Cat related request

[annwfyn]

This may sound daft, but any of you out there who have cats with outdoor access, could you tell me if your cats have ever vanished and then returned of their own accord, and if so, how long did they go missing for?

I'm not sure if this will soothe or agitate me more, but I think I've realised that one of my major reasons for panicking at the moment is I just don't know if this is normal or not. I don't know what my odds are on getting my cat back, so I'm working on a worse case scenario, and it may not be helping.

Comments

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

Mine have gotten lost a couple of times, and I've had to call them home. And I returned a young cat to someone a long time ago that had walked a couple of miles from home. They can travel a surprisingly long way.

[vireton.livejournal.com]

i heard of a cat in america who found there owners after 6 years and 3 house moves (in one town) if that helps

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

My Siamese used to vanish and come back. She was like a NINJA.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Always had cats growing up. They'd routinely go wandering off overnight in the summer.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

My old cat would disappear for two or three days at a time. The chances are that your cat has found a ready source of food elsewhere and is just stealing that for a while before heading back.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

If he's not been outside the garden before, chances are he's doesn't have much of a clue about his area, and has got himself lost rather than disaster.

However, getting a picture out there on lamp posts/popping notes through doors and providing a phone number may be a good idea, just in case he's managed to lose his collar (assuming he had one?), so people don't assume he's a stray and adopt him!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

He's been outside fairly regularly over the summer - he rarely leaves the garden tho, and explores a lot less that Myrddin (if Myrddin was missing I think I'd be less worried as I know that Myrddin routinely wanders as far as the hotel down the road, where the receptionist knows him).

I've got a flyer made up now. I'm waiting til this afternoon and giving him 24 hours, then I'm going to start putting it through doors.

[morinon.livejournal.com]

One of our cats tends to disappear for a few days at a time, then shows up. Of course, we have a large house, and many places that she could easily hide in.

[headinclouds.livejournal.com]

It depends very much on the cat. My TalaCat didn't go missing, except... well, you don't want to hear that one. But Tiger, the cat next door, regularly vanished for a day or two at a time and always came back (males are more prone to wandering off than females), and Candy, the little black female who lived near us, disappeared a couple of times. One of those times she was hit by a car, but some nice neighbours found her and took her to the vet. They had trouble finding out who she actually belonged to, so it was a week or two before she got back to her owners, but she did get back. Don't go thinking the worst just yet, he's not been gone long, and I'd reckon there's a good chnce you'll get him back.

[wraithwitch.livejournal.com]

Is it normal for a cat to disappear for a day or two at a time in the summer? yes, if it feels like it.
Should you panic after twenty four hours? No.
Should you do sensible things like call from the garden in the morning and evening and go for a stroll around the area occasionaly calling said errant cat's name? yes.
If he hasn't turned up by the end of today I suggest you ask neighbours to check their sheds and garages etc.
Is it likely something horrible and terrible has happened to the kit? no, not really.
Is it likely the foolish thing has become mildly lost / is chasing female tail / has got shut in somewhere? yes.

you could always ask bast if she's seen him =)

Cirrus vanished once.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Got out of the front door while nobody was paying attention, and being Cirrus (and never having really been outside before) got lost and couldn't find his way back to the house.

He was eventually captured about five houses down the street, and spent the next week following me around going 'Mummy! You and the house went away!'

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

How long was he gone for? How did you find him?

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Silly little fluff-cat was gone for several days. I was frantic, and put up posters all over Berinsfield. A couple of days after that, I got a phone call from a woman who said that someone of Cirrus's appearance had been jumping into her garden to eat the food she left out for her own cats.

I was in London at the time, so I sent Christi to go lure him into a cat-box with Tesco Finest Mozzarella.

Five doors down. Honestly.

[fire-kitten.livejournal.com]

it's fairly typical for cats to vanish for 2 - 3 days at a time, particularly un-neutered toms.

They also tend to get shut into other people's garage's / sheds in this westher so are likely to be gone for 7 / 8 days since people are often gardening at the weekend and don't check these places between times. Mum also lost a cat entirely that turned up 2 years later having moved into a near by post office that she didn't normally use.

I tend to worry immediately (beacuse you do) - and then think about putting up notices after a week.

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

3 of ours used to wander off a lot. Mostly just for a couple of days, but one did vanish for 4 weeks, and then saunter back in looking smug and purring just as we'd all given her up for dead.

I once found one who'd been missing for a week sitting at the top of the stairs at my friends house. Looking smug. It is quite common behaviour.

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Current news is that a couple of people in the neighbourhood saw Madoc around 4 pm yesterday. A nice Russian lady told me (in broken English, which means this story is not complete) running out of the main public garden (there's a little garden at the back of our house, backing onto a big shared garden) looking scared, and mewling at numbers 15 & 16. No 15 say that he ran into their house yesterday around 4/5 ish, and ran upstairs and hid for a while. They weren't sure what to do, and got him some cat food, but when the front door was opened again he ran out.

No sighting since.

It sounds more like he's lost his way home as opposed to anything else, but I'm still fretting a fair bit, esp as no one has seen him today and he's never been out overnight before in his life!

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

In that case I suspect that something frightened him (maybe a dog in the shared garden, something like that), he panicked and is now lost.

[liamgaidin.livejournal.com]

My old cat Shadow was an outside cat. He would occationally be gone for 2 sometimes 3 days, though he rarely did this.

Whenever we moved he always took a couple of days to get to know the area. Cats are amazingly good at finding their way around and remembering where home is.

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That is the current assumption. In a slightly evil way I also took Myrddin over to the house where Madoc was last seen. His response to the area was to freak and hide under a car. I carried him the five steps back into the main garden, and he was fine. Well, a bit spooked - he ran straight back home immediately - but I'm fairly sure now that that area is just outside of the cats' comfort zone.

Now...how to find Madoc? He doesn't seem to be under any cars or behind any distbins in the area and isn't responding to having his name called (tho that might be fear). I'm beginning to think he must be in someone's house or something *continues to feel worried but at least as if progress is being made*

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

BTW, sorry if I'm fixating on everything you say a bit. You're the only person I know who has ditzy pedigree cats instead of nice sensible moggies, so I'm kinda responding to that.

Re: Cirrus vanished once.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

When he's hungry enough, he shall be found wandering the neighbourhood. Or taken in to a nearby vet. It might take time, though, because for that he'll need to be out and you looking for him at the same time, or he'll need to be out and seen by someone who knows you're looking for him, or it'll have to have been long enough for him to look sufficiently thin and pitiful that it's obvious to some kind stranger that he's hopelessly lost and not just having a wander.

When you get him back, it might be worth teaching him to mew on command. Apparently if they're hiding, even if they won't come out they'll often mew. I've got a big cat book with a chapter on training cats if you'd like to borrow it.

Admittedly, I'm preaching what I haven't practiced, but then my Fluffs didn't even know how to mew until two_nukes taught them :)

[nickys.livejournal.com]

My cat returned safely after a six week absence.

[fetket.livejournal.com]

Yes.. but is your cat chipped? If not after a couple of days I'd shove pictures in local vets and newsagents incase somebody has adopted him. I've had that problem more than once.

Hope Madoc comes home soon

[leahdarbyshire.livejournal.com]

Hope he comes home soon Sally.

I have never had cats but Robin has and he says this sort of occurrence is entirely normal.

Keep us posted.
Leah.