toes, is there?

Donna, and the equally newsy kitties, Captain and Stanley