My cat is missing

[Lostcat]

My cat has gone missing and I’m not coping . She’s honestly the most gorgeous and special animal you could imagine. She’s so loving and friendly and playful. She was born the same time as my latest DC and they’ve been growing up together.

She went out last night and didn’t come back. Partner and I were up every hour looking for her. This morning we’ve texted all the neighbours, posted in local WhatsApp and fbk groups, called the vet, reporting her missing on her microchip, put little and dirty clothes, food outside… we are going to print some leaflets and posters .. anything else?

our neighbour said he saw her last night when his dog chased her round the corner 😡.

Please share your positive cat stories.

we love her so much. She’s DD1’s pride and joy.

Check any trees around you! My cat has on 2 occasions been treed by a dog, the first time she was up there 2 days.

Don't give up hope. It's really not unusual for a cat to go AWOL for a few days.
If no one has suggested this yet, go out once it gets dark and take a torch. Shine torch around while calling - easier to see their eyes that way.
She's almost certainly close to home but a bit spooked. Shake dreamies and put strong smelling food outside to tempt her home.

I can imagine how upset you are but most cats don't go too far. She was probably scared by the dog chasing her and is lying low somewhere.
Hopefully she will come back soon. 😿

Airtags not recommended for pets.

It sounds like you got a duff brand, you can get ones that you press the button when you want to activate them and the battery is barely used, ours last 6 months (used daily because our cat likes playing hide and seek).

Also depends on the size of the cat, smaller cats you don't want to get one of the regular size trackers because it's too heavy for them. Need just a basic proximity one.

If she was chased by a dog she may be scared and hiding or have left her territory. Try going further afield after dark when it’s quiet, calling her. No news is good news and it hasn’t been long. Likely she’s fine. Good luck.

Mine came back after 5 days. He was scared and a bit bedraggled. And sooooo thirsty!
He drank loads, slept for about 12hrs and wee'd all over my bed. I forgave him!!

Make sure you look up - she could be in a tall hedge, up a tree, or in my brothers case, on the roof of a bungalow!! Hope you find her x

Seriously @Lostcat don’t feel bad about the tracker , cats are always losing their collars so a tag isn’t foolproof .

Our little tortie girl has done this a 3 times now, scares us very time. Each time she was in a garage or shed and we found her by knocking on doors and asking people to check. Or once by opening a shed on farm property and she was in there, no doubt chasing mice

But if she was chased by a dog, she might just be hiding in a bush. I would go round calling on her and rattling a treat bag. Make sure you stop and listen as well, in case you miss her cry.

What do you use out of interest?

I think it doesn’t help that our area is a bit crappy signal-wise.

I have had cats go missing and I totally relate to the sick with anxiety feeling, it feels hopeless.

Your cat is almost certainly lying low nearby after being chased by that dog. I would wait for it to get dark and, if she's not home, go out in that direction calling her name and listening for a reply. Keep up the facebook campaign if it goes on beyond the next day or two, check if your insurance may offer a reward as that gets people looking.

Take heart from the fact that you haven't heard any news that she has had an accident.

Hope she comes back or you find her very soon and your torment comes to an end. We have always found our missing cats ourselves and generally trapped in a nearby shed. There is nothing like the relief when they are home!

I hope this helps

Look for her very early mornings. She had probably not gone far.

I’ve had several stray cats living in my garden, one (feral) for 10 years with sadly noone looking for him and one for three months and I finally found the owner (teenage boy and mum) who cried their eyes out. And a kitten who had gone extremely far but I found the owners. Don’t give up hope.

My dumbass cat disappeared for over a week. I was beside myself like you. She just strolled in one morning as if nothing had happened. The cat flap has since been removed

Our cat went missing for several days and walked in like nothing had happened on Christmas Day! He got a very special dinner that day.

As others have said, it's not unusual for cats to go missing for 24 hours. They get up to all sorts and can get stuck in places like garages without people realising.

Keep calling out at regular intervals. Post on local lost pet sites too, most are found that way. Good luck.

My cat has went missing but we left a window open so he could climb through it which he did.
You might not be able to do that though. I have a large German shepherd so wasn't worried about people getting through it.
Also put a poster up in local vets and notice on their Facebook page. I had one missing a week was found this way.
Lastly (to cheer you up) if you are out and see another cat say out loud "tell tiddles he has to come home now please!" Strangely it seems to work?
Hope your wee cat comes home soon it's an awful worry 🌼

Thank you all so much for your messages , it’s definitely given me some encouragement.
The difficulty is that we are in a city with lots of private gardens that we cant really see into. Thats where she likes to hang out . We’re trying to reach out to all the neighbours and asking them to check their garages/ sheds/ gardens . We’ve been out looking and calling so often. The thing that really worries me is she usually comes running to me if I call for her, or if she’s further away, and can’t get to me immediately , she’ll meow/ call back. But I’ve been out so many times and just nothing- no sign of her. :(

I feel for you OP, Cats are so worrying, the little buggers.

A few weeks ago DP's cat went missing. He's very old, skinny, in poor health and reliant on medication. He was being a pain during the night so DP put him out, and then he didn't come back. DP was beside himself with guilt - and so he should have been. We all looked, we were knocking on doors, combing through undergrowth etc. Lots of tears etc. Resigned ourselves to the worst, then a week later a vet phoned saying they had him. I think there's a touch of senility going on and he just wandered off and forgot the way home. A couple picked up him, fed him and took him to the vet where they scanned his chip. The town FB page was very helpful, which I admit is easier in a small town.

He's back now, with no apparent ill effects.

Someone told me to ask the early morning postman to look out, that they often see cats in the mornlng. Don’t know if it’s true. Could you put up notes with a photo of your cat?

Is she chipped? Is the chip address up to date - if not, get it corrected immediately.

We've had cats missing a long way up a tree (4 times, rescued after 3 days with a) a ladder b) a climber with full kit c) a passing cherry picker d) the fire service), on top of a gasholder, inside an empty house being visited occasionally by the new owner, in a neighbour's cellar stealing all their cat food, in a house 1/4 mile away, having dodged 2 dogs to settle themself on the owner's bed. Usually they reappear when you've just spent an entire day creating and distributing posters.

We got a 'tracker' for our cat (airtag in a collar). We live very rurally and I hadn't appreciated it needed to "bounce" off iphones to work - so it just showed him occasionally at random spots rather than all the time. Then on day 3 he pulled it off and left it in a hedge. Took us ages to go find the stupid airtag!!

Locally a housecat cat escaped from a carrier at the vets in the carpark, not near it's home. The little cat turned up, near the vets car park, three weeks later. Hungry but otherwise unharmed. Cats are very resilient and it's far more likely yours will turn up than not. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

Like this total arsehole cat

No advice as my cat is a house cat who doesn’t ever try to leave 😅 however a positive outcome, a colleagues cat recently went missing, she was sighted in the local area by neighbours after colleague had informed them/put up missing posters etc and the cat gave colleague the run around for weeks when she was going to try and catch her when she was sighted. 3 weeks later she just turned up scratching at the door. She had some minor cuts on her face so they think she got into a scuffle with another cat/animal and was scared to come home at first
Fingers crossed for your cats speedy return 🤞🏼

I completely understand how worried you must feel! You’ve already received some great advice, but I'd like to share something that worked for me when my own cat went missing—it might be helpful since I haven’t seen it mentioned here yet.
A few years ago, our cat disappeared for five days, and we were frantic, just like you. We did everything we could think of: putting up posters, talking to neighbours, calling local vets, and even checking with the council. But then I decided to spend some time searching online, and that’s how we finally found him! Another cat had attacked him, and he’d lost his collar. Luckily, a local cat charity had taken him in, and they posted his photo online. I recognized him instantly! The Cat charity was a couple of miles away, full of cats, but he was safe and so happy to see us. He let out the loudest miaow when he saw us.
So please, check online sources—you never know what might turn up! We learnt our lesson the hard way and we updated the information on his cat chip as soon as we got him back. I truly hope you’re reunited with your lovely pet very soon.

My old boy was the most clingy cat ever and he vanished one night from the back door
I was distraught but kept reminding myself that before me he survived 4 years on the streets
I did hundreds of flyers, flooded Facebook, rang vets, everything and not one sighting

8 days later I heard hammering on the front door and my neighbour yelling come quick he's back. Just walked in like nothing had happened. Not a clue where he was for that time

I would say Facebook is good, any missing cat groups as I've seen one just go back to the owner after 2 years missing because someone saw a photo of a cat in a garden and thought "isn't that the missing cat from 2 years ago?"