I am terrified to use the drying machine in my house

Currently, there are 7 cats running around (six ours, one being babysat but she might end up with us permanently). Three of them are exceedingly curious kittens, and as it's winter, looooove to find warm places to cuddle up.

When I was about 8 years old, one of my family's cats crawled into the drying machine (it was an older model where the door could easily stay open, not a hinged door that snaps shut like the one I have now) and my mom tossed in a shirt to dry it and came back 10 minutes later to a dying cat. I was really, really traumatized, so was my poor mother (we rushed kitty to the vet and the dr. stayed with her all night, but she didn't make it). But ever since I've just been obsessive-compulsive about checking all the cats' whereabouts before starting to dry a load of laundry.

A few minutes ago, I did a cat head-count, and found all but one (one of the kittens) whom I KNEW could not be in the dryer b/c I'd checked before I started it and then saw her after the dryer was on for about 10 minutes. But she'd vanished and I panicked, went down and went thru all the semi-dry stuff in the dryer (she wasn't there, of course) and came upstairs to find her drinking outta the toilet.

Phew!


edited b/c I forgot a few words... ;-)