Pets keep disappearing after new update?

I moved my sim into an apartment w/ 2 cats. Everything was going great, until my sim Left for her Uni classes. Once she returned, the cats icon lost color (like they do when the pet or sim isn’t at home)

I figured no big deal, as both cats have the “curious/prowler” traits so leaving to explore should be fine. However, I tried to call them back and nothing!

I called the cats on the phone 🙄 to invite them to my lot, just so that I could get them back home.

Things I tried:

Resetting the Sim cats/and the Sim

Moving lots

Restarting game

Also I have no CC/mods so I’m at a loss

I suspect a gnome maybe involved 😳 jk