Reply to tips for blocking off our cat's (potentially unsafe) hiding space

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[quote=Anonymous]OP here with an update: We are one month in, and we still have never seen the cat, never been in the same room with the cat, never touched the cat. The cat ONLY comes out when no one is home, or in the middle of the night. About 2 weeks ago, she peed or pooped in her hiding space, which is completely inaccessible to me. It smelled AWFUL. it seems to have been only a one-time thing... so far. But I can't get into the space to clean it. I can't see her. I don't know if she's hurt or sick. She still is eating and drinking the litter box. But, I go to bed every night wondering if she's sick, injured, or dead. This poor cat is miserable or terrified or both - she spends 20+ hours per day in a dark, dirty, cramped space. I am miserable and stressed out, which I know isn't helping the situation. How long is a reasonable amount of time to expect this to go on? Here's a list of everything I've done to try to lure her out of this unsafe, inaccessible hiding space, so she can find another space to hide and hopefully acclimate:

Used Feliway Spray and Feliway diffuser
Put Rescue Remedy drops in her water
Built alternate hiding spots (a box with holes cut out and treats inside, a small table with a dark cloth draped over it and treats inside, a "cat cave" that I bought on Chewy.com with treats inside)
Leave treats just outside the hole: cat treats, tuna, sardines
Put catnip around the apartment - she didn't even touch it
Left out some old tshirts of my daughter's and mine, near where she's hiding and where she used to eat
Sit on the kitchen floor for a few minutes throughout the day and talk to her, read to her, etc.
Put on classical music when no one is home
I stopped leaving food out for her all the time - now, there's only food out when people are home
Last night, I also stopped leaving food out for her in the middle of the night. There are a few pieces of dry food in her usual food bowl spot (so she'll still associate that spot with food) and inside the cat cave I bought her (which I hoped would become a good alternative hiding space for her), but not the usual full amount of food
Moved the food to the furthest away point in our home from the hiding hole. It's now in the bathroom. Which I thought she might like because it's a smaller space
I made a flap to put over the hole. When she pushes the flap, she touches cardboard, but when she lifts the flap to go back inside the hole/hiding spot, she would have to touch scrunchy aluminum foil (which I know cats don't like). It hasn't deterred her. The first time I did this, she just ripped off the whole flap! And the second time, she went in and out. So I've removed the flap.
Had my handyman come over to see if we could just remove the wood beneath our kitchen cabinets (it's called a "toe kick" - it's like baseboards) so I could get to her or at least see her. It won't work. The only way to get to her would be to remove our kitchen countertops and rip out the kitchen cabinets. A $10,000 kitchen renovation is not in the cards!
Blew air from the lowest, coolest setting of a hair dryer into the hole. I read that cats don't like this. She didn't budge.
I just bought a bunch of tiny "jingle bells." I'm thinking I'm going to hang some in front of the hole, so when she exits I'll hear her - she'll have to brush against them. So if I know she's left the hiding spot, even if it's 4 a.m., I can wait until she's in the bathroom eating and hopefully have enough time to dash into the kitchen (on the other side of the apartment) to quickly block the hole. I'm willing to sacrifice my own sleep to get this done!

Help! What else can we do? How long should we expect this to last? [/quote]

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