Steal Heating Vents

Meet Stealer. Stealer is about ten years old now and he is the only one of our three cats that goes outside. He spends about ten minutes outside, maybe twice a day.

Yesterday, The Perfect Man and I got home to find a heating vent in the middle of the floor in our breakfast nook. We were a little stumped and we started searching the house to see where the vent had come from. Not the breakfast nook or living room, not any of the bedrooms or the bathroom. We even checked the basement, but all heating vents were securely in place. So, where the heck did this thing come from? Our first thought was our resident ghost, Harry.

I picked up the heating vent and my stomach did a flip flop. Stuck inside the heating vent was Stealer's collar. His name tag had become jammed inside the grating. He has a habit of sleeping on the heating vent under a stool in the kitchen; the only vent we didn't think to check. He must have gotten his tag stuck and then had to drag that vent around with him until a link in his collar had opened up enough for it to drop off his neck. The poor thing must have been terrified.

So, it wasn't our ghost after all. Although, it was a stainless steel link. I wonder how it opened.....