Missing Cat

[iloveglee]

7 months ago we re-homed an 8 year old female cat whose owners were going to live abroad. they wanted her to have the kind of life she had always had, i.e. going outdoors when she wanted which they couldn't do for her in their new home. we kept her inside for 5 months - which was during the winter so she wasn't too bothered about going out. for a couple of months since the nicer weather she has shown a lot of interest in going out. we started by taking her out on the garden on a lead to familiarise herself, and supervised other excursions after that for a while, and limited her time outside. in the last few days she has carefully ventured a little further, onto the next door garden, then came back and went in. she has done this several time, but the other night she went out in the early evening, in the same direction as before, but came back just after 10 o'clock. yesterday, she went out, in a very determined way, never hesitated at all, never looked around, just went, jumped over the fence again in the same direction as before, and disappeared. we haven't seen her since. she has now been missing for 30 hours and i am really worried that she has got lost. the direction she was heading is all undergrowth, and woods which is the kind of terrain she was used to in her former home and the kind of terrain where she would be likely to leave a scent trail. how likely is it that she will come back, even after 7 months will she have remembered where she used to live and try to get back there. she is very timid and took a long time to get used to us but for the last few months she has been very friendly, sleeps on the bed and loves to get close to us. she is chipped and i have reported this on the website. i am going to put flyers through local letterboxes to ask people to check their huts and garages but i just don't see her approaching people or houses, she is nervous of people. i just don't know what else to do.

[tonyav]

Does she come to your neighbours garden for food every night, if she does your neighbour could perhaps try putting the cat food on the door step ( with the door open ) and if she is tempted and eats it put it a little further inside every night until they are able to close the door behind her. Then phone you to collect kitty.

[wolf63]

tony - if it were only that simple. They are devious little barstewards.

[jennyjoan]

I met a lady in the park about 2 years ago and she had a yappy jack russell - she was telling me that he/jack russell went missing for 9 months and one day she opened the door and there he was wandering in her garden - she did know that he had been well cared for - so your pussy (if left alone) could come back of her own free will - I do think (from experience with Mr Harv) that when I stopped running after him when he run away - he came back of his own accord.

[tonyav]

wolf63
tony - if it were only that simple. They are devious little barstewards.


LOL, I know, wolf. Could be worth a try though.

[Prudie]

I've been following your posts and firstly would say I really understand what you must be going through, I really do hope you get a happy ending - Tonyav's suggestion is a good one. You won't like what I'm going to say next and other ABers may agree with you but I don't think for one minute your cat can't find her way home if she wanted to whatever the obstacles, certainly the trail of cat litter is pointless. Some cats are wanderers and maybe her new found freedom was too good to give up, I feel if she were desperate to return she would have come to your husband the other evening. Anyway fingers crossed for you.

[iloveglee]

I have to agree, they are devious little ......... And yes, given that we know that a) she loved to be outside, hence the previous owners not wanting to take her to be a house cat, and b)she had miles of open countryside to call her own where she lived before, she may well be relishing her freedom. the neigbours haven't called for a couple of nights so - not sure if she has worked out we are trying to catch her and isn't having any of it. they have tried very hard to tempt her inside, and she isn't having any of that either. she is so nervous and timid, that even when she was indoors, she wouldn't let us approach her, she would come to us, but as soon as we made any move toward her, she would run away. cat trap is the last resort. I have been in touch with the rspca and they loan them out quite cheaply. I do believe though, that it will be a once and only attempt, she is too wily to fall for it twice. I feel bad really that these neighbours are almost looking after her, and wonder if it would be helpful if they did stop feeding her, maybe she would then make more of an attempt to try to get back here. maybe she was only pretending to like us and was just looking for her chance to get away!! really difficult to know what to do. ? wait for the bad weather to come, she might not like it being wet and cold.

[boxtops]

Glee - having been where you are, with Rover missing for 7 months three years ago, and Spencer previously having just upped and left for pastures new.... I do feel for you.

However, Molly is clearly well able to look after herself, and whilst being timid of humans, seems to be surviving well on her wits. I think the idea of keeping her as a house cat (should she be enticed back) would be cruel - she clearly loves the outdoors and is surviving well. I know how hard it would be, but you may have to take on board that she doesn't want to live with you (nothing personal, but she likes being outdoors fending for herself) - I had to come to that realisation re Spencer and it was not nice, that a cat preferred to leave and fend for himself, than to stay with our cat-friendly household...

If it's any comfort, our Rover was reunited with us in early December, when the supply of mice and voles in the fields and woodlands dried up, and he decided to seek human friendship again.

I've never heard of trails of litter etc bringing back a cat, it's more likely to attract other cats who would wee over her scent.

It's Molly's call, and I don't doubt that she is already picking up on the vibes and anxiety when you and/or your husband speak to her. If she wanted to come back - she would. You know she's well and feeding - it I were you, hard though it is, I would just stand back for a few weeks, and see what happens. She knows where you live, undergrowth is no barrier to a cat on a mission. If she wants to come back, she will.

Just make sure that all your local vets know that she is still missing and that she's chipped - then if anyone has to take her to a vet, they'll trace her.

I feel for you, but you can't make a cat do what it doesn't want to do :-(

[iloveglee]

I agree, there is no making a cat do what it doesn't want to do. and they are all really good at making you think they love you when what they love is food, and when its cold somewhere comfortable to sleep. we have had cats before so I really do know this. this is the first re-homed cat we have had, and the most timid and nervous. I think its more difficult with a re-homed one, they don't have quite the attachment that a cat raised with you from a kitten has. and I also agree, to keep a cat who loves the outdoors as much as she clearly does inside all the time would be cruel. strangely during the winter she never appeared to make any overtures toward going out, but once the nice weather came, and the doors and windows were opened it was obvious she was interested. despite all this, if she comes back, I would still have to let her out. otherwise, it would all have been a waste of time them letting her go, they might just as well have taken her with them.

[iloveglee]

well - don't know what to think. I have spoken at length to the lady whose garden our cat appears to think it wants to live. 8 doors away. she comes some evenings, not all, and she puts food out. she has seen the cat eating it but is not able to tempt her to come in, or even come to her. she has also seen the cat in the next door garden, 7 doors away from ours. there apparently is a wooden deck where it is possible for a cat to hide away and I wonder if that's where she is hiding. despite these people only living 7 doors away, we don't know them. next door to them is a very large garage and we can't understand why the cat doesn't come through the gardens, either over fences or under hedges, to find her way to ours. she must be very confused, and to be truthful so are we. so at least she is fed, and is managing to keep dry although apparently last night in the pouring rain she came and appeared to be hungry. desperate probably to come out in the rain. so now what - has the time come to set a trap for her. there is a multitude of cats around so its very possible we might end up trapping one of them instead. I'm getting to my wits end now, to know she is so close by but simply cannot, or will not get home.

[rsvp]

I'm really at a loss to know why you haven't put out a cat trap - if people would stop feeding Molly and let her get hungry she would very likely go in a (correctly set) cat trap - after all, completely wild and feral animals are caught this way. By a human trying to catch/grab/hold her - is only re-enforcing her fear of them and mking her more nervous. She is probably moving from house A to house B because she no longer feels relatively safe there after they tried (and failed) to catch her.

[boxtops]

Glee - I really would accept that if she's that near to you but is choosing not to come home, she still doesn't see your house as home. Cats are hugely fickle, and if she doesn't want to come fairly easily back to your house, she won't. If you trap her and bring her home, I could almost bet that she'll be off again before too long. You might have to try to accept the situation - hard though it is - and see what happens as the autumn sets in and it's not so nice being outside. If other people are feeding her, she won't starve.

You say you think the cat's confused - I don't, I learned long ago not to try to put human feelings into a cat's mind. When Rover ran away for all those months, I had to realise that he was not thinking "oh, how I miss home" - he was thinking "where's my next meal, where can I sleep safely?". It sounds as if your cat has solved those queries and prefers to be outside, roaming.

[iloveglee]

I agree with both of these different opinions. yes - fairly easy to set a trap, although not so certain it will be her that it traps. there are no end of cats up that end of our road, many of which are out at night. there are two cats next door to us that are semi wild and are out all of the time. they are scavengers and will go after anything that remotely resembles food. and yes, if we do get her home, she may well do exactly the same thing. I have looked at the houses on google earth, and cannot see at all how she cannot get back over all of the gardens, except for the fact that I don't think that's how she got there in the first place, I think she went through the wood. I know that, as we have not had her for that long, she may well not think our house is hers, we think she has been able to find shelter under a wooden deck in the house next door to where she has been eating. they did try not putting food out for a few nights, and she didn't appear to come around, but then suddenly appeared again, bedraggled and soaking wet and starving hungry. but in those few days when no food was left out for her, she still didn't return back here. no-one else on the street, to our knowledge, has been feeding her as she did appear to the neighbour that she was very hungry. i know she was looked after and loved where she lived before so don't know really why she is so afraid of people. she just is. but at the same time, she really appeared to like her home comforts, sleeping on the bed etc, wanting to get close to us, when she wanted to. for what the rspca charge for traps, this is going to be our next move and see what happens. i feel a bit bad for the neighbour, they have a cat and like cats, but its not reasonable to expect them to be looking out for her all the time when she's not their cat. they haven't complained though, in fact are being as helpful as they can.

[rsvp]

You may well catch several before you get the right one - but at least it's a positive step and nothing has worked up to now has it? I really do wish you the best of luck in trapping Molly.

[iloveglee]

thanks rsvp, don't like the idea of trapping any animal, but needs must, as you say nothing else so far has worked. to be honest, I can't understand how this cat managed its life for 8 years before we had her. other than she had a cat flap and let herself in and out, but how she found her way back to her own house and got in goodness only knows. we have been leaving our conservatory window open every night, with something just underneath it for easy access, with food down in there, but no sign. there has been her blanket from her bed hanging on the washing line for days. she has simply taken root in, seemingly the two houses up the road, one with food, one with shelter. its almost like she's completely paralysed with fear and cant organise herself to try to get further along the gardens. hope the rspca have a trap in stock tomorrow. I did consider getting the neighbour not to feed her, but there is no guarantee she will not wander even further away in search of food. at least at the moment we more or less know where she is.

[boxtops]

Glee, one of our cats is very timid - brave as a bull indoors and in his own garden, but runs and hides as soon as the doorbell rings, and certainly wouldn't go to anyone outside the house, except one neighbour he knows well. It's just something in his nature - might be the same with your cat. Nothing has ever happened with strangers, he's just anxious around them.

Have you thought to ask your vet about a cat trap btw? Mine was prepared to lend me one for no charge, when Rover went missing. Cats Protection League might also help, although I don't know how any charge might compare with the RSPCA.

I do wish you well - and your cat! - whatever the outcome.

[Hypognosis]

@Glee

it's a pity you didn't mention all the various other cats in nearby gardens in your opening post.

You said it was an outdoor moggy at its previous owner's home. So she has lost her territory. Her first trip outdoors since you took her on and she finds herself on some other cat's turf. She may have got into a scuffle, lost and fled into the woods.

So it's not that she doesn't know the way home, it's that she doesn't want to get into another scrape if she returns there.

If sprinkling her cat litter only encourages other cats to spray then you might have unwittingly enlarged her adversary's territory.

The current rainstorms might help wash away those markers.

[boxtops]

Good point about the territory, hypo - if she is being timid outside, it's because she's on another cat's patch. Good thought - it'll take time for her to establish her own territory again.

[poorclare]

She's possibly in my back garden,

[iloveglee]

rspca rent cat traps for £5 a week, no limit on how long you have it for. I had no idea, when our cat went missing, just how many cats there are on our street. you never see them in the day time, they must be let out at night. it wasn't until my husband went up to the neighbour's house when they called to say she was in their garden that he saw them all. I think also that she has lost her bearings, and may well have been spooked into running too quickly away from where she knew. between the bottom of our garden and the next street there is undergrowth, trees, and further up the road woodland. on the next street are some big dogs and she may well have heard them barking (they bark a lot ), and run away without taking care where she was going. I am pretty sure she is so scared now she is simply hiding and daren't come out to try to re-establish herself. plus it may well be that the two houses where she has been seen are, to her, where she lives now. from other articles I have read, apparently this is not uncommon with this type of cat, they are not lost exactly, just too frightened to go out to find their way back. as we had not had her long, she probably wasn't especially attached to our house anyway.

[boxtops]

That's a pragmatic way to look at it, glee. It must be hard for you, but as I've suggested before - bide your time now, see what happens.