Cats In The Workplace??

For the past few days, we have been going crazy at work! We keep hearing this noise that sounds like a shrill "beeping" or something -- it was hard to determine where it was coming from with all the machines that run and make loud noises. We had maintenance over trying to locate the problem. They checked the defibrillator hanging on the wall -- not that. Checked the batteries in the doorbell -- not that. The only other logical explanation was that maybe some back-up generator or something on the server was going out. Upon checking around the server, maintenance found... a tiny kitten!! Nothing "logical" about that at all! After many conversations, it was determined that since the server is located next to the back door, the kitten must have gotten in when someone had the back door propped open and didn't see it come through. This kitten was a really light orange/tan/white color -- and so cute!! There is a vetinarian next door, so maintenance took the kitten over to be checked out. He came back with a clean bill of health. The vet determined that it was a boy and looked to be about 5-6 weeks old. Sara, one of the girls I work with, decided she would take the kitten home. So we had a nice home for him and all is well that ends well... right?!

The next morning, Sara and I arrive for work and as soon as we walk into the entryway we can hear kitten cries. I asked her if she brought the kitten back to work with her... no such luck. We were hearing another kitten! We searched all over the place back where we were hearing the cries, but couldn't find anything. The only other place we could think was that it had to be in the wall. Sure enough, when you place your ear up to the wall, you could hear it scratching in there. We called maintenance again and they came over. Since we have a "false" ceiling, they decided to lift one of the tiles and see if there were any openings to be able to see in the wall. Once they got into the ceiling and shined the flashlight, they came face to face with a larger cat -- presumably the mommy cat! She took off down the ceiling where there was no catching her ( mind you, we have a very large space -- lots of darkness up there for her to hide.) Maintenance called the owner of the building, who then called animal control... six men had to converge onto our department to figure out the best way to get that cat out. They finally decided to set a trap with cat food up in the ceiling and hope that the mommy goes into it. When these gentleman were setting the trap up there, they saw another tiny kitten running around up there! They kept popping up ceiling tiles all over the place until they caught it! This kitten was gray colored, and after a trip to the vet, it was determined it was a girl! Sara decided to take this kitten home also, since it was a litter mate to the other kitten from yesterday. Later in the afternoon, maintenance came back to check the trap. Mommy was in there -- with another baby! Mommy was a gray striped tabby cat and the baby was gray like the second one! A trip to the vet let us find out that Mommy was way too wild to be taken home -- she hissed and spit and clawed at anyone and anything that came close. Didn't get a picture of her! The kitten was a boy. Sara was not going to take another cat, so another girl took the kitten out to her mom's farm to live with about eleven other cats... Mommy was taken far away and dropped off by a farm by one of our maintenance men. No one would let them take them to the pound... we all know what happens to animals there! We did not hear any more noises, so we hope this problem is solved! They never were able to figure out how the mommy cat got into the ceiling in the first place, though...