Missing dcat ☹️ can you tell me your tales of cats sauntering back in?

[User364837]

We’re away on holiday with a neighbour popping in to feed dcat. She goes in and out through a side window during the day then it’s shut overnight. Last night I saw her go out about 7.45pm on the camera and since then she hasn’t been back 😢. Missed breakfast and tea. She rarely stays out overnight and has never missed a meal. She’s 3. There was a big thunderstorm at home around that time apparently. So it’s over 24 hours now. Have asked neighbours to check garages etc.
got a bad feeling about it 😢
anyone got tales of cats doing that and returning a few days later?

Forgot to say - we’re back tomorrow afternoon, really hoping our voices and presence in the house will attract her back.

Yes when very little my boy cat left for 5 days and came home with a chunk missing from his ear but otherwise happy. Last week he disappeared for 24 hours and showed up as if from nowhere.

Try not to worry. She'll turn up. She's probably a bit confused by you being gone and it's triggered her being a bit more adventurous than usual.

Our old cat vanished a couple of times, for a couple of days, came back a bit grubby and hungry each time. No idea where he went but I assume he got himself stuck somewhere, or shut in a shed.

When he was getting quite elderly he disappeared again - hadn't really been roaming much as his age increased so we were more worried when he wasn't there when we got home from work, didn't come when called, didn't come home for dinner...

Around 8ish there was a knock on the door from one of three enormous Eastern European chaps who houseshared on the next street over. Massive muscular guys, all three looked ex military.

"I have your cat". Totally deadpan.

I wondered for a moment if it was a ransom request or similar, but he beckoned me to go with him and when I got to their house, there was our motheaten old cat snuggled up across the laps of the other two chaps.

"I see your cat always, he lies in the sun on your windowsill. He was there this morning, laying in the sun. A man walked past and shouted at him. He frightened your poor cat."

At this point he drew himself up to his full height and gave me an utterly evil grin

"So I, er, frightened him"

Apparently he'd chased the shouty idiot off, scooped up dcat like a hairy little damsel in distress, and took him home for a day of intensive TLC 😁

Hope your little gremlin is back with you soon!

We had just moved house when our cat escaped and went missing for 7 days. We were really worried as he didnt know the area at all. Just when we'd given up hope, he came in through a window, very hungry and dusty but fine. We assume he'd got locked in a shed or garage. Hope yours returns very soon!

Our last cat went missing for 2.5 months before the lady who fed stray cats in her garden bundled him into a carrier to get the vet to scan his chip. When I turned up to collect him he came running to the sound of my car and let me stroke him and pick him up which she had never managed. He was a bit of a sod.

Thank you everyone, that’s helping

Ask neighbor to put the litter tray outside

She's making you suffer for going away and the heat will play a big part of it. No point going in if you’re not there

i had very good friends, known to the cat, feeding her while I was away. She disappeared, they did everything they could to find her

the day I was due back they were writing me a note (didn’t want to tell me when I was away) saying really sorry we can’t find your cat and she came walking in glaring at them

@Gliblet That’s brilliant :)

My cat disappeared for a few days and returned starving. No idea where he’d been. I hope yours will be there when you get home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c725w3605k3o

I hope your cat's not missing this long, though!

The best thing to do is to Google lost cat behaviour as there is more than one possibility for what has happened and cats don’t tend to stray far. I did however lose one cat after a thunderstorm and he returned 7 days later, he was a very outdoor cat though so hopefully yours won’t take that long.

Mine was gone for 2 weeks recently
Just apeared back like nothing had happened

I kept him in for a week and brought a tracker

Let him out tonight for the first time and I now know which house he is in. Unfaithful git

Ps it is possibly your cat got disoriented and is hiding and when in hiding cats come out to find food at dawn and dusk - so putting something smelly like hot tuna out at this time (albeit not for too long as it will attract strays) may lure them back.

Mine used to go missing to punish me when we went away.

We had a cat (neutered) that would often go for a wander. Longest was for 3 months! He would just reappear. Once he was found inside my son's school, he'd got in and got shut in over half term. I think he just enjoyed a little independence.

We went on holiday and our neighbour was feeding our cats. At the same time our garden was having a complete makeover. We came home to FatCat's collar hanging on the fence and we assumed he'd come to a bitter end. He turned up home a couple of days later both noisy and a bit skinny.

You are not at home. So why should she stick around if her staff haven’t? I’m sure she will be back when you come home.

My DCat went missing last year. I searched the house for her. I went outside and went up and down the street calling her in case she had snuck out. I emailed the whole street either picture. Then three days later, a Neighbour from several doors down (we live in a terrace of town houses - this is relevant) knocked on the door at 1030pm to say he thought his dog had found DC.

His dog (who now receives Christmas presents from us) was barking at his bedroom window which opened on to a small roof that ran the length of the terrace. Neighbour went to find out why dog was going nuts and saw the face of a cat in the window. He then came straight to tell us. I ran all the way upstairs and opened the bedroom window (which only opened a fraction and I thought was too small for DC). 5 minutes later DC sauntered in.

She was fine.

I had a cat that vanished occasionally, he had the odd day where he didn't come home for a day or two and it terrified me. One day he disappeared and didn't come home, I was so upset, I put posts online (very early social media days so not much help like today) and while I was on a missing cat board 3 weeks later, he taps on our back door to be let in!

Would love to know where he went for 3 weeks but he had no idea of the stress he caused me.

One of ours would often wander off when we went on holiday despite neighbours feeding her, and return a few days later. When you get back, do ask your neighbours to check their sheds, garages, even cars in case she was exploring them and got locked in.

A friend's cat disappeared for 3-4 months. They had to sit the children down and break it to them that their pet probably wasn't coming back...

Then the cat walked back through the door and lived for another decade.

Cats are bastards...

Ours did 7 weeks away then just sauntered in. Bit thin and pretty grubby. Really thought we'd lost him for good. Try not to worry. They are monkeys for wandering

Our neighbours cat was missing for 3 months. Then just came home skinny and a bit worse for wear.

We got DCat from a rescue in Feb '20. She was 8yo. We were advised to keep her inside for 6 weeks and then gradually allow her to explore the garden etc.
March '20 we go into lockdown and have that heat wave so all of the doors & windows are open all day. Realise it is impossible to try and keep a cat inside in that scenario. DCat is doing nothing but stepping a few inches outside the back door, having a sniff and coming inside again. Then begins to do the same out of an upstairs window onto the flat roof. I am very impressed at DCat being so sensible and exploring so gradually.
Then DCat disappears, having been last seen stretching in the sun on the flat roof. Later that day, put a message on the street WhatsApp and immediate neighbours have her on their Ring doorbell balancing along their fence a few hours after she'd last been seen on the roof. Eventually reappears at 4am 3 days later, back in through the same window. No idea where she went but she didn't appear any the worse for wear. She's never done anything similar since.
We put her litter tray outside along with her cat bed and bedding off DD's bed as DCat usually slept on DD's bed

She’s back! Saw her come in on the camera just after midnight, only saw her for a second on there but looked fine. Bloomin cats! 😆
glad I didn’t tell the kids anything and kept the worry to myself

I love this story so much! Really made me smile :)

OP, two of our cats have done disappearing acts and later returned (up to a week later!). One of them was missing for three days earlier this week and just turned up as if nothing had happened. When you get home, if your cat isn't back, you could put a post on some local Facebook groups and ask people to check their garages/sheds. That's what we have always done in these situations.

I hope they turn up soon.