Like me with the musk body spray. Tiah still gets a bushy tail whenever I put it on but other than the tail she doesn't show any other signs of being worried now. Needless to say I don't wear it very often thanks to her!

If it has natural musk in it, it probably smells like a wild animal to her..When My mom used to used to breed we had a litter of beeps that were about 5 weeks old. My grandmother came and stayed for a couple of weeks with us. Well Granny being an animal lover that she is, made a bee line for the box housing the beeps..she stuck her hand in the box and immediatly the kittens went bonkers..I mean they freaked out..tails bushed, lil hackles raised, hissing and spitting non stop..Of course granny was quite hurt at their reaction..and we couldn't figure what was going on until she produced some "wonderful soap made with natural musk oil" of all things...to give my mom....lmao....you can bet that soap stayed in the drawer... After granny had a shower with good 'ol dial soap, the beeps were more than happy to be friends with her..

So happy she's safe now!!!
I don't have a garden, my cats live all in my apartment but sometimes I think they disappear in 4th dimension, they know how to scare me.
Am I the only one who counts her cats before going out?

She shimmied down the drain pipe?? She related to Houdini by any chance????
But I am glad she is home safe and sound...

Definately Not!, I almost learned that lesson the hard when I just had Taz, I was getting ready for work and was taking some frozen chicken out of the fridge, I turned my back for all 3 secs and turned back and closed the door..a few mins later I was on my way out the door, when I thought to myself, I better check for Taz..So I called and called.. No taz..I did not go out so I knew he was in the apartment SOMEWHERE..so I retraced my steps and back to the fridge I opened the door, and there he was curled up in the bottom where one of veg bins are suppose to be. ( The fridge was missing a bin) He was laying in there just "chillin out" ( the dumb bell) I hate to think what would happen if I did not get that sense of urgency to look for him when I did, as Mike did not get home from work for another 4 hours...Just like our children I think we develop a 6th sense where our pets are involved..

Not even - it's just a cheap brand you can pick up at the supermarket.

I once got some real musk oil from a perfume place in Paris. Boy did it stink! It almost put me off for life - you could really smell the "animal"!

must have had her fooled...just being a strange sent..I have put on perfume and have had Ming literally wrinkle her nose at me b4...

I'm beginning to think she is. Thing is we hadn't a clue until the neighbour whos house backed on to ours told us! We also do a 'cat count' before we leave and also triple check all windows All because of Xena - the boys are too lazy and know they're onto a good thing to try and have a secret adventure

Since she's been back, we have noticed that she's become a lot more affectionate. Downside is she's more gobby too - insistingshe needs to go back because she's left something under the shed!!

Can't believe Taz settled himself in the fridge . What a loon and definitely a good job you went back.

Oh I am so glad she is back safe and sound! Poor girl must have been scared! I have had the same experience with both Homer and Jez.. Homer chilled out sod he is, just came back on his own a couple of hours later, telling me what an exciting time he'd had.. despite the fact that it was the day after ALL that snow we had in January!! Jez once got out of my sons room window, onto the porch roof and off! My front garden is on a main road too.. so I was pretty scared! She was hiding in some bushes outside fortunately, scared out of her WITS.. but I couldn't catch her! We had to HERD her back in! But we did it in the end! Thank god.. But it scares the willies off you doesn't it?

The smell thing is probably just cos she smells different.. they'll settle down in a day or so, Jez and Tansy ALWAYS hiss at Homer and Dylan when the come back from shows.. always.. it usually lasts about 24 hours, then they are all back to whatever passes for normal around here..

So glad you found Xena!!

How terribly frightening that must have been. I'm sure you were greatly relieved to have her back safe and sound inside again.

I think that is the worse living nightmare a cat owner can experience...just not knowing where they are or what happened to them.

Years ago my first Siamese cat, Ping, use to try escaping -all- the time. We let him go outside, but only on a leash then and had been doing it with him since a tiny kitten. He loved being outside so much that at every opportunity the door was opened he'd make a dash for freedom.
Once outside we would spend so much time chasing him and hunting him down to bring back in. Then one day, at age 15, he did it again...I was just so tired of this game with him that I made the -bad- mistake of saying "Oh, what the heck, he's old and won't go far"...later we couldn't find him.
The next day, very early, before we could recontinue our hunt for him, the phone rang. It was from a person who found his body in the road...I had had a collar with a name tag on it.

Hard lesson ....learned.

I have no clue what he was thinking that day..he give the term "just chillin'" a whole NEW meaning though, I have had nosey lil kittens climb into the fridge hunting up grub b4, but he just crawled in and laid down for a nap of all things..goofball!

Although the thought of shutting a pussum in the fridge is scary (not to mention dangerous) I laughed until I cried one day last week, we had a delivery of shopping from online and Lou was putting tins away in the cupboard. She stopped to answer the phone and pushed a doors closed so they would not get in the way. About an hour later we wondered where Merlin was, so....we went looking. Searched the entire house and Lou checked the garden over too, not a sign...we were beginning to think that he might have slipped past her when the delivery chap came even though she shut the connecting door until it hit me....the tins cupboard! I went to it and opened the door, and guess who was curled up on top of tins of heinz beans and spaghetti fast asleep? Yes, you guessed it....Mr Houdini himself from now on if any of them go missing I will remember to check the cupboards too.

Maybe Xena has a secret furry admirer that she's been sneaking out to meet on the QT? Maybe Taz decided that he wasn't being fed enough so thought to help himself to more