Cat Hiding

Question
We have a 11 year old cat that recently hid in our garage for a week.  Every time I would go into the garage he would quickly hide, I never saw him just heard the bell on his collar.  I finally found him and when I pulled him out he was very angry, hissing and ears way back.  Brought him into the house and he went straight to his food dish, he is now very happy?  2 years ago he hid in our house for 6 weeks, he was like a rail when he finally came out, he drank water for 2 days pretty much non stop! We had water and food for him during the 6 week disappearance and it remained untouched till he came out! He has a history of dissapearaing for 2 weeks @ a time.  We thought cause he is such a friendly and loving cat(purrs when ever he sits by someone)that kids may pick him up and adopt him, till he gets a chance to flee, but now Im thinking he has been hiding regularly over the years!  He is peaceful, in fact he is scared of birds, mice our hampster, I think pretty much anything.  Why would he go into these extended disappearances?  How does he survive without water during these disappearances?

Thanks,

Chris

Answer
Chris,

I wish I had a good answer to explain that behavior, but I do not.  The fact is that cats are very good at hiding, even in plain sight! Some cats just get themselves spooked over something or other (usually things we do not think of as being spooky), but, remember their senses are totally better than ours in all respects and can sense things that we cannot.

As to surviving without water, he may have gotten some from somewhere, unbeknownst to you, but cats seem to do better on no water than humans.  After all the domestic cat originated in a part of the world where there is much desert.  Cats can get water from condensation and from the food they eat, so your cat may have gotten more water than you know.  Cats are very good at extracting water from their surroundings.  Was the cat severely dehydrated when he emerged from hiding?  If not, then he was getting water from somewhere.

Best regards... Norm.