Where is my cat? Getting worried.

[perplexedpirate]

My mum's cat came to live with us on Friday. This afternoon she's disappeared. We don't think she can have got out, and we've tried shouting and shaking food and got no response.
We've looked everywhere and i'm getting frantic.
Any advice anyone?
Please help. I want my cat.

do you mean you think she's in the house somewhere? or sneaked out?

Check behind the furniture. My cat once fell down the back of a bookcase into a ridiculously small space. No way would I ever have imagined she could have fitted in there. Poor thing was so terrified, she couldn't make a sound so it was ages before we found her.

In the loft/trapped in a cupboard/ snuggled somewhere warm?

mine hid up the chimney once...

Airing cupboard? Under beds? She's probably scared by the transplantation so the food-shaking may not help.

If there's no sign by bedtime, mark the level on the food and water before you go to bed. Then check in the morning - bet they'll have gone down.

They're like octopuses... they can fit into a much smaller space than you'd think.

Check behind everything, even if you think the gaps are too small.

Check way in the back of every cupboard, they burrow into clothes and bedding so you can barely see them.

Check under the duvets on the beds, they don't always make as big a bump as you'd think.

Check all the high places, tops of kitchen cabinets, tops of wardrobes, shelves, etc..... they can jump a lot higher than you think

Find the warmest cosiest spot in the house.... check there with a fine tooth comb (hot press/near tumble drier/near range/etc)

Oh, and up the chimney, you'd be surprised how common that is!

Thank for replies everyone. She's not a very outdoorsy cat so I can't imagine she'd go far even if she did manage to get out somehow.
I just can't imagine where she is. We've looked all over the house. We'll do that with the food and water, hope it'll solve this mystery.

It's nerve-wracking isn't it? If you're pretty sure she hasn't got out, the odds are that she's found herself a private spot and is hunkered down. There's always a little worry that they'll have got themselves in a spot they can't get out of but she's probably fine - and if she's not that happy in the new place yet, your best bet, after checking the obvious places, is probably to back off - the noise and commotion of you searching and calling might have made her more determined than ever just to stay put.

As mentioned above, leave out some food (a few slices of ham usually works - although you may not wish to set that precedent!), water and litter tray and leave the doors (including cupboard doors) ajar so that she can slink around if she wants. Then go about your normal business, preferably having a quiet evening. If no sign by bedtime, go to bed - and the odds are that the food will have gone or she'll have reappeared by morning.

My current senior cat did this for weeks when he first came to this house - and we've still never worked out where he went!

Any sign yet, OP?

She's just turned up! Standing in the hall like butter wouldn't melt. We've just come back from an hour of driving around looking for her and she hasn't been out at all!
She must have a secret hidey hole we couldn't find.

Note to self, do not meltdown if this happens again.

And thanks for all your suggestions everyone.
You are wise in the ways of cats and I'm sure I'll be calling on the litter tray wisdom again soon.

So not in Essex, getting chased by the police?

Glad she turned up, perplexed. Much relief to you I imagine.

Excellent! Give her a fuss and have some .

She is smug and full of tuna. The devil.

Cat 1 - Perplexed 0.

That's usually the way of things, I'm afraid.

Glad she turned up. She was probably in some cosy hidey-hole, laughing at your attempts to find her!

Bet she was behind the TV cabinet hiding under the wires at the back. A cat I was catsitting for did this and I freaked out and thought she's escaped! Searched the whole place inch by inch. Glad you've found her. She'll settle down in time.

Glad she turned up!!

But truth is you may never know where she was.

My cat has a secret sleeping place that only he knows, In 2 years i still haven't worked out where it is!!!!

When my nan's cat came to live with us, he used to pop over to my Nan's to visit her; once a week without fail. He'd come by, have a sit on her knee and the toddle back to us.

Shed become to frail to care for him and she loved his visits. Bless him.

And Nan. x