Is my cat missing?!

TwoWithCurls · 2025-04-24T20:53:49+00:00

I don’t really know what I want from this… maybe some reassurance? We’ve had our cat for nearly 6 weeks. She’s been going outside since we’d had her 2 weeks. She’s quite easily startled, so generally doesn’t choose to leave the garden, apart from a handful of times, and only at night. last week she left the garden at night, and came home with no collar and a tail pull injury. She was given anti-inflammatories by the vet, and her tail is pretty much fully recovered. The vet said no need to keep her in. Its been a week since she hurt herself, and she’s chosen not to leave the garden until today. Oddly, she left at the time I normally feed her, which she normally can’t wait for! She has not returned, and that was 5 hrs ago! The longest she’s been gone before was 2 hours, when she returned injured. I’m so worried and the kids are upset too, as they’re used to cuddling her before bed. Am I right to be worried? Or I am I panicking over nothing? just keep thinking she’s caught in the same place, by her tail, and this time can’t get free. Any reassurance or advice? Thanks.

caringcarer · 25/04/2025 03:15

Try keeping you cat in after about 7pm at night. My cats come and go as they please throughout the day but mostly stay in the house or garden. I call them in at 7pm for dinner and then close their flap. DH opens flap at about 6.30-7.0am in the morning. I hope she's speyed otherwise she'll come home pregnant as cat mating season March/April/May.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 25/04/2025 06:21

She disappeared at the usual feeding time, and is neutered. She has now missed her dinner yesterday, and breakfast this morning. I’ve put a post on the village Facebook, and can only pray she turns up.

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WonderingWanda · 25/04/2025 06:33

Try not to panic too much yet op. The first time your cat goes awol is nerve wracking. Fingers cross she's just gone exploring or is cheating on you and has found a cosy sofa to snuggle on. You could knock on doors etc locally as with the nice weather she might've gone in a shed or garage. Hope she's back soon.

worrisomeasset · 25/04/2025 17:46

Friends of ours whose cat went missing were advised by their vet to empty their vacuum cleaner debris onto a tray and put it out in their garden. The cat returned.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 26/04/2025 18:37

We have done the vacuum thing already. Still no luck. She’s been gone for over 48hrs now. Missed 7 meals. We’ve been all over the neighbourhood several times, in daylight and darkness, posted on social media for all the surrounding villages. Will be going out again tonight, to call for her and look under bushes etc. we’re running out of options at this point. I just keep begging her to come back, in my head. Which is really, really tragic. It’s so sad without her, and I just feel so bad for her. She’s only 2, and had two homes already, before we got her from the rescue. She had very fixed routines here, so it’s unthinkable she’d suddenly decide to drop them all and go off for a few days, by choice. It seems a near certainty that’s she’s come to harm or is trapped somewhere.

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CurlyKoalie · 27/04/2025 14:56

Any news yet?

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 27/04/2025 19:11

No, nothing. It’s absolutely awful. So heartbreaking.

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lookwhatyoumademedoo · 27/04/2025 19:55

Try to keep up hope. our cat rarely left the garden then one day got brave and wandered. she didn’t come back for 9 days, we’d put it on fb, put posters up, rang round every vets in the area and went out looking every morning and evening. i spent most nights up to going to bed walking round the backs with a torch shouting her. I’d given up hope then one day i opened the back door and she came bolting in, she was scraggly and looked thin, she must have been spooked by something and had been hiding all that time. She doesn’t leave the garden at all now. i hope your girl finds her way home.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 28/04/2025 08:03

Thank you, it’s hard not to give up hope at this point. I don’t want to prolong the disappointment. But I’m still hoping.

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Shwish · 28/04/2025 09:19

OP my sister's cat went missing for about 7 weeks and then was found. It does happen.
I've lost cats for a few days before and it's been where they've gone out, got spooked and ran without realising where they're going and then not known how to get back. I would recommend going out early in the morning or late at night when there is nobody around and not much noise and just keep calling. You'll hopefully hear her. Also keep an eye out for anything a bit odd.
I've found my boy by really listening and heard a faint cry - he'd been too scared to come out but was fairly nearby - in the next street in the steps down to someone's basement, he heard me calling him and let out a little mew (he'd been gone 3 days)
My girl had got herself stuck in some wasteland surrounded by chicken wire. Again it was only a couple of streets away but she couldn't figure out how to get out I think. I found her because I noticed there were quite a lot of local cats congregating and I checked to see what they were looking at. It was her! Massive pain to get to her but we managed it.
Also worth asking neighbours to check sheds and garages.
Good luck. Hope you find her.

Shwish · 28/04/2025 09:20

I assume she's microchipped? If so it's unlikely she's been hit by a car because you would have been contacted.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 28/04/2025 12:34

Shwish · 28/04/2025 09:19

OP my sister's cat went missing for about 7 weeks and then was found. It does happen.
I've lost cats for a few days before and it's been where they've gone out, got spooked and ran without realising where they're going and then not known how to get back. I would recommend going out early in the morning or late at night when there is nobody around and not much noise and just keep calling. You'll hopefully hear her. Also keep an eye out for anything a bit odd.
I've found my boy by really listening and heard a faint cry - he'd been too scared to come out but was fairly nearby - in the next street in the steps down to someone's basement, he heard me calling him and let out a little mew (he'd been gone 3 days)
My girl had got herself stuck in some wasteland surrounded by chicken wire. Again it was only a couple of streets away but she couldn't figure out how to get out I think. I found her because I noticed there were quite a lot of local cats congregating and I checked to see what they were looking at. It was her! Massive pain to get to her but we managed it.
Also worth asking neighbours to check sheds and garages.
Good luck. Hope you find her.

Thank you 🙏🏻 We’ve done quite a bit of going out calling her name, after dark. We live in a small village, and everyone is on the lookout for her. She is just the sort of cat to get spooked and hide somewhere, so I’m feeling more hopeful today. No one has found a body, so that’s a good sign.

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Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 28/04/2025 12:34

Shwish · 28/04/2025 09:20

I assume she's microchipped? If so it's unlikely she's been hit by a car because you would have been contacted.

Yes, chipped and neutered.

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PrettyPuss · 28/04/2025 12:44

Keep going out and calling for her. It's good that the village are on the look out. One of our cats went missing for over a week when I was a child. Eventually, one evening when we were out looking and calling for him, we heard meowing from an uninhabited house nearby. My dad broke in and and found our cat under the floorboards. Cats are smart but they are curious and they can get stuck in funny places so keep going out and calling and listening for her when it's quiet.

All the best, I hope she returns.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 28/04/2025 14:19

PrettyPuss · 28/04/2025 12:44

Keep going out and calling for her. It's good that the village are on the look out. One of our cats went missing for over a week when I was a child. Eventually, one evening when we were out looking and calling for him, we heard meowing from an uninhabited house nearby. My dad broke in and and found our cat under the floorboards. Cats are smart but they are curious and they can get stuck in funny places so keep going out and calling and listening for her when it's quiet.

All the best, I hope she returns.

Thank you. I’ll be going out after dark again tonight. I love her so much, it’s not time to give up yet. 🤞🏻

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ChompandaGrazia · 28/04/2025 19:48

Oh you poor thing. I worry about my girl all the time when I’m not with her. You must be beside yourself.

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 28/04/2025 23:11

Been outside looking for again her tonight. It’s so quiet out there, perfect for her to come out of hiding. But… nothing. I just don’t understand how she can be gone and nobody has seen her. She just vanished into thin air.

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Frankensteinscat · 29/04/2025 14:03

I have a 9 month old cat and last Wednesday evening she vanished. I think another cat came into our garden and scared her. For three days I looked all around our village for her, went through the fields around us and knocked on neighbours doors. On Sunday morning she decided to come back for breakfast after I had given up hope! I was about to contact a charity that look for pets using a drone as I was worried she was stuck somewhere hurt. Don’t give up hope.

Countesschaos · 29/04/2025 14:05

im afraid we owner a wanderer.. hes a ginger tom, and he's currently absent! he can go missing for spells from 2 days, a week and his longest absence was 3 months, and he just wandered in as if he had left yesterday!

i hope your kitty comes home soon.

PrettyPuss · 29/04/2025 14:48

Keep calling and listening out when quiet, OP.

kwetu · 04/05/2025 22:17

Any news?

Original poster

TwoWithCurls · 05/05/2025 15:34

kwetu · 04/05/2025 22:17

Any news?

Sadly not, thank you for asking. It’s been a really sad 11 days. We’ve exhausted all options now, so just have to wait and see if she miraculously turns up somewhere. 😔

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Shwish · 05/05/2025 16:03

Have you added her picture to local Facebook pages / WhatsApp groups? Sometimes that does it.

Yoyokitten · 05/05/2025 23:48

I'm so sorry to hear she's gone missing.
My last cat used to go missing all the time, but that was normal for him.
The first time was 16 days.It was torture.
We did all the usual, flyers, ringing all the local vets.
No clue until he walked in one day as if nothing had happened.
Fingers crossed she will come trotting back in.