Our beloved cat is missing, Any advice? Options

[a mum]

Sorry to post this in the music forum but I wondered if any of you forumites might have some advice for us.

Our 3 year old tabby is now missing for 2 days. He's white with black/grey markings. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

He has never been away for so long from home. We last saw him at 5 pm on Monday evening when he went out after having his food. Usually he comes back late at night or first thing next morning but he didn't. I went to work thinking that he's probably just around but then when he hadn't been back all day, we started to get a little worried. We have combed the entire neighbourhood, calling out for him and looked in the bushes. We have informed the vets, put up posters and asked around with the neighbours. I have also posted his details on a couple of missing animal websites. I have also called the local council in case he has been run over and also the RSPCA. He's often seen out with another cat from the neighbourhood, but I have gone and checked and this cat is still at home and he has been hanging around our house.

We have just been out again looking for him. Usually he just comes when we call out for him but he's nowhere to be seen. Not sure what has happened to him, and this is so worrying.

We're all just devastated. It's surprising how hard this has hit us. There is this very intense feeling of loss and helplessness. Our daughter is extremely attached to him and she boards during the week, so we haven't even told her yet as we are worried how she would react and cope without us at school.

Any advice/ suggestions? Is there still any hope for us considering it has been more than 48 hours now? This is just not his usual pattern.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[Geranium]

Many years back something similar happened to our cat - I can't remember exactly how long he was missing but it must have been two days or more. One evening I opened the front door and there he was. He'd been (I think) hit by a car (and needed an operation on his leg). We thought he'd probably just had to stay somewhere until he felt strong enough to make his way home.

That probably isn't a great deal of help - but I do hope your cat makes it back to you. Fingers crossed for you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Capriccioso]

I really feel for you and know exactly what you are going through - our cat went AWOL for 4 days a few years ago and it was so awful. She is a real home lover so it was very unusual for her not to come home in time for tea and we are all in pieces while she was missing.

You have done all the right things, so fingers crossed that your cat returns home really soon. One of the websites I used was really helpful, I will try and remember which one it was in case they have any more tips. This will sound weird, but they told me to put several items of worn clothing, the smellier the better (we used sons worn socks!) around the end of the garden and property. Couldn't believe it when our cat strolled in 2 hours later, coincidence or otherwise worth a try!

Fingers crossed for you!

[MDSS]

First of all, don't panic! I've owned several cats (mostly ginger tabbies) and they've all done a disappearing act for several days.

Just out of interest, has your cat been chipped?

[AroundAgain]

Hi

So sorry to hear about your cat's disappearance.

My advice would be to physically go round all the houses in your neighbourhood and, hopefully, speak with them or, if no reply, put a note through their door. Ask them to check their sheds and garages etc. This is the time of year when folks are gardening and he may just be shut in a shed.

Also, your local Cats Protection will have a Lost and Found person - it's worth contacting them, if you haven't already.

It's a difficult time, when your cat goes missing. I've been through it twice, with different cats. You can't but help imagine the worse but - the worst may not have happened.

Cats have been known to go wandering, some way or another, and turn up after quite long periods, as if nothing had happened.

Yes, it will be an added anxiety regarding your daughter.

You have my best wishes.
from another cat lover

[SueHM]

We?ve had cats go missing for days as well, and they?ve always turned up eventually. With the warmer weather, a lot of people are opening sheds and garages for the first time, and cats regularly get locked up for days at a time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fingersCrossed.gif) Hope he turns up soon - the uncertainty is the worst thing...

[a mum]

Thank you. It's encouraging to hear that some of others have just turned up after a few days.

We're trying very hard to not think about the worst and stay hopeful, but it's becoming more difficult with every passing hour. But, if something like that had happened, perhaps someone would have taken him to a vet or a body would have been found? We have walked around the nearby roads-major and minor -but haven't seen anything on the grass verges.

He has been micro-chipped and I've informed them and also made sure that our details are updated.

Please send your collective thoughts to HARRY. We will be grateful.

[corenfa]

My old cat from when I was growing up did roam and stay away for days at a time, but she grew out of it. She only calmed down after she was 5 (we had her since she was a kitten).

It is definitely possible that he will come back- I hope this is what happens.

If he was quite streetwise then he may just have decided to go roaming - if they are already used to the outside, there's less chance of them being spooked and taking off in the wrong direction (as compared to a totally indoor cat who got out and has never been out before).

I have read that sometimes when they get outside and scared, their instinct is to hide. I have read it suggested that you go outside and call late at night or early in the morning when it is very quiet. If you have a known signal like rattling the biscuit tin (this is what I do), that's the time to do it as well.

I hope he is OK - I know the feeling, when my current cat got out at night for the first time I was dead scared she wouldn't come back.

[maggiemay]

Fingers crossed for you and for Harry! I know how you must feel.

Seems to me there is a good chance he's got into a shed or outhouse. Keep hopeful!

[scotliz]

Our cats have also gone missing a couple of times. Our youngest one would hide in the garden if he had been in a fight and even though we checked behind all the bushes we wouldn't see him so it may be worth checking your garden a few times.

Hope by this time though that Harry has arrived home.

[Capriccioso]

I really feel for you and know exactly what you are going through - our cat went AWOL for 4 days a few years ago and it was so awful. She is a real home lover so it was very unusual for her not to come home in time for tea and we were all in pieces while she was missing.

You have done all the right things, so fingers crossed that your cat returns home really soon. One of the websites I used was really helpful, I will try and remember which one it was in case they have any more tips. This will sound weird, but they told me to put several items of worn clothing, the smellier the better (we used sons worn socks!) around the end of the garden and property. Couldn't believe it when our cat strolled in 2 hours later, coincidence or otherwise worth a try!

Fingers crossed for you!

[a mum]

No news on Harry yet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

We went out late last night at midnight around the neighbourhood with a flashlight calling out for him. No sign of him anywhere. Kept hoping that I'll hear a meow or that he'll emerge out of the bushes. Went out again early this morning with the dog in the opposite direction. He used to just come out of the bushes and follow us around whenever we walked the dog. No idea where he could be.

I also put some worn clothes around the garden last night but perhaps they weren't smelly enough! Also put out food for him and his bed outside but there hasn't been any sign of him at all.

Trying very hard to stay hopeful... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[lottie]

Have you knocked on your neighbour's doors.. even those a few streets away? A monotonous task perhaps but may be worth it.

One of our neighbour's cats went missing and it turned out another neighbour quarter of a mile away had started feeding it then let it into her house. I think it was extremely thoughtless because it looked like a well-fed pet cat so was hardly a 'stray'. (The long term outcome of this was an agreement between the neighbours with the cat going to live with the 'new' home which was a lonely elderly lady.) But it was a relatively innocent thing and apparently quite common with people who find a cat in their garden.

My sister-in-law's cat came home smelling of cigarette smoke so the same thing had happened but at least it came home.

My next door neighbour's cat also disappeared but returned after 4 days unharmed. We live in a rural area so wondered if it had caught and eaten a rabbit and didn't see the need to come home for food despite being a very cuddly home-loving cat.


Good luck. It must be very stressful but do keep hopeful.

[tonedeafmum]

Very sorry to hear about Harry. Jenni (Cat 1) went missing for 5 days and turned up - looking perfectly well and fed - at an upstairs window we didn't even think she could reach! Tess (Cat 2) was locked in a neighbour's garage (neighbour was actually 3 streets away but across the gardens it wasn't far) and was only found after a long bank holiday (4 days). So please don't give up hope yet.

Is there a primary school near you? A friend of mine is the headteacher of one and she sometimes gets
pet owners bring in pictures of lost cats to show the children. 250 little detectives on the case can be very useful - but you have to make sure you let the school know when your cat turns up or kids' will keep on catnapping him and bringing him back!

Very best of luck. T.D.M.

[icklechick]

Don't give up hope!

I had a ginger Tom who went missing several years ago. Like yours, he never usually ventured outside for long - definitely not more than 24 hours, so I started to worry quite soon after he went missing.

I did the posters, phoning rescue places, council etc no luck.

5 weeks later I got a phone call from a village abour 7 miles from where I lived. They had my Tom - he'd been hanging around their garden for a week, and they decided they were going to keep him so took him to a vet for a check up who scanned his chip and got in touch.

I don't know how he'd got there, but he was in fine health and actually not even too chuffed to see me when I went to pick him up!! But he never went missing again.

What I would do is keep phoning the rescue places. The people who'd found Tom had phoned the RSPCA but they never got in touch with me because they thought 7 miles was too far for it to be my cat!!