A week and a half ago our family moved. We were living in the city and now we live in a small town where my backyard is an actual forested park for hiking and biking and horses and stuff. The move itself was excruciatingly long. Some may call it a disaster. But, we made it. Though my cat probably lost a life or 2 from over stressing during moving. Traveling was a terrible experience for my poor kitty. She was the most poorly behaved out of the humans and animals but I don't blame her. The drive would have taken an average traveler 12 to 14 hours but our trip turned out to be about 24 hours of hell and my cat meowed and moaned the entire time. Once we arrived at our new home she hid in our bedroom behind a curtain until I placed her in the bathroom where she stayed curled in the bathtub for a day clearly traumatized from the last day. When I picked her up I noticed her fur had changed texture and I was almost certain she would shed her lovely little fur coat and become a naked mole cat and it would be all my fault. (Luckily, this didn't happen) The following day she slept in my husband's underwear drawer only emerging once for a potty break and maybe 3 kernels of food. After about the third day she began to venture out a bit more however still very stressed and timid. Concerned animal mom that I am I started googling cats and traveling and also how they adapt to new environments. Apparently, all of the above are very distressing to most cats so I'm a bad mom and next time the cat is going to be higher than a kite when we travel more than down the driveway. After she began settling in one day I didn't really see her and I thought to myself, "actually, I haven't seen her all day." So now the hunt is on to find the cat. I looked for an hour in all her new hiding spots. Then in all my hiding spots if I were a cat. I went outside calling for her in the front and back yard. Then I noticed little animal tracks in the snow from our garage to the street. You should know that Nova (the cat) is mostly white but she has some hints of calico so she looks like she is wearing snow camouflage. So now I am freaking out that she was going to be by herself and turn into a popsicle overnight because my southern California cat is not cut out for 7 degree weather and snow. After searching and searching I decide I really need to face the facts and start accepting that she is gone. All I can think of is all the horrible things that could be happening to my cat in the wilderness. Then the tv stand door opens about an inch and then shuts flat. I thought it was weird so I open up the cabinet and low and behold there is miss Nova curled up and warm perched on my husband's xbox. I am instantaneously relieved that she is not a frozen bear treat or something. Now we need to figure out how to keep her out of her new hiding place in order to prevent future heart attacks.