Cat missing five days. I messed up, what else can I do?

[miliop]

Both my parents died recently and I have taken in their cat and elderly dog. It has been insanely stressful.

The cat has now been missing for five days and I don't know what else I can do.

I have

• updated his microchip and let them know he is missing
• sent photos and description to all local vets
• put a message on my street WhatsApp and the next street's
• knocked on doors on my street to ask people to check sheds etc
• put his blankets, litter tray and hoover contents outside
• called for him and dusk and dawn, with his food
• called for him at same times in the field above the house and the allotments nearby

For more context, he has always been very much my cat. He knows my voice, he is used to cuddling in with me, he would sleep in the bed with me whenever I went to their house, and has done every night for the last five weeks. I am heartbroken and worried sick.

I am beating myself up because I took him to my house two weeks ago after my second parent died (I had to come home) and I let him out too early. He was fine for the first few days, pottering around the garden and coming in. Then one evening he seemed very quiet and withdrawn and he went out and didn't come back. I feel terrible and stupid about this and wasn't thinking straight. I know I fucked up. I thought he would be ok because he's very used to me and my house/garden is very similar to my parents'.

I'm even worried he could have tried to return to their house, which is 40 miles away. I've had the neighbours put out food and water just in case, and I will go there in a few days. Possibly set a camera up too. I don't know if that's a ridiculous idea that he would try to get home but he only ever knew that house.

Thankfully he is very streetwise, he can and does feed himself. My dad would always say he was very territorial and I'm worried this means he'd simply go back to the place he knows.

I'm wondering what else can I do, and can anyone give me hope?

Oh no 😢

Have you tried calling Cat Protection in your area and other cat charities and catteries as well as local vets? She may have been handed in.

I'd hope they'd scan for a chip but I might do that to be on the safe side.

Just to let you know that someone on my neighbourhood WhatsApp just posted that their cat turned up at their old flat after being missing for 6 weeks. Don't lose hope, OP.

My brother’s cat got out from the window being on the catch 2 weeks after he moved house. He was found 6 weeks later. We believe he was chased out of the immediate area and made new cat friends about 2 miles away, people thought he was a stray as he looked a bit scraped and battered after his escape

it was the power of a Facebook group that eventually got him recognised. He wouldn’t let anyone catch him, not even my brother for the first couple of days

please keep up hope and keeping trying Facebook, vets etc

Still nothing. Appreciate the positive stories! Been a hard morning, thinking of him and my parents.

Been posting on Facebook groups further afield. I'll absolutely update if/when we find him.

Oh you poor thing, what a hellish time you're having. Please don't give up hope, though I know it's hard to keep hoping rather than resign yourself. So many stories on this board about cats who stay away for weeks on end then saunter back home. They can be so independent, and like someone said here, don't have our sense of a lot of time having passed. I'm quite sure you'll see your cat again.

Im so to read all of this - what a horrible time you are having.

I know of lots of cases where missing cats have randomly returned. It happened to my mum, my sister, and various friends and they all had anecdotes too of similar situations. It really does happen.

In fact, I belong to a Facebook group of a local rescue charity who had an elderly cat handed into them and thankfully he was chipped when they scanned him. They phoned the number that was on Microchip database and the cat had gone missing 13 years ago!!! Can you imagine getting a call 13 years after your cat had gone missing to say he'd been found? Apparently the family were absolutely over the moon and were delighted to have him home at the grand old age of 17.

I really hope you find your cat a lot sooner than that obviously, I just thought it was a nice heartwarming story to share.

How horrible for you, it's ghastly not knowing. I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed for his return soon.
My Scullycat was missing for 3 weeks, unexpectedly turned up at my bedroom door looking skinny and hungry, don't give up hope.

Definitely don't give up, I've got one that was a housecat after being taken in as a feral. He accidentally got out, freaked out and we spotted him a couple of times on a wildlife camera at night. Then he completely vanished. I persevered with monitoring, and after four and a half months he suddenly appeared and we managed to trap him a few days later. He's never gone near an outside door since bless him. I hope your chap is found much sooner. ♥️

So pleased you got him back. My partner is sure that he will come back so I just let him be positive for both of us.

Still no sign.

I did say people have been extremely kind but a few have been pretty thoughtless...

One woman messaged me to say 'I'm so sorry but I think I saw your cat dead by the side of the road near [X building] on the [X] motorway and here is the what3words'.

The what3words were from a city about 300 miles away and the building mentioned was absolutely nowhere near the motorway mentioned. Eventually figured out where she meant, from other posts. It wasn't my cat, a good samaritan was able to take it to a vet and it wasn't chipped or neutered, poor thing. While I'm glad it wasn't him, it was still needless stress to get such a garbled message (and the assumption that it was my cat).

Also getting comments on my Facebook post like 'Oh, did you see a cat was found on the [village] page?' A private page, that I can't see, and no screenshot and then no response to polite questions asking if they could share a screenshot or tell me which one of the three FB pages they could be referring to.

Just a moan. I know people mean well but it doesn't help. Trying not to anxiously refresh FB to actually find out what this person is talking about.

@miliop

So sorry there is still no sign… 😢

I'm sorry, @miliop - I too got loads of emails when ours went missing, many telling me what I should & shouldn't do.. it's good of people to care, but it wasn't helpful.. I just kept posting photos & eventually someone got in touch & had been looking after her.
Fingers crossed for you.

Sorry to hear he hasn’t turned up yet.

Last time we moved, our beautiful old boy escaped and ‘went home’ three times. We had tried all the tips on how to help him adjust to our new home. We had only moved a 10 minute drive away, but the third time it took him three weeks to show up. We were driving over there every night and tapping on the cat food can.

Once we had him home again, we kept him inside again for another three weeks and he finally settled and never strayed again. Poor old man loved to be 21. Since then, all of our cats have been indoor cats, simply to avoid that stress.

So sorry to hear your poor cat is still missing, but hopefully he will turn up soon. Sorry about your parents too, I’m sure this just feels like a terrible blow after losing them too. ❤️❤️

@miliop so sorry your cat is not back

A past colleague of mine lost her deaf and very old cat who accidentally got locked out for a short time. It was gone for over a week I think but was found using one of the cat finder services. It was a company that basically visits neighbours, and does all sorts of cat savvy detective work and apparently has a very good success rate. It might be worth seeing if your area has such a thing.
I’m so sorry for your losses. You are doing so much, keep hope x