Bengal cat trapped in neighbour's bathroom and found after two weeks

NEWS AND VIEWS: This is a novel way for a cat to become lost so it is worth mentioning. Also, the cat is a purebred Bengal. His name is Batty. It's unusual for such a glamorous cat to be allowed to wander outside. I'm not sure that I would be able to accept that if I lived with a Bengal cat. Too much worry about the cat being stolen.

Bengal cat Batty. He was trapped in a neighbour's bathroom for two weeks! He is recovering nicely. Photo: Colin McNeil, the owner with his family

Batty lives in Midlothian, Scotland. He was missing for about two weeks because he was trapped in a bathroom in a neighbour's property that was being renovated. The owner left the property unaware that the Bengal cat had entered her bathroom. The report does not tell us this but the door to the bathroom must've been closed on her departure. How else would the cat have been trapped?

The Bengal cat's owner is Colin McNeil and his family. They spent 12 days searching for him, putting up the usual posters et cetera. Colin feared that Batty may have been stolen which is the point I'm making.

Colin was being interviewed by Edinburgh Live when he learned that his cat had been found. As expected, he was hungry and dehydrated. It seems that he had nothing to eat or drink for two weeks. He is being nursed back to full health. They say that he is underweight.

Building contractors were working in the house where he was trapped. It seems odd that they did not spot him. I would have thought that the cat would have made some sounds to notify people of his predicament. Colin McNeil went along to the house and made enquiries but they said that they hadn't seen him. Strangely, McNeil said that the bathroom was wrecked while his cat was in it! I don't understand that part of the story.

I'm not sure that we're getting the full picture here except for the fact that the cat was trapped in a bathroom. It is the first time that I have read about a cat being lost in this way.