By Madeline Farber | Fox News

An Oregon woman recently came home to an unusual surprise: a mountain lion, which continued taking a nap for six more hours behind her sofa.

The odd encounter took place on July 8 in the Ashland, Ore., home of Lauren Taylor.

After drinking from a pond in Taylor’s backyard, the cat likely entered her home through an open back door, she explained in Facebook. The post had garnered more than 17,000 reactions and shares as of Tuesday morning.


“This is wild,” she wrote. “The door was open and the room has huge plants and stairs built around real tree branches, so she likely didn't even realize she was walking indoors until she was inside.”

After entering the home, the cat was startled by Taylor's roommate, who screamed upon seeing the mountain lion. This prompted the wild animal to hide behind the sofa, where it snoozed for several hours.

Taylor made a noise to wake the feline, but then “gazed lovingly into her eyes, and communicated using feline-speak eye blinking to calm her,” she wrote.

“It was amazing to realize that this worked. I gazed lovingly then blinked hard and then she did it back,” Taylor continued, adding that the cat then went back to sleep. “She clearly felt safe and she showed no inclination to leave."


When the cat awoke a second time, Taylor said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking.”

With just “a couple hours to dawn,” Taylor decided it was time to “prompt her to leave without alarming her so much that she panicked.”

The Oregon woman then used a drum to encourage the lion to exit the home.

"May she stay safely in the hills to enjoy a long life as a wild and healthy lion."

“She roused and knew just what to do.... walking out through the open doors, through the yard, across the creek, and through the empty field behind us exactly as we had shown her,” said Taylor, adding she has “extensive experience working with energy and animals."

“It was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter that could have been dangerous if approached from a lower frequency,” she continued. “May she stay safely in the hills to enjoy a long life as a wild and healthy lion.”

Taylor was not immediately available for additional comment when contacted by Fox News on Tuesday.