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

Original poster

How long was your cat lost for?

60 replies

hollyberrytree · 05/07/2025 17:38

I’m looking for stories to give me some hope.

My cat has now been gone 6 days.
She will occasionally have one night when she doesn’t come in but I don’t think he’s ever been away more than one. She’s 11 and therefore in routine.
This is what we have done: called her name ( even though she wouldn’t respond, she’d know our voices) we have left used litter outside
Left a bowl of food and water outside. Left my worn clothes on the washing line over night
Asked the neighbours, asked on the village Facebook group
She’s a bit timid and not the sort of cat who would have climbed onto a van or that sort of thing. Shes independent.
I am at a bit of a loss now
Its been so hot too.

Any suggestions welcome.

OP posts:
Polkadottablecloth · 05/07/2025 17:39

We lost one of ours for 10 days, had a ‘funeral’ and everything. Then he turned up, hungry and think but otherwise ok. We think he had been locked into a shed/ garage.

Feenie · 05/07/2025 17:41

Yeah, ours went missing for 11 days - we also think he was trapped somewhere. I hope yours comes back soon, it’s awful,

VirginaGirl · 05/07/2025 17:44

One of my current cats went AWOL for 5 days during the heatwave a couple of years ago.

Have had one who went missing for over a week. He’d become stuck under the floorboards of a derelict house nearby. My mum and I heard him meowing when we were out looking. My dad broke into the house and rescued him.

I would go out late at night when it’s really quiet. Call, shake Dreamies and listen carefully.

Good luck, hopefully your little cat will turn up. They usually do.

BaldMouse · 05/07/2025 17:45

Old DCat went missing for nearly 6 weeks. When he came back he was very thin but OK otherwise.

ranoutofquinoaandprosecco · 05/07/2025 17:47

7 days recently. He’s currently like Velcro to my side. Really hope yours comes home soon.

SecretUsername463 · 05/07/2025 17:49

6 months! Turned up almost 10 miles away, someone saw a poster we'd put up and called. We couldn't believe it was actually our cat. We think she must have hitchhiked in a delivery van or something!

Turtlebed · 05/07/2025 17:49

When we moved our cat went missing for over 2 months, but someone on Facebook spotted her. No idea what she was doing in that time but came back perfectly healthy.

user1471543683 · 05/07/2025 17:56

My cat went missing for 3 weeks a few years ago. The village bowling club which had been closed for a while had a broken window. The cat went in then the window was boarded up. Thankfully someone saw him stuck inside and we got him out. Extremely skinny and god knows what he survived on but no lasting damage. He’s currently sitting on my lap.

BaldMouse · 05/07/2025 18:11

DKitten went missing about a week before Christmas. She's not come back.
Another similarly aged female cat disappeared at the same time.
Both were pretty and under a year old.

Think they were stolen.

southchinasea · 05/07/2025 21:02

Ours went missing for 2 weeks. Searching at dawn and dusk worked well. She had wandered just a bit too far and appeared to have got lost, possibly following another cat, but otherwise was absolutely fine and pleased to come home. Her sense of direction never seemed great. She's now nearly 18 and still going strong! I do hope you find yours too.

CurlewKate · 05/07/2025 21:06

I have a wanderer. She’s regularly gone for 2 weeks…

ChocolateCinderToffee · 05/07/2025 22:40

8 days, in summer. I think someone had locked him in their shed by accident.

fireplaceember · 05/07/2025 22:58

8 days for mine
I’ve just seen one locally return home 2 years to the day!

LollyWillow · 05/07/2025 22:58

My very timid cat went missing for 8 days. I've no idea where she was but when she came back she crept in through a window at night. I think she was too frightened to respond to calls or come during the day. She is a very anxious cat.
Many years ago I lost a young tom for 10 months. He left, and must have found a better home but then, on bonfire night, he clearly decided I was the better protector and back he came!
My Mum always buttered cat's paws and I remembered asking, when I was very young, if it stopped them running away. She said 'No, they will always wander, but they will remember the butter and it will encourage them to come home when they are ready'

TryingAgainAgainAgain · 05/07/2025 23:07

Don't lose hope - there is more you can do. They can get disoriented and be "lost" surprisingly close to home.
-Go out at dawn and late at night with a dish of sardines, drip the oil as the smell carries.
-Knock on doors and ask if you can check sheds, garages etc. - you'll be more thorough than anyone else.
-Post flyers through doors - not everyone is on Facebook etc.
-Post on the Nextdoor app.
-Contact the chip company and report missing.

How long was your cat lost for?
Original poster
hollyberrytree · 06/07/2025 20:43

Thank you all for sharing your cats stories.
I have bought a tin of tuna in oil and dotted some at the back garden
It’s now 7 days. I’m not giving up.
Dreamies will be rattled at dusk!

OP posts:
TryingAgainAgainAgain · 06/07/2025 21:23

hollyberrytree · 06/07/2025 20:43

Thank you all for sharing your cats stories.
I have bought a tin of tuna in oil and dotted some at the back garden
It’s now 7 days. I’m not giving up.
Dreamies will be rattled at dusk!

Do all of this for a good few streets around your home, OP. The further the better. 🤞

FriendofDorothy · 06/07/2025 21:54

hollyberrytree · 05/07/2025 17:38

I’m looking for stories to give me some hope.

My cat has now been gone 6 days.
She will occasionally have one night when she doesn’t come in but I don’t think he’s ever been away more than one. She’s 11 and therefore in routine.
This is what we have done: called her name ( even though she wouldn’t respond, she’d know our voices) we have left used litter outside
Left a bowl of food and water outside. Left my worn clothes on the washing line over night
Asked the neighbours, asked on the village Facebook group
She’s a bit timid and not the sort of cat who would have climbed onto a van or that sort of thing. Shes independent.
I am at a bit of a loss now
Its been so hot too.

Any suggestions welcome.

Our cat went missing for 3 months. He was found miles away and someone posted a video on FB of a cat who had appeared at their stables. We suspect he had got in a workmans van or something like that.

SuperShinyToothWoman · 06/07/2025 22:06

Three months! Years ago. Disappeared on my birthday. Strolled in on Xmas day, a bit grubby, a bit skinny, but absolutely fine.

I'd given up hope.

More recently, 10 days. Very similar scenario!

LillyLeaf · 06/07/2025 22:58

I rescued a cat that had been missing for 6 months. He befriended my cat and came into our garden, he wasn't looking great and obviously didn't have a home so I put his photo on local groups and he was reunited with his family. He had walked just a bit too far from home and was lost, poor boy, but a happy ending.

fishkettle · 06/07/2025 23:06

One of mine was gone for two weeks once. He just strolled back in - slightly thinner, but totally fine. I never found out where he’d got to, or how he got home. Don’t give up hope!

AnotherEmma · 06/07/2025 23:12

Do posters and flyers. Not everyone is on FB. A neighbour told me she'd put my leaflet on her fridge so when she saw a cat who looked like mine, she thought of it and told me straight away.

It was a very sad ending for us (my cat was missing for 5 weeks and was nearby but never came back and was found dead Sad) but I think that's quite rare and most cats do find their way back in the end. Don't give up hope.

Slimagain · 06/07/2025 23:37

My boy went missing for 28 days and chose to return just as Poldark started some topless scything … he timed it. I know he did. 😂
I was hysterical with joy. So so happy. Even though I missed the full joy of topless farm work …

steppemum · 07/07/2025 14:51

my cat - 5 months.
We found out years later that at some point she had had a dislocated hip. We think it happened when she was gone, and she couldn't get home (lived in the countryso lots of places she could ahve been)

recently - my friends kitten, about 5 months old, went missing for 80 days.
Someone spotted her a couple of miles away and they went and trapped her. She was very happy to be home, but was pregnant, having missed her appointment to be done. They now have 2 week old kittens.

steppemum · 07/07/2025 14:57

and cats survive extremely well.
My parents once returned from 2 weeks away.

The person feeding their cats had not seen the black one at all, which wasn't that unusual, but he didn't ocme running when they came in.

After a cup of tea Mum went upstairs to unpack, she opened her wardrobe (walk -in with firm click shut handle) and a slightly thin and very cross cat walked out. He had been shut in, no food or water for 2 weeks.
I could not believe he was alive.
stomped off downstairs, ate a big dinner and went on to live to 19.