Woman Discovers 'Lost' Cat Meowing Behind Sealed Tiles After Builder's Blunder
A 28-year-old woman refused to let a bathroom remodel turn into a nightmare, and it started with a sound she could not explain. Ashlin Hadden came home to Noblesville, Indiana after a business trip, expecting a fresh tub and a quick win, not a mystery chorus of meows.
Her contractor had been inside her home while she was gone, and the renovation left her hearing her missing cat, Cookie, crying from behind sealed drywall. Even worse, Ashlin could hear another cat, Stripes, too, but she could not see either one, which meant she was stuck guessing what was trapped where.
Then she grabbed a drywall-cutting tool, heard the cat cry, and had to make a split-second decision that turned the whole thing from “confusing” into “holy, this is real.”
When Ashlin heard Cookie crying inside the newly rebuilt bathroom walls, it instantly turned her peaceful “new taller tub” plan into a panic mission.
Ashlin Hadden, a resident of Noblesville, Indiana, was confronted with a heart-wrenching discovery when she returned home from a business trip to New York. After arranging for a contractor to renovate her bathroom in her absence, she never anticipated the ordeal that awaited her.
Upon her return, she heard faint meowing emanating from within the walls of her newly reconstructed bathroom. To her shock and dismay, she realized that her missing cat had been sealed inside the drywall during the renovation process.
This distressing revelation shed light on the unforeseen consequences of trusting a contractor with unrestricted access to her home.
With Cookie meowing and Stripes only audible, Ashlin was basically hunting for two missing cats through tile and drywall she couldn’t see behind.
It also sounds like the homeowner whose cats dragged a massive tarantula into her house.
The moment Ashlin borrowed a drywall-cutting tool and the crying got louder, she realized cutting carefully might be the worst possible timing.
"I'm a single mom, and I love my bath," she shared with TODAY. "So I just wanted a new bathtub, like a taller bathtub, so I could get in the bathtub and actually be under the water."
But instead of returning home to a blissful soak in the tub, Ashlin Hadden found herself in a startling situation, having to break through drywall to rescue her trapped cat.
"As I'm sitting here trying to figure out where my cat is, I can hear the cat crying from somewhere in here," Hadden explains in a TikTok video that has garnered over 2.6 million views.
She noted that her typically quiet cat, Cookie, was unusually vocal upon her return. Moreover, while she could hear another cat named Stripes, she couldn't locate him visually.
After she punched through the wall instead and got Cookie out, the whole story became about how one sealed mistake can turn a simple remodel into a full-on rescue.
"I'm like, 'Man, what's going on?' And, 'Did you guys run out of food?'" she recalled. "I'm upstairs, and I'm looking around and hear him meow, and I'm like, 'Oh my God. He's behind the wall.'"
She quickly sought assistance, borrowing a drywall-cutting tool from a neighbor. However, as she began cutting into the surface, she heard the cat cry, fearing she might be harming him. In a moment of desperation, she punched through the wall instead.
"I love our pets. They're like children to me," she expressed, relieved that her furry companion was unharmed after a swift visit to the vet.
"He's gotten lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles, and he's kind of a different cat," she observed. "He's been really, really sweet and loving — probably because he was scared. He's like, 'I saw the light, and you saved me.'"
Since the incident, she has opted to hire a cat sitter whenever she goes on business, ensuring her pets' safety and well-being in her absence.
Cookie got her hugs and snuggles, but Ashlin never forgot how close “renovation” came to becoming something much darker.
For another “how did a pet get trapped?” shock, read how a cat ended up in an Amazon return box after a couple accidentally sent it there.
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