Missing Cat

[iloveglee]

7 months ago we re-homed an 8 year old female cat whose owners were going to live abroad. they wanted her to have the kind of life she had always had, i.e. going outdoors when she wanted which they couldn't do for her in their new home. we kept her inside for 5 months - which was during the winter so she wasn't too bothered about going out. for a couple of months since the nicer weather she has shown a lot of interest in going out. we started by taking her out on the garden on a lead to familiarise herself, and supervised other excursions after that for a while, and limited her time outside. in the last few days she has carefully ventured a little further, onto the next door garden, then came back and went in. she has done this several time, but the other night she went out in the early evening, in the same direction as before, but came back just after 10 o'clock. yesterday, she went out, in a very determined way, never hesitated at all, never looked around, just went, jumped over the fence again in the same direction as before, and disappeared. we haven't seen her since. she has now been missing for 30 hours and i am really worried that she has got lost. the direction she was heading is all undergrowth, and woods which is the kind of terrain she was used to in her former home and the kind of terrain where she would be likely to leave a scent trail. how likely is it that she will come back, even after 7 months will she have remembered where she used to live and try to get back there. she is very timid and took a long time to get used to us but for the last few months she has been very friendly, sleeps on the bed and loves to get close to us. she is chipped and i have reported this on the website. i am going to put flyers through local letterboxes to ask people to check their huts and garages but i just don't see her approaching people or houses, she is nervous of people. i just don't know what else to do.

[catswhiskas]

It is too soon to give up on your cat, mine was missing over two weeks, he came back the day I put an advert in the paper for him, and looked at me as if to say ,' whats all the fuss about', hope he comes home soon though, its very worrying.

[iloveglee]

We haven't given up on her, even though we are very concerned about her whereabouts. knowing where she came from, and how much time she spent out of doors , i believe she would be able to take care of herself. i have no doubt that she will be hiding during times when there is anyone/thing about because this is what she did when there was anyone other than us in the house. what she does when it goes dark and quiet is impossible to know. also, what we don't know is if she stayed away for long periods in the nice weather. her previous owners worked long hours, and she had a cat flap so came and went as she pleased. i am still keeping the window open all the time in case she does find her way home and we are out, or in bed. i just hope that she will manage to find her trail again which will lead her back here, as i am fairly certain now she has lost it. but you cannot keep cats inside when they have been used to being outside. from the websites i have placed her on i can see that many cats do go missing from time to time. the weather has been so nice, there is not much to tempt an outdoor cat back inside, especially if they are finding things to eat. i do know people whose cats went missing and eventually found their way home, even after a long period of time. on the other hand, i also know people whose cats went out one day, never came back and they never did find out what happened. that is the worse thing about it, the not knowing. will post any updates.

[iloveglee]

well some slightly better news i hope, although not all good yet. a neighbour from about 8 doors away phone, responding to the notice i pushed through her door. she has seen what she thinks is our cat in her garden, it comes at night about 10pm but never in the daytime. she has been feeding it, so it has started to come more regularly, although not every night. we had seen a very similar looking cat and wondered if that was the one she had been seeing, definitely not as the similar looking cat is hers and is in at night, or comes when called!! she is fairly sure it is ours, but catching her is going to be a nightmare. she is so timid she even runs away from us if we approach her. if anyone has any ideas about what we might do i would welcome them. in the last resort we might have to set a trap but i am not sure she would even go inside one for food, she hates the cat carrier.

[iloveglee]

posted before i intended to. there is absolutely no possibility of laying a trail from their garden to ours, they live overlooking a dense impenetrable wood, as do the 4 garden leading from theirs to ours. some of those houses have huge fences, or garages which a cat could not get over. which is presumably how she came to be lost in the first place. we have absolutely no idea how she actually got there in the first place, but clearly she can't get back. the trail i have laid must not reach where she is hiding out.

[rsvp]

what about using a car trap?

[catswhiskas]

I belive cats protection will lend out cat traps, she may fall for that if .she is hungary

[catswhiskas]

Sorry, hungry, not the country!

[Hypognosis]

Ask the neighbour who is putting food out if she wants to keep this cat (vet bills 'n' all).

If the answer is "no" then thank them for their kindness but ask that they cease and desist.

Cats that wander off will naturally return to their hotel as soon as they're hungry enough to want to eat out of a bowl again. The trouble is that the woods will be teeming with newly fledged bird life and it could be some time before supplies of those run low.

[iloveglee]

the problem here seems to be that she has found her way through this next to impenetrable wood, and cant find her way back to our house, but has been able to get into the garden of the house a few doors along. she is not able to get along the gardens back to our house, even with a smell to follow, there are too many high walls, fences and garages. we cant lay a trail from the wood back to our house, because we cant get. we have been out as far around as we can get laying used cat litter, sprinkling it just over our fence, which is the way she went out. we have had her bedding on the line for 2 weeks except when it rained. we are trying to tempt her to come into this garden in the hope we can try to catch her when she's there, she may recognise our voices and the smell of the treats she is used to. i have been in touch with the rspca and they hire out traps, so in desperation this is what we may have to try. at the moment with the weather so good she seems to be quite happy -maybe she doesn't want to come back who knows. if we can get to her when she appears in the neighbours garden that is our next step. what i dont want to happen is, if the neighbour stops feeding her, she will go even further afield and make it even more difficult to find her. if she gets further into the wood she could end up miles away and parts of it are like jungle. i did even, in desperation, consider getting a chain saw and hacking through the wilderness between our house and theirs to lay a trail along the outside of the fences. if all else fails that may have to happen, although what the sound of a chain saw will do to a very scared cat heaven knows.

[wolf63]

I hope that she is home soon.

What's her name?

[iloveglee]

her name is molly, she is a longhaired tortoishell. a bit known for being a little timid and aloof. slight progress, last night the neighbour called and my husband went to their house. he got her to come to him with treats, and let him stroke her. when he made to get hold of her she escaped and ran under a large hedge and wouldn't come out. he will try again, we though of trying to drop a net over her, but dont want to scare her so she wont come back. the neighbour is trying to tempt her into the house but no luck so far.

[wolf63]

My two are cowards also - I think that most cats are. I have often felt like buying a huge butterfly net so that I can catch Frankie for his monthly vet appointment.

She must be terrified out in the big nasty world ~ when she gets back home she will be much happier.

Molly is a nice name. I like 'human' names. Alas my Princess Stupid came already named ~ Merlin ~ it isn't a really girly name. Her brother was Greebo but I changed it to Frankie.

Cats !!!!!!!!!

[iloveglee]

cats - indeed!!! rather that them being your cats, you are their people. I hope she will be so pleased to get home she won't want to go out. in any case she will be grounded until after we have been away on holiday, my next door neighbour who will be looking after her - presuming we have caught her by then - will have a nervous breakdown if she does this to them. she has cats herself but they are not 'allowed' out at night!!

[wolf63]

I have a friend with three cats, two are all grown up but the little one is just coming up for one. She calls the older two in at night and they are quite obedient ~ a routine I suppose. However the young lad has been known to be out all night and she sits up waiting for him to announce his return.

I saw a FB message of a missing cat yesterday. It was an indoor cat and lived quite close to me. He waltzed home on his own. I live in the city centre and some of the roads are very busy and dangerous for cats. (I say busy roads - our city's population is about 44,000. Not a big city!)

[furrypusscat]

Well at least you know she is still alive and safe. That's got to be a huge relief. How far away is your neighbour. You would have thought she would come home if very close. Fingers crossed that she does eventually make it back to obviously a caring home.

[Hypognosis]

My cats only knew one place where they could get cream, so they always came back :)

Take a saucer and a small pot on the next fetch mission. Don't pick the cat up, just keep retreating the saucer until you can get a second perdon to close a door without her noticing. Hopefully no ornaments or tearable fabrics in the 'reception' area ;-)

All told, I think she'll have to be kept as an indoor cat permanently, after this performance.

Good luck.

[jennyjoan]

I watched a documentary once and I recall there was a missing cat - the owners put down a dish of tuna fish in their yard and the cat came back via smell.

Perhaps you could try this when it is seen near your neighbour's house - good luck.

[iloveglee]

I actually think its not so much that she is not coming home, despite any smell she might follow, I think she simply cannot get. somehow she has got into the wooded area, lost her scent, found her way into the neighbour's garden, quite possibly thinking she is back home. she can't come across the gardens due to the barriers inbetween ours and theirs, barriers even a cat cant get over. she can't get onto the front of the neighbours house and find her way back that way because their driveway is blocked with a garage and house extension. I don't want her to get to the road actually because she is probably pretty clueless with cars and may well get knocked down. my husband has been able to get close to her but the neighbours garden is very steep and its very hard to get a grip on her. there's no use me going with him, I am the one that brushes her and she hates it!! one look at me and she'll head for the hills. unfortunately we can't go up and stake out the neighbour's garden all night because you have to go through their house to get to the back garden. it is a relief to know she is alive and well, and the arrangement is that these kind people will phone us every night she comes to their garden, they put food down for her, and we have to keep trying to get her to come close enough to make a grab for and hold on. she's clearly happy where she is for the moment. the neighbours keep trying to tempt her into their house but so far no luck with that one either.

[wolf63]

I was hoping that you were going to say that she was home.

They can move very quickly when they are trying to evade capture. Have you tried a cat trap?