We got a rescue cat 4 days ago. He seemed to be settling in well. However, we had a netting over the back door and he's somehow managed to escape outside and somehow get out of our supposedly cat proof garden. DH immediately went searching and found him about 100 meters away. Before he could catch him, the cat spooked and has run away out of sight.
The cat is chipped, neutered, healthy, but clearly in a strange area and is unlikely to find his way home. He could be up to half a mile away hiding. We're going to inform the charity we adopted him from and keep looking. We're also going to post something on the local site.
I feel pretty guilty. I believed we had cat proofed and we hadn't. We've let down a senior cat who's already been through a hard time. We wanted to give him a good home, and we've fucked up. I'm not sure what to do for the best.