My (29m) girlfriend (25m) and I are at a total loss. Our cat, Fish (confusing, i’m aware) got out of our back door on Thursday morning and has been stuck in our crawl space ever since. We have gotten under the house multiple times and can confirm that he doesn’t look frantic or scared at all - he slow blinks at us and doesn’t appear to be all that concerned about his situation. Unfortunately, the part of the crawl he’s in is very narrow, less than 1 foot of clearance top-to-bottom so nearly impossible for a standard sized adult to navigate. We have tried many things to coax him out so far. We’ve sat by the exits calling his name, no dice. Since night 1, we have had two animal traps set up in the easier to access parts of the crawl space - both traps are baited (one with wet food, one with his standard dry food) and have had no luck in either. We actually put a litter box near one of the traps the other night and our cat had the audacity to use the box, but still didn’t get in the trap!  We also have a little bowl of water by the same trap and he has possibly drank a bit of that water as well. We’ve also started putting stinky smelling sardines by the part or the crawl space he entered through. We called the non emergency fire department line and they basically just suggested we leave the part of the crawl space he got in through open as a possible way for him to exit. They said they wouldn’t come help unless he actually seemed stuck or hurt, and that it would unfortunately involve a lot of damage to the house. We are renting the house so obviously we would prefer to avoid taking extreme measures, but I’m not gonna lie we are getting pretty desperate. 

I am considering calling a professional wildlife removal company but I have no idea if they’d be helpful in this situation. From what I’ve been told, all animal control will do is come out and set a trap baited the same way we’ve baited our two traps. I am still considering calling them for another opinion.  I am basically willing to do anything to get him out soon. If anyone has any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions, please let me know. 

Our current plan of action is leaving access to the part of the crawl space he entered through open and hope he exits naturally. However, we are very anxious to get him out as soon as possible and are open to any other ideas. Thank you everyone. 

For context our cat is just over one year old. He seems to be a very resilient boy. 

Cat stuck in crawl space for nearly five days - help!!