Tried poking the cat's stomach?

"I wanted to let everyone know that my pet hamster, Hammy, is missing somewhere in school. He is a big, fluffy white and tan teddy bear hamster. If you see him or HEAR him, please call me. Thanks! Jan"
This woeful plea was sent to my inbox on Friday. I've had A LOT of experience with hamster drama. One hamster was found taking his daily constitutional on the driveway, one was found down the laundry drain (too late for her, alas, but Troy nonetheless chased us around the house with the bedraggled corpse), one hamster suffered a broken neck due to a certain sister not wearing her glasses (said stricken sister begged us to take him to the vet--vet regarded us in puzzlement, "Well, it's dead." "We know that. Could you flush it or something?"), one hamster died and rotted black before his negligent owner dared to peek into the cage, etc., etc. Whenever one of our hamsters would disappear, my sisters and I would trap the cat and suspiciously regard her stomach. To her credit, she never ate even one little baby hamster! (That we know of, of course.)