I need a hand hold ...

[thecatneuterer]

My beautiful cat, Wellington, went missing from my garden around four weeks ago. I have high fences, and it's gardens onto gardens. As he was a bit lame he never left my garden, except to go into the house, as the fences were too high. One day, he wasn't there any more. I put notes round the neighbours. Nothing. I had to assume that he had had a heart attack or similar and his body had been taken away by foxes.

And now Napolean has disappeared in exactly the same way. He was also lame and not able to manage the fences. It's only been 24 hours but I can't help fearing the worst as it's just the same scenario. But how can two healthy cats suddenly drop dead like that? It's too much of a coincidence. But I can't think of any other explanation. My foxes are very timid and submissive and wouldn't attack a live cat.

I'm beside myself with worry. I don't need advice. I just want empathy/sympathy/to talk about it.

Here's a photo of Wellington with his favourite little girl cat.

That's awful, maybe get a camera up so you can see if something is going on? Hopefully Napolean will be back soon and just found a hole in the fence or something?

Not sure where you are based but this was reported recently in which case hopefully the cats would escape and find their way home via a kind mnetter & a microchip scanner?

It is awful waiting and not knowing, fingers crossed

Sheds and garages are always likely in nice weather too, maybe worth flyering the neighbourhood?

Thanks for replying. Yes all the neighbours are great and have found missing cats for me before. But those have always been cats that have gone out for the first time and forgotten how to get home. But as I said, these two weren't physically capable of leaving the garden. I have put notes round, and will do it again for Napoleon tomorrow, but in the circumstances I am fearing the worst.

I just don't understand how!! One sudden death and body being taken away possibly. Two though? How can that be!

I have thought about a camera. I can't really suspect foul play though as there is no access to the roads. It's all gardens onto gardens with high fences and pleasant neighbours. So really no human can have taken them.

I have asked them to check sheds. But as neither cat was capable of leaving my garden it just seems so unlikely. But all scenarios seems unlikely. I'm driving myself mad thinking of what could have happened.

And then of course I'm worried for the other 24 odd cats in my care and am keeping a mental check list of them all.

Have you checked for fence gaps and is there a gate into the garden?

I did manage to find a small hole in the fence. I looked over the fence and there was certainly no sign of a cat in that garden, which also had high fences. Wellington I'd had around five years, and he never left the house/garden, and Napoleon only around 10 weeks..

Maybe ask your neighbour if you can check that garden tomorrow? Cats can get through surprisingly small gaps, maybe another cat or other animal came into your garden and spooked your cat who is now a bit disorientated and hiding out nearby?

I also lived in London at one point and there were 'issues' in the neighbourhood - so I kept Darling Twoago in the house. (He went outside when we moved later on.)

I still think I'd keep an eye out for foxes though - this is the time of the year when the young are being abandoned by the vixens and they'll sometimes still hunt in litter-packs for a short time. (We have a very large urban fox population here and I've actually seen it in the depths of the night. I'm thinking that both the boys who disappeared were lame and maybe not as able to defend themselves as other cats might have been. Was it at night that they disappeared?)

Awful for you, TCN. It's always the 'not-knowing' that's the very devil.

I'm very sorry to hear that 2 of your much loved cats have disappeared in such a short time, especially given your devotion to your feline friends.
It's a very odd situation, given that it is so out of character for them and their general mobility. I take it that there's no possibility that they got out the front of the house, but I'm surmising you have systems in place to prevent this.
I really hope you find out what has happened to them

So sorry TCN, it is horrible not knowing what has happened. I hope both cats do miraculously come home. Were they elderly or unwell apart from being lame?

Oh and naturally I offer a hand hold (and would volunteer to help with your charity, but live 100's of miles away).

Thanks everyone. Well Napoleon is back! I'd just printed out all the flyers and went into the kitchen to find the drawing pins and plastic wallets, and there he was looking at me! So I can only assume that he's not as lame as he was claiming and in fact went for a bit of a wander. In normal circumstances I wouldn't have panicked so quickly. It was just that it came so soon after Welly's disappearance.

Cozie while I agree that some hungry foxes could possibly be a threat, my foxes certainly aren't. For a start they're never that hungry. They know that if they come and press their noses against the patio doors and look at me sorrowfully they will get fed. They have me very well trained. They are quite scared of the cats and won't even approach the food if a cat is there. So while I can believe they would take a body I am sure they wouldn't attack a live cat.

I still wish I knew what had happened to Wellington though. As people have said, it's the not knowing that is really the killer.

Timtam - no Wellington wasn't unwell, but he was middle aged/late middle-aged, so a sudden heart attack or stroke wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility.

That's great news!
Do you think Wellington may have got onto the road and either got into someone's vehicle (I've known this to happen) or ran over (sorry) or trapped?

Yay for Napoleon coming home! Everything crossed for Wellington now, perhaps he did get out as Napoleon seems to have done so.

Rarity. No, no cats ever get out of the front of my house. For a start he never even tried to go out the front, and anyway I have a porch so operate a sort of 'air lock' system when opening the front door.

And if by some miracle he had got out he would have just sat there crying at me to let him in again.

Hurrah! May I suggest this for future use?

Timtam - well I suppose anything is possible. But Nappy (as I like to call him:) ) is a relative newcomer and so I can't be 100 per cent sure of his habits. Welly on the other hand never left the garden in five or six years. Also of course I've flyered the neighbouring gardens, knocked on doors. If he were around somewhere I'm sure I'd know about it.

Always: I do use Loc8tor for cats I deem 'at risk'. That is cats going out for the first time or obviously ill cats. But it's very hard to keep collars on them (I've frequently located the collar minus the cat) also 20 something tags is a lot to deal with.

Nappy was wearing a Locator for a while but managed to lose the collar almost daily so I gave up.

I though you'd have tried and tested measures, given the sheer numbers of cats you have.
I hope Nappy turns up too.

Glad he's back. I think I'd still guard against the possibility of foxes though. The local foxes as in the ones I see are scroungers not hunters, but we've still had the odd one that hunts on our 'territory'. I had an elderly female killed in my sight, despite the fact the regulars could be seen off by confident chickens. And at the same time some perfectly healthy non roaming cats vanished, along with other animals and various poultry. An extra piece of wire fencing extending both ways over the fence so it forms a T seems to work if that's practical otherwise with cats/ neighbours etc. I know foxes can jump but something like that puts them off if there's easier pickings elsewhere. And it's not normally the tiny agile scroungers that are the ones to guard against. However I hope I'm wrong and he turns up soon.

It is tricky to keep the loc8ors on but they are great when they work. Had to retrieve one sans cat from the middle of a very large bramble patch yesterday - that was fun!

If you come up with a foolproof cat herding measure let us know, I have no idea how you keep track of so many - must be a constant job