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Original poster

Lost cat, any stories of hope please?

207 replies

tiredvommachine · 11/01/2021 19:00

My lovely cat hasn't been seen since Saturday morning :-(. He never stays out overnight and this is really out of character. I have added his details to our local lost pets FB page and knocked around the area asking if people can look out for him and also left his litter box out and some cover /food.
I know it's only been two days but I'm really sad and worried :-(
Anyone got any heartening stories about returning felines?

OP posts:
LagneyandCasey · 11/01/2021 19:06

Our boy cat used to go off for 2/3 days. We think he just used to get fixated on a mouse nest or something as he was mouse obsessed. He would come back absolutely starving and sleep for days.

Ask your neighbours if you can check their outbuilding and garages yourself. He might be scared and hiding from them, but would respond to your voice. Leave out some stinky food - warm up some tuna and waft it around. Go out calling early in the morning.

Wishing good news for you very soon Flowers

ZadieZadie · 11/01/2021 19:12

Yes! My old girl was very reliable...until she disappeared for a fortnight.

She wandered back in, looking fine, and demanded her food as if nothing had happened. Never worked out where she'd been.

Toddlersareirrational · 11/01/2021 19:16

I assume my cat got trapped inside someone's bin shed a few times cos he always showed up on bin day. I also had a female indoor cat disappear for about 5 weeks once and she later returned pregnant! So don't give up hope. Fingers crossed for you.

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Cats
Original poster
tiredvommachine · 11/01/2021 19:18

Thank you both, it's currently raining here so will put some tuna out in the morning.
I have no regrets letting him go out as he'd be really miserable to be kept in all the time but it's us who have to suffer, isn't it 😥

OP posts:
whoamongstus · 11/01/2021 19:18

All of ours have flitted for a few days to a (horrible) week before now - don't panic just yet. Go out and call for her when it's quiet, one of ours was hiding for 2 days in the last place we'd seen her (she's not much of an explorer and she must have been scared by the bin lorries and cars nearby).

Original poster
tiredvommachine · 11/01/2021 19:19

This is the little blighter!

Lost cat, any stories of hope please?
OP posts:
Overtherainbow2020 · 11/01/2021 19:23

I had a girl who went missing 3 separate times, usually for a couple of weeks. Always returned with a look that said “Sorry, had you missed me? I didn’t realise!” Little bugger!
I would usually recommend putting notes through doors, but with Covid I’m not sure that’s a good idea. But keep heart, they do return!

badgerread · 11/01/2021 19:24

My 11 year returned after 11 weeks and 3 days exactly 😀

DuzzyFuck · 11/01/2021 19:27

Don't despair OP Thanks

My entirely indoor and very nervous cat got out (he fell a short distance from a window-sill, he's never actively tried to escape) a couple of years ago when he was 8 and was gone 9 weeks before he nonchalantly reappeared in fine form!

Right now he's sitting on the lounge floor shouting at us for not sharing our dinner with him.

Snorkelface · 11/01/2021 19:29

if you can stick posters up on trees/lampposts etc they really can help. Also if you have anything of yours, like an old jumper etc that you can leave out it can help them find their way home. They have a really keen sense of smell and will be bonded to you and your home by smell. If you have a front and back garden it's worth leaving stuff in both in case they don't usually go out the front. Also contact your nearest vets incase someone brings him in - most vets would check for a microchip anyway. Binmen and postmen can be helpful sometimes and access front gardens, bin stores etc so may get a sighting if he's hiding. A friend recently set a cat trap (big cage with food in it) for hers after she got out a week after they moved house. She came back, was found in the trap 9 days later, perfectly fine and clearly having been eating well. It's a horrible feeling not knowing OP but don't give up hope.

ZadieZadie · 11/01/2021 19:31

Oh she's gorgeous! And looks exactly like my wanderer.

I do think that being black makes them harder to spot...

Breathmiller · 11/01/2021 19:33

We got our cat back after she went missing for 2 and a half years!! No one more surprised than us.
She was the runt of the litter when we got her and a timid wee thing. We live VERY rurally and she was found about 6 miles in one direction where there are just hills and nothing else between us and thd house she was found at.

She is now nearly 15 and going strong. We always wonder what tales she could tell of her adventure.

Her brother used to go away for days at a time but she didn't, she was almost a house cat by choice so we had no clue she was so resilient . She pretty much hates going out at all now though.

I hope your lovely cat finds her way home soon
Flowers

gardenbird48 · 11/01/2021 19:34

ours got kidnapped by a neighbour and dumped miles away across a river (she fessed up). He took a while (a couple of years I think) but turned up eventually bless him.

myusernamewastakenbyme · 11/01/2021 19:34

My late cat went missing for 10 days once....she handed herself in to a local cattery...she had a disc on her collar with my phone number so i got her back.

WednesdayAllTheWay · 11/01/2021 19:37

A friend's cat went missing for weeks in sub zero temperatures in northern Scotland. She leafleted far as wide and one day got the call kitty was safe and sound.
Fingers crossed yours comes home.

vampirethriller · 11/01/2021 19:37

My friend's went missing for days and turned up in the bin area behind the local Asda!

Beamur · 11/01/2021 19:38

One of mine went AWOL for 2 nights last year. We were very worried. She turned up, very hungry and pleased to see us! I think she'd got shut in somewhere.

SomewhatBored · 11/01/2021 19:38

My girl cat went missing for over a week. We eventually found her hiding in our detached garage - we'd obviously looked there very thoroughly at the beginning, then crossed it off our list so she must have gone off somewhere and come back there - we always left a window open.

PissedOffAgain · 11/01/2021 19:39

My previous (much missed cat) had form for jumping out of my fourth floor flat window the second the window was opened. Usually just onto the the flat roof below and miaowing immediately to get back up (I used to lower a basket for him to jump into and hoist the basket up). One night he kept going and was missing for around 10-14 days. Looked everywhere and was distraught particularly because it was February and cold. I was convinced he was gone.

I was leaving the house (after said 10-14 days) and heard a miaowing from the behind the bushes and there he was.

Cue cancelling all plans and many hugs and tins of tuna.

He lived to 20 so I'm guessing there were no major ill-effects

Cleverpolly3 · 11/01/2021 19:46

What a lovely cat @tiredvommachine

Do they have an indoor litter tray? If so out it outside as this can help with scent tracking

Also is he neutered? Neutered cats don’t tend to stray as much as if he’s still entire we are not in the thick of kitten season anymore so perhaps he has got stuck somehow

I would ditch the collar too as these sometimes mean they get caught on fences etc and all cats found are checked for a chip if handed into vets

Really hope he’s home soon Flowers

thatonesmine · 11/01/2021 19:47

We had a woman knock at the front door one evening saying "I think my cat's shut in your garage", we checked and lo! there he was. She'd been walking the streets calling him and he'd answered her. She said he'd been missing for a few days.

PippinsOfPogleWood · 11/01/2021 19:49

Oh you poor thing OP. We've had this happen lots of times with various cats. Three times the cat was trapped in nearby storage buildings. Once (different cat) he was shut in nextdoor's shed, another time the same cat followed someone home from the pub and moved in with them. Another cat moved into a local vicarage, and yet another left and returned 6 months later in the middle of a storm. Hope that cheers you up.

The thing that's brought most of them home is putting a note though every local door, everyone within at least a mile. Fingers crossed you'll have a similarly happy outcome.

DuzzyFuck · 11/01/2021 19:52

@ZadieZadie

Oh she's gorgeous! And looks exactly like my wanderer.

I do think that being black makes them harder to spot...

Agree! My wanderer is also entirely black!
Hazelnutlatteplease · 11/01/2021 19:53

Our black panther cat disappears for 4-5 months every year through summer. Turns up as if nothing happened. Started with small disappearances here and there, eventually settled into a pattern

Original poster
tiredvommachine · 11/01/2021 19:55

Thank you so much for all of the stories, I know it might seem pathetic as he's only been gone two days but on top of Covid, it's just the last straw. I will keep hoping and of course update on here with any news. Thank you, you lovely lot x

OP posts: