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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Please give me some "my cat did a legger then turned up fine" stories, just do I can hope!

139 replies

AllRoadsLeadBackToRadley · 24/09/2017 21:19

I know it's not the most devastating thing in the world- people live through worse...but...

We have four house cats. One of them has somehow escaped (kitchen window, we think).

We've been calling him all day and shaking his food, but he's still gone!

Will he be ok out there? He's a house cat- n9t used to going out!

He's now been missing for 24 hours.

OP posts:

mycatloveslego · 25/09/2017 16:06

Any sign of your Cat yet Allroads? Thinking of you, so horrid when they're missing.

Fekko · 25/09/2017 16:08

We had a big old tom who would wanted off for weeks on end then turn up fat as ever. He obviously had another home!

AnneElliott · 25/09/2017 16:33

Two of mine have done this to me; the first one was 2 streets away but she could find her way back.

Second one went for a week but turned up at another family's house and they saw her on FB.

BananasAreGood · 25/09/2017 16:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cunningstunnt · 25/09/2017 16:35

Mine went missing for 8 months and still came back!

mrsdolittle · 25/09/2017 17:01

One of my previous cats went missing for about a week some years ago. He was quite young and had only had cat flap rights for a month or so. He disappeared one evening between Xmas and new year. I was distraught. I did posters and flyers and door knocked right around the estate. I ran and walked for miles calling him. I had the worse New Year. After a week I had completely given up hope. He was so young and we had had the most appalling freezing cold wet weather and I couldn't see him surviving on his own. I thought he had been hit by a car and was hurt or dead somewhere. Then one evening we all went out to friends down the road. I had to pop back for something and found he had come back - he and the dog were all loved up together on the sofa! He was skinny and very hungry and thirsty and so very very pleased to be home! He'd been missing a week and I am sure he was shut in somewhere (he was clean and dry but his paws were scuffed). He definitely didn't choose to be missing. I was sooo happy that evening!!! And he learnt his lesson and never disappeared again.

Fingers crossed that your little fella will be home very soon x

sadiemm2 · 25/09/2017 17:01

One of my cats was dumped at a monastery, and the monks became too attached (not allowed in the monastic life apparently) so I rehomed her. She turned out to have an enormous pair of balls which were removed very quickly. St Theresa was renamed Jordan, then proceeded to disappear in a semi regular basis. Went in the corner shop, and got locked in the store cupboard, locked in a neighbours shed, locked in a neighbours entry, sheds, garages, local church..... He used to bring home dead squirrels, rats mice, birds, once a hedgehog and was killed by a fox. He once disappeared for 10 days, and returned fat, clean, with a collar on. Hope your cat turns up.

RainyDayBear · 25/09/2017 17:02

Mine was gone all day - unusual for him. DP and I walked round the block with treats and checked the main road etc. He turned up around 8pm absolutely terrified of something, would only eat his food if I sat in the kitchen with him. He's a really confident cat so something had really spooked him, we reckon he was shut in a garage or something.

I hope he comes back soon

PanannyPanoo · 25/09/2017 17:09

My friend had a stray hanging around the garden for a month or so, he used to come and play with her similar looking cat, eat his food but wouldn't be petted. When she eventually managed to catch him she took him to the vet who found a microchip. He was about 2 miles from home and had been missing for 3 years! He was reunited with his identical twin brother and the families still swap xmas cards 5 years later.
Hope your cat turns up safe and well. (Sooner than 3 years though!)

Aquamarine1029 · 25/09/2017 17:12

I didn't read the entire thread, and someone has probably mentioned this, but you should put some of the dirty cat litter in an open container outside. Cats can smell it from very far away and it is very effective for bringing cats back home. Hope you find him!

TwoFs · 25/09/2017 17:13

Ours went missing for 3 days a few years ago. She only ever went out into the back garden but managed to get out the front when my DP left the front door open. I leafleted and spoke to all the neighbours and one of them found her in their basement window well. I think she just couldn’t figure out how to get to the back door/cat flap. I hope yours hasn’t gone far and comes back soon.

user1465335180 · 25/09/2017 17:27

One of the family cats went missing for five days. He turned up in the back garden as if nothing had happened. I went around the neighbours asking if they'd had their sheds open in case he'd got trapped and discovered that a least three other people were feeding him!

SnooGliffer · 25/09/2017 17:32

Mine went missing for a fortnight. I'd given up hope. In true cat style though she turned up the night before we were going on holiday. It was massively inconvenient. She appeared about 7pm, we were flying early the next morning so no time to book the cattery.

My lovely parents came and collected her and suffered her disgusting farts and litter tray offerings as she'd been eating god knows what for a fortnight.

I was really happy to have her back though, despite how the above may read!

TopBitchoftheWitches · 25/09/2017 17:33

My boy cat went for a year, turned up again, I got him castrated then he went for another two years.

He has been back with us for about 4 years now.

Pengweng · 25/09/2017 17:34

We were cat sitting my nan's cat for her while she went travelling (for 6 months!). She lived in Southern Ireland, we lived in Belfast.

Short story is cat escaped and we assumed had met with some unfortunate accident or another family had taken it in as she had no collar and this was about 20 years ago and the cat wasn't chipped.
9 months!!! later the bloody cat shows up just as we are about to move house. It was so matted and looked like she had been roughing it for a while. My nan at this point didn't seem to want her back so we kept her and she never ran away again.

I hope your cat comes back. It is a horrible feeling. xx

imnotalpharius · 25/09/2017 17:36

One of mine went missing in the November and we had a call in the February from a vet who'd scanned her and found her chip!

TheSockGoblin · 25/09/2017 17:39

I had one who left for three years, then casually walked back into the house like nothing had happened! (she didn't like the new baby)

Another who got scared by fireworks only a few days after moving to a new area. He was gone for 3 days but made his way home.

If it's a house cat putting clothing you have worn outside as well as used litter tray gravel (grim but it's distinctive smelling!) can help them find their way home if they aren't used to being outside / the area. Worked for us with the cat that ran off with fireworks.

Dodie66 · 25/09/2017 17:58

Does anybody know what happened about the cat that went missing from the chattery? There was a thread but I haven't eeen it for a while

Dodie66 · 25/09/2017 17:59

That should say cattery

ringthelandline · 25/09/2017 18:07

Ours went missing for 6 weeks. We put posters up round our small village and went round the lanes calling for him every night and sobbing
One evening DH was in the garden and he just wandered in as if nothing had happened. We never found out.

It's awful for you, but don't give up hope.

Allthelightsgoout · 25/09/2017 18:12

My friend lost a cat years ago. She was distraught, put up flyers etc. Looked for him for months.

FOUR years later she heard a cat crying in her garden. Ignored it and after a few days opened the back door to do something and het cat trotted in and went to where his food bowl used to be and yowled at her as if to say 'where's my dinner'?. Chip confirmed it was her cat. God knows where he'd been.

Where I work a cat turned up and it was very affectionate and needy but seemed well fed and healthy. She was obsessed with me and let me cuddle her every day and she had no fleas etc. Someone at work stated she belonged to her neighbour just up the road so I left it as she seemed so happy and healthy. After about 3 mths someone took her to a local vet and turned out she was chipped and lived 9 miles away from where I work and had never lived locally to my work either so God knows what she was doing.

So it's very possible but possibly more likely something bad happened? Sorry! So prepare for that in case.

RubyReins · 25/09/2017 18:17

He was missing for three months one winter. Turned up fine as though nothing had ever happened. He goes AWOL from time to time but always comes back. Neutered male so no wild oats being sown. No clue where he goes.

fiorentina · 25/09/2017 18:58

We had a cat hanging out in our garden for a while, fed it as it was hungry and eventually after advertising it locally we took it to the vet to check for a chip. It had come from several miles away and had been missing 6 months. We returned it home..!

LittleLionMansMummy · 25/09/2017 19:42

One of ours went missing for a few days. We'd just about given up hope when he turned up out of the blue - on Christmas Day! Sadly he was too adventurous though and only made it a year old before crossing a road and getting hit. If your cat isn't used to being out, could be lying low until it's quieter before attempting to return.

Both our current cats have gone missing for 24 to 48 hours a couple if times. Both returned home unscathed but hungry.

LittleLionMansMummy · 25/09/2017 19:46

Dh just made me laugh and I had to share. He said they no longer turn up hungry, they're more likely to return with a suitcase and a tan! We think they've sussed out which neighbour serves the nicest food...

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