I lost my poor 5 year old male cat Friday morning,?

Question

He ran oustside, got spooked and kept on running. My cat is afraid of people and I am in fear that she is in a hidding-place and will not move. I have checked the nerghborhood every night for him......but no luck. I have posted flyiers around the neighborhood and also visit the Animal Shelters twice a week. I am also leaving sents from me and my cat outside the door, in hopes he will be able to smell it. Now I am beginning to worry. Are thre any stories of cats dissapearing but then comes back home weeks later?

Thanks for anybodies advice.

Brett

I just want to say thank-you for everybody who has given me advice. Sorry to say my cat still has not found his way home. I keep checking the shelters and walk around the neighborhood with his food . The neighborhood kids are still looking for him too. They have come to me four times telling me they found my cat (it was a different cat each time).
It has now been 5 days without Secret. I do hope he comes back soon.
By the way, he is nuertered.
I have two other cats at home, and they do not seem to mind that Secret is gone. There has been no change in their behaviour.
Again, thank you all for your support. I am not sure I can put into words how your post have been helping get through this period of sadness.

Brett

Answer 1

First off...... is it male or female??? You said said he, she, him, and he again. Just observation...

Some cats do return or get retuned home, but the best chance you have is to leave some cat food and water outside and keep looking for... it.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I had a cat who would do this. He would finally come out if I walked around with an open can of tuna, calling his name. It would take him a while to muster up the courage, but make sure you walk all over, especially in "good hiding places." It sounds like you are doing a lot of good things, just keep it up, and be sure you also call county shelters -- every shelter, and visiting as you are doing is a good safety net. Someone may have taken him in, or he may still be lost. Good luck, I hope you get reunited real soon.

Answer 3

All my cats are indoor cats and when one of my cats, Matt, got outside, i was scared something might happen to him. He not the smartest cat lol and i was scared he might go in the street and get hit, well everyday and night i would take the food bowl out and shake it in the bowl while i walked around the yard. after 2 weeks i gave up hope that he was coming home and the other cats new something was wrong, becuase i cried all night. Well i thought maybe someone picked him right up and took him away becuase he will go right up to anyone, or else he got hit by a car becvuase we live by a busy road. Well one night i was sitting at the computer witht he window open and this was almost a month after he disapperd i heard meowing but i thought it was one of my others ones so i ignorred it then it kept getting louder so i got up and lookied in the hall way then i waalked back in my room and Matt jumped thru the window!! i was so happy he found his way back, he was in perfect shape, he just had some grass in his hair. I swear an angel found him and toook care of him until he found his way homr

Answer 4

Try putting your cat's litter box outside, maybe he'll smell it and come home. You are doing a good job asking neighborhood children to help you. They look in the weirdest places, and that's usually where pets hide. When you have time, just look around like you do at night, every spare moment, just keep looking and don't give up. Sometimes just walk around calling his name. Put out kitty treats, water, and tuna, but make sure you are there, he might just run off again. I wish you luck, I have a little kitten I adopted, and she means the world to me, I really hope you find your cat.

Answer 5

I once adopted 5 cats from the SPCA, and took them all home (100km from the SPCA). I kept them inside for 2 days, when I found that one had disappeared. Having only had them for such a short time, I thought I would never see him again, but 2 MONTHS later, he arrived back at the house looking very thin and bedraggled! How he figured out where he lived is beyond me, as he had never been in that area before being at the SPCA! He disappeared again a few days later,and stayed gone for a week. When he came back, I changed his name to Going, as he just kept on going for mini holidays from home. Everyone in the village knew him, and would keep an eye on him, letting me know where he was last seen.Years later I moved from the area, and he never went off on his own again at the new house! I am sure that your cat will find its way back home, since it has been living there for some time. Just give it time, and have people keep an eye out for it as you have been doing. Good Luck.

Answer 6

I'm assuming we're talking about a five year old male cat that has not been spayed / neutered?

They are most likely to run off after "companionship" and if there females in heat around, well he could be kept busy a few days. Remember, cats use their sense of smell like you and I use our sense of sight when it comes to finding their way around and finding each other. It's kitten season too... weather getting warmer, so Romeo is probably out finding a Juliet or two, or three.

That instinct is stronger than his desire for food or you.

He doesn't have markings around your house to help him get his bearings, so he's out chasing the scents of females and food (which isn't as much of a priority). They can go days without it while they establish a territory in which to persue true love

What the others have suggested, putting out the litter box, setting a live trap for capture, setting out cans of favorite food, things that smell of you and him will help him find his way home.

Your best bet trying to call him will be later in the evening and towards morning whenever it's most quiet in the neighborhood.

Thunk the cat food can... call his name... whatever sounds/call you make when you feed him... walk through and around the neighborhood doing this (you'll drive off other competitors and make paths through their territories that could be blocking his path home)...

Try putting objects with his and/or your scent in lines leading back to your house. Try leaving some of your dirty socks around the perimeter of your yard... (i know, but anything to help provide a olfactory/smell "beacon") When he is motivated by hunger or being back in his territory (less by other things) and capable of finding home, he'll come home.

Just remember, if he's a scaredy cat, that's in your favor... he probably isn't going to roam too far, and dudes can track a scent for a considerable distance.

Of course, keep up with the signs, ask vets and animal shelters, neighbors.... kids in the next neighborhoods over. Fraidee probably goes into hiding to avoid people, cars, etc. during the day and sleeps.

When and if you find your little dude, please have him neutered if not already (makes them less likely to bolt and roam,).... the chip implants are fine, but again they require the animal be in range of a receiver (RFID technology) and won't help you find one out in the wild... good for identifying animals AFTER they are found.

Keep up the search, good suggestions in the posts here and I wish you and your little man find each other soon.

Answer 7

My cats are kept indoors all the time, but once my landlord allowed one of them to get out -- in February. She was gone for 2 weeks. I prowled around the neighborhood for HOURS every day, shaking her food dish and calling her. Then one day I looked in the backyard and there she was! I ran outside, into the snow, in my stocking feet! She was thin but otherwise OK. I have often wondered where she went and what she did those two weeks...

So yes, it's totally possible for your cat to come home.

Good luck.

Answer 8

My husband found his cat after nearly 2 months of being missing many years ago - he had become nearly feral. When he finally found him hiding under a neighbor's deck blocks away, he tossed a small ball to him - this was a game that they always played. This was the only thing his cat remembered about home and was the only way that he was able to rescue his buddy. Once he was within reach, he grabbed him (he didn't know my husband at this point and was fighting to get away from him) and brought him home. It took a while for him to remember that it was his home - he must have really been traumatized while on his own. Thankfully, the neighbor had been putting food outside for him to keep him from starving to death - this was before the days of computers where running off many copies of pictures of his cat was not a real option like it is today.

So yes, it is possible. Keep looking everywhere and post pictures of your cat everywhere - offer a reward. Put your cat's picture in all of the local grocery stores and tape it to the wall with the words MISSING and REWARD with your phone number - everyone has to go shopping for food. If someone has seen him, they'll call you and let you know. Be sure to also include your home address and nearest major crossroads in case your cat has traveled a little distance.

In the meantime, leave your cat's picture with all of the local vets, shelters, schools and universities and keep looking. Call the local animal control to see if anyone reported your cat as a stray to be trapped. Be sure to leave food outside for him in case he finds his way home. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but go up and down the street in your area and knock on doors - show them a picture of him and ask if they've seen him.

Go around the neighborhood calling his name and if he eats dry food in a can as a treat, take it along shaking it - be sure to leave a "bread crumb" trail leading back home. If he plays with a feather on a stick, take it with as you might need to coax him out of a small spot - like under someone's deck.

Putting his dirty litter box outside in a dry spot is an excellent idea. Cats have a better sense of smell than bloodhounds. You might also want to leave a trail of small clothing that smells like you - be sure your neighbors understand what you're doing - something like your dirty socks could mark the way home.

Another suggestion, try talking cat talk at night. Walk around the back of houses where there are hiding places and try meowing to your cat in a way that sounds as much like another cat as you can. Try the call a mother cat would make to her kittens - kind of a trill with the meow.

Carry his favorite toys and food with you when you go on your search. I really hope you find him. Please keep us posted.

Answer 9

First question. Is he fixed? As an indoor cat you might not have thought to get him fixed and if not he might've gone on a wild sex spree. He'll come home after he's exhausted. And when he does take him to the vet.

I would also try the litter box trick, he may be lost from never being outside before and he'll be able to smell his way home. Food is touch and go, you may attrach unwanted moochers and not your cat.

Good luck!

Answer 10

Yes. My cat disappeared for 10 days. Thought he may have died. I was devastated. But he came back on the 10th day - all bedraggled and starving and dragging his hind legs. He completely recovered and is now 9 yrs old and going strong. Try leaving your cta's kitty litter box by the front or back door - the familiar scent of his urine may help encourage him to come home.