To cut a long story short - my cat was returned to me from abroad after being missing there. I let him outside after only 5 days and now he's missing. I 1000% know it's completely my own fault for letting him out too early. I'm beside myself and don't know what to do. I've looked everywhere but no luck.
Longer version
My 3 year old ex street cat (who I had as an indoor cat for 2 years) went missing for 2 months after the recent earthquakes in Turkey. He was found by a rescue volunteer, kept in a tent for a week on a harness, transported over 20 hours by car to Istanbul, kept there for a week with a different person and then transported here to the UK by road over 3 days. So he's been through a lot.
Once back with us in the UK he settled right back in, seemed to remember his old routine - including not getting on that well with my other cat. They were not full on fighting but my other cat can be quite annoying so there was hissing, growing and smacking from the newly returned cat.
I was advised to wait 3 weeks before letting him out but he squeezed through the cat flap as my other cat was coming in. I panicked but he came back when I called his name and offered him some treats. After that he was just howling at the door to go out and seemed so depressed which is very unlike him as he such a friendly and happy cat. So against my better judgement I thought since he is such a confident cat and very street wise he'll be fine to go out. The second time he went out he disappeared for a couple of hours but came back for his dinner. The third time he went out he disappeared for 7 hours but came back for his dinner. But the last time he went out he didn't come back and it's now been 4 days.
I know that he didn't have enough time to call this place home so I wonder if he ran away since he didn't get on that well with my other cat or if he just wondered too far away and got lost or is even trying to make his way back to our old house in Turkey? There was also a fox in my garden the same night so maybe he got spooked by that.
I just don't know what to do. I literally can't do anything other than just sit around all day crying and hating myself for being so stupid and not following the advice. I've alerted the microchip company, posted on social media, put his litter tray (which my other cat also used so I don't know if that would make it worse since they didn't really get on), his blankets, my and my husband's clothing, his favourite toy outside in the garden. I was putting food out but the fox kept eating it so I'm not sure if I should continue or not? I've also been out at 1am calling him with a tin of sardines. Will also be printing flyers and posters to put up. I live in a big city right in the city centre so there are literally thousands of places he could be 😔
Is there any hope at all that he would return to an unfamiliar place?