Help - my new cat has vanished

[Pickledonionmonstermuncher]

Hi all I rehomed a 3 year old cat on Monday. She came from a home where she was being picked on by other cats and had become more of an outdoor cat because of it. We’d been keeping her in while she acclimatized to her new home and have been really careful with keeping doors etc shut. She is sweet but quite nervous and unsure and has been spending lots of her time under a bed upstairs apart from at night when the kids go to bed she comes down for food and cuddles. Fast forward to today, she was around this morning and I was getting the kids ready to head out. The last time I saw her was at some point this morning. Now, she has vanished! Food not eaten, litter tray unused. I’ve searched the house from top to bottom, opened every cupboard, looked under and behind every bed and piece of furniture, she has vanished into thin air! I’m even panicking wondering if she’s managed to squeeze herself out of a tiny second storey window that was only open a few inches. We surely would have noticed if she scampered past as we opened a door to leave etc? My only other possibility is that we had to have some tiles removed from our wet room wall to deal with a leak behind. This has left access to the cavity wall open - I’ve tried shining a light in there but can’t see anything or hear anything. I’ve shaken food containers etc but nothing. I’ve attached a picture below. Please can someone suggest something? I have no idea what to do next!

On day 3 of being re-homed my rescue cat managed to open the door to a utility cupboard where there was a small gap between pipes and the floorboards and lodged herself there, too far under the floorboards for me to grab.

I thought I had lost her and that she would get stuck somewhere under the house, never to be seen again. I put food near the gap and I managed to get a back out 3 or 4 hours later. I notice she was coming back out to eat and then would squeeze back under the floorboard. But at some point I managed to grabbed her leg and dragged her back out.

It was so stressful.

I would also try to leave food near the tiles to see if she managed to squeeze herself there. if she is in the house she will eventually come out to eat.

Cats are excellent at finding hiding spaces no one else knows exist.

I'm sure she's still in the house but there's no harm in posting on your local fb groups asking people to look out for her.

Keep good smelling food out and wait, she'll probably come out overnight when the house is asleep

I’ve put some food next to the opening in the hope that she will smell it and venture out. I just can’t understand why she wouldn’t have come out earlier as we’ve been out of the house all day. She would have had access to her food and it hasn’t been touched. I’m so worried, I feel especially bad as her previous owner really cared about finding her the right home and I feel like I’ve let her down

My mum's cat went missing once. She had climbed into her dressing table drawer when it was open and my mum pushed it shut in passing without noticing. On another occasion she got up under the floor boards when some plumbing was being done. They really can get into the smallest spaces.

Is there no chance that she could have squeezed quietly out of door you or the kids had open and be outside?

She just needs time to adjust and decompress. It's really common for adopted cats to hide away like this, some of them take weeks to emerge so try not to worry. You've not let her down!

I lost mine when I first got her, she went behind the TV. Another cat used to like getting into the small space in the back of a reclining chair.

Ah my very nervous and anxious cat had the following hidey holes when she first came:

The gap under the china cabinet, in behind it, gap under it. Too big to do that now.

Up the chimney.

Via a gap behind the fridge under the kitchen cabinets - we had to remove the plinth.

The cupboard above the bread bin with the fuse box on it has a tiny hole and she used to hide in there.

Similarly, the boiler cupboard has a gap underneath and she hid in there.

When we opened a cupboard door inadvertently, she used to hiss.

Three years on currently curled up next to me purring. She was on my chest head bumping my face early.

Leave out the food, stop looking for her, leave on a radio, offer benign neglect. Give her time to feel safe and come to you.

Thanks for all of your reassurance. If she did somehow manage to get out when we went out of the door, what are the chances she’ll come back? She’s been re-homed from somewhere a mile or two away, is she more likely to try and find her way back home?

If they’re hiding in the house, they’ll come out when they’re ready. When we were doing work on our house, someone else’s cat wandered in and jumped into a hole in the floor 😱

My husband got a torch and tried to coax them out but he didn’t come out until we left well alone. The cat was completely fine, just covered in cobwebs and dirt!

Our previous cat was really frightened of loud noises - we adopted her from a family where they had had her since a tiny kitten, then they had a baby who became a boisterous toddler and was stressing her out. She was otherwise a bossy, confident wee madam, so it was such an odd quirk.

A couple of years ago DP was working abroad so it was just me and her at home. I sleep with earplugs in, and I woke up one Saturday really late, wondering what was going on - she would usually come into our bed early on to wake us for breakfast so a lie-in was unheard of. When I took my earplugs out I realised the hallway smoke alarm was intermittently giving off a high pitched beep and knew she would have been scared. No sign of her, and she had no way to get out of the house without me opening the back door for her - we don’t have a cat flap. I hunted everywhere and honestly thought she had vanished in a puff of smoke. I eventually found her twisted up behind the pipes in the boiler cupboard, and couldn’t quite believe how small she had made herself! (My friend’s DH is an electrician and came straight round, it turned out the backup battery in the hard-wired smoke alarm had died and it was beeping to tell me.)

We had to have her pts last year, sadly, and now have a little boy cat who will often open up the big hall cupboard and make himself a “nest” in hats, scarves etc. The first time he vanished and I saw him curled up in there was a surprise!

Is she neutered? She might come back with some pressies for you!

my brothers cat did get out from the gap in the window when you put the latch on, only a couple of inches. He got him back through Facebook. Think other Tom cats chased him away because he wasn’t neutered yet

agree stop looking for her, she’s likely to be hiding in the house somewhere. Don’t leave too much food out and not in different places. Let her get a bit hungry and see if she ventures out

Post on local fb groups asking people to look out for her.
If she's been friendly so far, hang her bed or blanket and some of your clothes outdoors with food. You can also go out calling for her and see if she turns up.
Ask people to check their sheds, vans, greenhouses and garages

I’m joining with no expertise to offer, but a keen interest in finding out where she was hiding when she pops back up! Handhold here.

Once everyone has gone to bed and the house is quiet, walk around the house calling for the cat (maybe shaking treats) and see if you hear any miaows. It does sound possible she has got herself stuck somewhere.

I don't think she has got out of the window if it's only slightly open. I did think mine had done this when I first got them as we went out and they both disappeared, but they were hiding in a very dark space behind a bed that we had looked in already - turned out we could only see them if we took a photo as their eyes glowed up!
Mine have ended up sleeping in a box of decorations on top of a high shelf, in another old, dusty box of top of the wardrobe with a tea set in for comfort, in a cupboard that was slightly open and unknown places that we never found out about. How far can she get down the cavity thing? That's probably worth investigating if possible. Mine ran up the chimney once and I was horrified but he didn't get far. Hope she comes back soon.

I'd snuggle in for a long night with lights off or very dim. An additional trick is to play cats/kittens miaowing on your phone. That often brings them out. If/when she does come out do nothing, don't go towards her. If she's trapped somewhere, you'll likely hear her in the darkest, quiet hours, esp if you play some kitty sounds.

My old cat managed to get behind the kickboards to the kitchen cupboards, thankfully they were easy to get off. Her sister was found sleeping on my handbags on the top shelf in the cupboard in the spare room.

@Pickledonionmonstermuncherany luck yet??

Yes she was in the hole in the wall 🤯🫣

Love love love xxx

Glad you found her!

I’m so relieved! They plot and plan through the night to find ways of scaring us!

Such good news OP. I am glad you have her back.

Argh aren't they little devils.
I'm glad you've got her back now.

Our new rescue ‘went missing’ on her third morning here. We searched everywhere, I felt sick. She was inside the sofa - it’s a recliner and she’d climbed inside.