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Original poster

My cat is missing and I'm devastated

64 replies

MRSMARMITE3 · 31/12/2021 23:53

Just that really. He went missing just before Christmas. He's been done, microchipped but no one has seen him for 7 days. We moved house 6 week's before and it was his first time out.
Everyone keeps telling me he will have gone back to the old house but we are in the middle of a town now and there's a train line and River in the way. Plus he sprayed our garden before he went over the fence.
Why am I do grief stricken. I keep randomly crying and I feel so guilty. I wish I knew what had happened to him.
I've done all the posters/litter tray/dirty washing outside. He was such a lovely cat. Timid of everyone but followed me round like he was my shadow. No one gets it

OP posts:

LondonQueen · 01/01/2022 03:05

I'm sorry to hear about your cat. I know it might be hard to have hope right now but a neighbours cat was located over 20 miles away and posted in a lost and found group. It's thought he had climbed into a vehicle and then ended up lost, he's now happily back in residence. Don't give up hope!

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 01/01/2022 07:20

It's so horrible when they wander

My girl is a house cat and she escaped not long ago. I was beside myself. She turned up in a neighbours' garden four days later and I had to bribe her out of a hedge with a lump of cheese while simultaneously poking at her with a stick

She was fine. She stunk of engine oil for a few days but had no injuries or anything. She did the same thing a week ago but waited on the windowsill in the garden that time!

She's indoors due to health issues before anyone says she clearly wants to be an outside cat.

Sherwil16 · 01/01/2022 08:57

My cat was missing for over 4 weeks. I had almost given up, but I put a few more posters up locally and had a phone call from someone who thought he'd seen my cat getting out of a skip. I went to the street, which was round the corner from my house, and called for my cat. It was dark out with no traffic around. My cat came out from a garage area at the bottom of flats. The cat went missing twice more and was in the same place each time. He had dropped down and couldn't get back. We've moved now and he hasn't gone missing since. He didn't go far, which I think is true for many missing cats. Good luck with your lovely cat.

nosyboot · 01/01/2022 09:07

Aw I hope he comes back, mine went missing too for a couple of days and that feeling was horrible.

My neighbour's cat was away for nearly 4 weeks I think, in October, and she thought she'd never see him again. Posters up everywhere, bombarded the local facebook page, had us all out looking for him. He walked back through his cat flap stinking of fags and presumably had gone on holiday to someone else's. So there's hope!

OnaBegonia · 01/01/2022 09:19

I would go back to your old house and make them aware he is missing and put posters up in that area. It's not uncommon for them to travel back.

user1471538283 · 01/01/2022 09:29

I'm so sorry. I get it OP. Both of ours have gone missing at different times and I've been a wreck.

He wont be far. As he is so attached to you hang some of your clothing or bed linen on the line and the scent may draw him home. Go out very early or late and look high and low. He might be hiding somewhere. Call him as you are walking home so he can follow your voice.

I hope he returns soon.

SallyWD · 01/01/2022 09:39

I'm so sorry OP. Have you been to your old street and wondered around calling him? I only ask because the same happened to us this year. We moved house and when we finally let our cat out he went back to the old house (quite a distance away!). We went back and after 20 minutes of walking and calling he appeared! He returned a few more times but now seems very settled in the new house. I hope your cat appears soon.

CliveAntichrist · 01/01/2022 09:44

I totally get it. I can't rest if my cat goes missing

Wishing him home very soon x

JustBkind · 01/01/2022 10:07

This is so heartbreaking but have faith, my 20 year old cat has been missing since September (understandably, we thought the worst had happened…she came trotting through the garden on 21st December like she’d never been away! We were flabbergasted! She’s been back most days since but not all! I am sending positive vibes that your cat returns very soon, safe and well. 🤞🏻

Gotmyprincecharming · 01/01/2022 10:12

We had our cat for about 5 years and he went missing but he back after a week or so. Then he went missing again, about 2 weeks. 3rd time he went we were expecting him to turn up at any stage. We live at the edge of town so beside our house is fields and forest and a main road. So months passed and no sign of him coming back, we'd kinda lost hope and kids were missing him thought maybe he'd been run over on the road. Anyway one morning...2 years after he'd last disappeared, there he is sitting on the step of our back door!!! Apart from a few cuts on his head and back he didn't look like he'd been living wild for 2 years. He must have been getting fed somewhere...definitely don't give up!!

torquewench · 01/01/2022 10:17

One of my boys disappeared for 3 weeks, exH went out late at night every night for the first week calling him and rattling Dreamies, nothing. Tried again after another 2 weeks and he sauntered back through his cat flap at 3 am demanding food. Still wearing his collar and not looking dishevelled. Fingers crossed for you OP.

RedRobyn2021 · 01/01/2022 10:24

My cat who used to be an indoor cat (he is a birman and you aren't meant to keep them inside) but I started letting him out in the evening for maybe an hour years ago, he went to stay at my parents whilst I was on holiday for a week, they kept him in which usually he isn't bothered about when at their house. However on this occasion he went out, probably a window accidentally left open or something. He went missing for 10 days. I was devastated. I put up posters, went on Facebook on all the local groups. We had a sighting at one point and ended up wading through rubble and stinging nettles. Anyway, one day a farmer messaged me on fb and he had managed to cross an extremely busy A road to this farm and he was hiding there. Makes me tear up thinking about it. I went there immediately with my baby, and the moment he heard my voice he came running over. He had lost a lot of weight (he's not much of a hunter) I think he had gotten lost.

My point is, your cat could be absolutely fine. Especially if he is used to being outside. Post on local pages, ask around. Beg people to let you know if they see him. I'm so sorry it's really horrible I know.

RedRobyn2021 · 01/01/2022 10:25

Sorry that was meant to say, you're meant to keep them inside

Frazzledbutcalm · 01/01/2022 10:37

When I was young ours went missing for months - he suddenly turned up one day, very skinny and bedraggled - he’d obviously been locked in somewhere.
A couple of years ago, our cat was missing for 13 days - he turned up, scaled a 6 foot fence, climbed through an upstairs window and flopped down purring. I knew something was very wrong though - turns out he’d broken his pelvis in 5 places How he made it home like that is nothing short of a miracle! He recovered - but we lost him a few months ago - very suddenly and unexpectedly

As he’s chipped, if he’s found and taken to a vet, you’ll be informed. I hope he returns in his own time, the worry and heartbreak until then is agony. I’m sorry you’re going through this ❤️

cantgetmyheadroundit · 01/01/2022 10:52

One of mine went for 12 weeks once. Don't know where he'd been, but he came back all hench and bedraggled. We emptied the inside of the hoover in the garden, on the advice here, and it seemed like it worked. Don't lose hope.

mrsprefect · 01/01/2022 11:06

I know how you are feeling, I was like an insane person when my cat went missing, I couldn't rest or eat or focus on anything. He was eventually found via his microchip and a charity that I had been in touch with- he had been gone five weeks and showed up on the other side of town, I think he must have jumped into a van. My wee darling, it was the best day of my life the day he came home. I hope the same happens for you.

timtam23 · 01/01/2022 11:47

Sorry to hear about your cat. Do keep hoping, there's every chance he will turn up. Long before social media was a thing, a cat of mine went missing and after 10 days or so I gave up hope, thought I would never see him again...he suddenly turned up at my back door filthy and absolutely reeking of tar/bitumin so I wondered if he'd been stuck in some roadworks/a building site or something. More recently my then-young cat went missing for 3 days, I was beside myself and so upset but again he turned up suddenly at 3am on the fourth day. We think he had got shut in somewhere. I'm on a local Facebook group for cat owners and I would say the vast majority of cats that are posted as missing, do come home eventually. Some have returned after a very long time so please don't feel all is lost

MistandMud · 01/01/2022 13:47

@JustBkind

That's astonishing!

Kinsters · 01/01/2022 14:11

Our cat went missing July 2020 and we haven't seen her since. Its devastating to start with but it gets easier x

Moretodo · 01/01/2022 18:29

Cat might have got disorientated and being cared for / taken in by someone.

Crazycatlady202020 · 01/01/2022 18:32

I really hope that he has just gone on an adventure and that he returns to you soon x

lollipoprainbow · 01/01/2022 18:37

So sorry. our beloved cat went missing last year and I was distraught and couldn't stop crying. We scoured the streets looking, put up posters and put an alert out on social media. He was gone for three days before we found him outside in the communal gardens (despite searching there already) there was another post of someone whose cat had got into a van and been driven for miles to another town she managed to track him down ages later and got him back so never give up hope

lastandfurious · 01/01/2022 19:19

We've lost our 1 year old cat twice since we've had him: he disappeared for 3 weeks in the summer, and then he went missing for a week in October.
Each time I posted on every local facebook page I could find-neighbourhood ones and cat/missing pet ones. I also printed off leaflets and put through doors of our street and adjoining. Make sure you do your old street in case he has tried to go back.
He has come back each time, but it is so worrying. FIngers crossed for you.

Newnamefor2021 · 01/01/2022 19:28

I'm so sorry! How devastating for you. Our cat went missing just before lockdown 2020. We couldn't really look for her in the same way due to the lockdown. It was awful.

Not to give false hope but in March 2021 (yep a whole year later) we had a call from a vet asking about our missing cat! She has been few streets away for months. Wouldn't go near them but lived under their hedge and they fed her. She's now sat on my lap watching Doctor who! She still goes out by stays close and spends most of her time in.

Hope you find your cat.

leotardrock · 03/01/2022 21:25

Has anyone actually managed to locate a cat & either catch it or trap it or have all your cats just come back by themselves?

We had a sighting of our cat, borrowed a trap from cats protection, had trap down with food for 5 hours per day for 5 nights no bloody sign of him! Caught rats & other cats! 🙄 We gave up.

We're currently using a battery operated motion sensor camera around the estate to try & find him again!

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