If you had forgotten your way home, would you trust your cat to know the way?

Question

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/excats/homing.html

Do cats have a reliable homing instinct. Or are they too selfish and independent to be of any use?

Answer 1

Only if I was within 25 yards of home.

Answer 2

Sometime ago we moved house from a city to the country a distance of 14 miles. In the midst of packing the furniture into the removal lorry the cat disappeared frightened by the whole commotion and the strange men around. One of the family stayed behind for six hours but the cat did not return. We told the neighbours to feed it when it returned and we would collect it the next day. The cat did not appear even to the neighbours that it knew. A few days later it arrived at the new address after a long walk. It had never been there before so it did not rely on any visual surrounding. Its paws were a bit sore proving that it had walked the 14 mile distance. We were delighted to see it. This cat had arrived at a completely strange place but it must have known that its owners lived there. It enjoyed many more years of life.

Answer 3

I would trust my cat to find her way home... eventually. The times she has gotten outside, she has stayed away for weeks and found her way home. One time she was gone almost 2 months. I don't know where she went but we had signs up throughout the neighborhood and local stores and vet offices and an ad in the newspaper and enlisted about a dozen local kids with no results. Then one day, she just came home. Needless to say, I try very hard to keep her in all the time, especially now that we live thousands of miles from her old home.

Answer 4

I dont have a cat myself, but i know plenty of people who have them. They all say that they feel comfortable with letting their cat roam outside and being able to return safely home. So i do believe that cats have a pretty reliable homing instinct. Though, if they become distracted by something, say a mouse, they could potentially get lost and not be able to find its way home.

Answer 5

I wouldn't trust a cat to get you home. Why?

1) You'd have to walk really close to walls for the majority of the time (maybe that would help in a drunken state?) and treat everyone you met with suspicion and insist on sniffing their anuses to work out who you trust and who you don't.
2) You'd have to sit on a high wall for a few minutes to survey the area and be fascinated with birds and small rodents.
3) You'd have to walk/climb through people's gardens and property and risk arrest as cats prefer this manner but they get away with it.
4) Part way home, you'd have to get into a really loud 'mewling' contest with another cat or human as that seems to be part of the thing to do.
5) Once home, you'd have to sit on a window ledge looking stupid or cute until someone lets you inside.
6) Finally, you'd have to lay on the sofa, wash yourself with your tongue, pester whoever is home for food then go to sleep in part of the house you'd never contemplate in the past.

Answer 6

It isn't being selfish or independent, it totally depends on the cat. There have been stories of cats finding their way home over very long distances and over a long period of time. However, one of my most favorite cats jumped out of the back of my pickup (he'd been sleeping there and I'd stupidly forgotten) and never made it home. It wasn't very far and I always thought he was a very smart cat. I still miss him and kick myself.

Answer 7

Dose this mean you take the cat out with you every way you go?
to show you the way home.
A cat has a good homing instinct same as dogs, pigeons and other animals so my advise is don`t go out without puss if you can remember?

Answer 8

Depends how much does the cat drinks; maybe the cat would pass out.... Cats more trouble than there worth...

Answer 9

they will definately find their way home as long as there is a food supply there but they will get there in their own time on there own terms so you can look forward to climbing roofs and walls and meeting his feline chums for a sing song along the way.

Answer 10

i'd be sure it knows the way but cats...are not dogs..cats like wandering,they are curious and inobedient..they're more independent than dogs..so..i wouldn't count on my cat to take me back..maybe it would take me home,but after a day..a week..whenever it feels like not whenever i want..