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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Cat not home - hand holding pls

27 replies

towicymru · 18/04/2013 22:28

Our cat is about 14 (rescue cat - part of family for 8 years) has not come home tonight. He normally only goes outside to do his business and is never out more than an hour or so.

I got home from work about 5 and he was out. He's not back. This is soooo out of character. He is still sprightly - brought a mouse home 3 nights ago that he 'played' with until we caught it & set it free. DH has done a search of local area & no sign.

I'm worried. To make matters worse, it is DS birthday tomorrow so I'm going to have to smile (& hope he doesn't notice).

Is it unusual for a cat to suddenly stay out?

OP posts:

Empross76 · 18/04/2013 22:35

Just wanted to say I hope your cat is back soon. Our cat has stayed away for 24 hours or so before and always just sauntered in with not a care in the world. Once he stayed away for three weeks! Three weeks of worry and heartache for us and then he just reappeared one morning. Never did know where he'd been.
Chin up, sure it will all be okay.

cozietoesie · 18/04/2013 22:35

It is a little - but he could have got himself shut in someone's shed for the evening or something like that. (eg if someone was doing a spot of gardening and then put tools away afterwards.)

It's awful - and I really feel for you. Keep a light on in a room that faces on to the part of the garden he uses and go out and call him before you go to bed.

Best of luck - he'll probably saunter in in 10 minutes with a 'What's your problem?' look on his face!

chickydoo · 18/04/2013 22:46

I've been in your situation and know how awful it can be. One of my cats vanished for 3 days, Posters were up everywhere, knocked on literally hundreds of doors. She was found, safe and warm in someone's garage.
If your cat isn't back by the morning ask around, most cats don't go too far.
I hope you are Ok, stay positive, let us know what happens

Original poster

towicymru · 18/04/2013 22:50

Thanks Empross. Not sure i could cope with 3 weeks of not knowing. I hope you are right cozie. It is just so out of character for him.

On a positive note, if anyone sees him they will know he is ours as he as no tail!!

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 18/04/2013 23:14

That's easy to identify then. Has he got a chip?

Original poster

towicymru · 19/04/2013 06:26

He does have a chip but no phone all yet which I'm hoping means he hasn't been run over.

Kept waking in the night hoping he would be back but no sign.

Hope DS doesn't notice today as its his birthday & he'll be devastated . Will go searching after the school run...

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 19/04/2013 07:25

Best of luck - and a chip is half the battle. I think it's possible that he's got himself shut in somewhere unexpected.

marzipanned · 19/04/2013 07:55

Just here to hand hold. It might be worth doing the posters/door knocking this morning if you've got time, just to encourage people to keep an eye out for him.

I hope he gets home soon and you can all enjoy celebrating your DS' birthday tonight.

ratbagcatbag · 19/04/2013 08:00

Ok this is awful but I hope you get what I mean, when my cat went missing for thirty six hours, I rang the council to see if they picked up any cats that had been hit, the answer was no, this meant I could work backwards knowing, no dead cat collected, no call from vets, likely hood of being in a garage somewhere increasing. It reassured me in a stupid way and yes I found her one estate along, she obviously has my crap navigational skills.
If he doesn't venture far he may have got a bit lost by just venturing a bit further so check tha too. Good luck.

Empross76 · 19/04/2013 09:54

Sorry he hasn't turned up yet. The three weeks was awful, thought we'd never see him again. We put up posters and knocked on doors in our street and the street that backs on to ours. Had lots of phone calls re sightings, but he has an identical sister and lots of other local cats look the same, so nothing came of those.
As I said, we never did know where he'd been, but suspect he ended up shut in somewhere as he came home a lot thinner!
We also got in touch with local vets incase he was found and brought to them.
Hope he comes home today! X.

Original poster

towicymru · 19/04/2013 15:42

Still no sign of him but we live in a quiet cul de sac near a woods. Had a look around and no sign of him. I think he probably is shut in somewhere so fingers crossed someone realises soon! Neighbours are all on the look out...

OP posts:

RightsaidFreud · 19/04/2013 15:48

I feel for you, our boy went missing for 48hrs and I knew something was wrong as like yours, he has a routine and would be in every night. It turned out he was locked in our next door neighbours shed and we heard him crying at 1am when we were out looking for him. I was pretty annoyed because i had gone round and asked both neighbours each side of us to please check their sheds and this one obv hadn't!

Worth a knock on the neighbours doors? Its been very sunny the past few days, lots of people have been doing gardening, so he could have easily got shut in.

Hope he turns up soon

dobby2001 · 19/04/2013 15:54

Hi Towic. Hand holding for you. Our cat, Florrie was missing for 3 weeks and had got trapped in a building that was being converted into flats. Is there anything nearby to you like this? I am just off to take her to the vets for her check up but if you want any info as to what we did to help find her (and give us something to stop fretting!) please feel free to PM me.

Fingers crossed he is home soon x

QueenStromba · 19/04/2013 16:21

Hopefully he'll stroll back in this evening demanding his dinner as if nothing has happened. Could he be off hunting baby rabbits in the woods or something?

StuffezLaYoni · 20/04/2013 10:11

Any news? Crossing fingers here!

Original poster

towicymru · 20/04/2013 15:30

No news yet. As he is a distinctive cat & is chipped I'm holding on to the no news is good news mantra. Luckily DS has been so caught up with his birthday he hasn't noticed! Mind you, our cat does normally curl up on a bed and sleep most of the time that DS probably thinks he is doing that!

I'm feeling more positive today. I think having to be happy for DS helped as well as keeping busy.

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QueenStromba · 20/04/2013 15:52

I'm glad that it hasn't ruined your DS's birthday. I'm still confident that he'll turn up at some point as if nothing has happened. Cats are bastards for that sort of thing. It's not the same at all but our indoor cat picked the first day that we'd opened the sash windows wide enough for her to fit through to completely disappear. After lots of frantic searching we found her under the sofa bed in the office. I'd convinced myself that she'd gotten out and wouldn't find her way back so I'd never see her again.

Have you asked your neighbours to check their garages and sheds? Even if you have it's worth asking again because maybe the first time they thought you were being silly but now that it's been two days they'd actually go and look.

Sparklingbrook · 20/04/2013 16:01

towicymrucat come home immediately.

Fingers crossed x

dobby2001 · 22/04/2013 17:24

any sign of him?

Original poster

towicymru · 25/04/2013 08:14

Good news - He is home!!! One of ours neighbours found him in her garage! She did check before but didn't see him (garage rather full!) and thought that her dog would have barked/gone mad when he was in there and didn't.

Not sure if he was in there all week or not as her kids were in and out with their bikes over the weekend! Took a while to coax him and out and he shot home when he finally came out (with me running behind him!). He was a bit skittish last night but settled after an hour or so. He now seems absolutely fine and is acting as if he was never away. DS is over the moon as you can imagine and now believes in the power of birthday wishes when you blow your candle out!

Thanksyou everyone for the hand holding!

OP posts:

rowrowrowtheboat · 25/04/2013 08:18

Yeah!!!!!

cozietoesie · 25/04/2013 09:26

Sparklingbrook · 25/04/2013 10:49

Yesss!!!. Does cat dance

ZebraOwl · 25/04/2013 11:43

Yay! Very glad to hear he's home safe & sound

dobby2001 · 25/04/2013 15:51

Excellent news! I was only thinking about him today . Sounds like he is OK, but if he is not eating well, try some kitten food as this is smaller chunks with more gravy, and is usually higher in calories. And plenty of water to get fluids up. Although it sounds like he is doing ok.

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