# How long could it survive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240 "2003-02-02T04:27:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/1 "2003-02-02T04:27:26Z")
In the early hours of this morning my cat, who is a 2 and a half year ld Turkish Van was let outside (he is strictly an inside cat)… How long do you think he would be able to survive by himself provided no one takes him in? Im sorry… this is harder to write than i thought… One more day at least? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/2 "2003-02-02T04:33:49Z")
Cats are still pretty close to their wild ancestors. It is entirely likely that a cat out on it’s own could survive indefinitely, even without human intervention. The worst danger to an escaped housecat is heavily trafficked roads. They also have a pretty good homing instinct, so I wouldn’t worry too much just yet. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/3 "2003-02-02T04:36:34Z")
I sure hope so. He got out once before and we found him half way up the street on someone veranda just crawled up in the corner scared to death because of their dog… We have distributed flyers, also offering a $100 reward. I will give further updates as things progress. ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/4 "2003-02-02T04:37:36Z")
Many weeks I’d think. As QED said, the biggest danger is that of cars. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/5 "2003-02-02T04:59:52Z")
Cats are tough. [Swimming cats](http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/turkish-van.html) are likely even tougher. Keep looking, but a return after an absence of a week or more is not unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![xenothrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/7ab992/32.png) [@xenothrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenothrope)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/6 "2003-02-02T05:55:53Z")
I have a little scrapper kitty right now. Once a beautiful Siamese/manx with silver fur and deep blue eyes, now one of the toughest freakin cats ive ever met. My little brother was her old owner, and let her outside when she was young. She came back about a week later w/ a torn up ear and hasnt stopped fighting since. Before you get all SPCA on me, hear me out. She always does it on her own, and she seems to WANT to do it. (which I rather respect, in a way) Every once and a while she will get a new cut or scrape and I will tend to her wounds. After she gets all healed she wants to be right back out there again. One tough kitty. Hope your cat doesnt get that bad moc but I bet she will be all right. Cats are tough like that. ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/7 "2003-02-02T06:11:23Z")
I had a cat that was strictly and indoor cat fr the fisrt year and a half of his life. We moved to a new house with a doggy door and he slowly started venturing out a little at a time. He on;ly comes home now twice a day to eat and if it rains or is cold. (Pretty smart if you ask me) He doesn’t even have front claws but I know if he doesn’t show for dinner, it’s because he already has a full belly…my neighbors have said the population of lizards in their garden has drasitcally reduced with Flash in the neighborhood. He’s also brought me “presents” several times of half eaten mice, and a half of a bird. Yucky but not to a cat. So food is not going to be a problem for your cat. As far as safety, cats are pretty fast too. I’ve seen my cat out run dogs right up trees before the dog could blink. Cars might be the biggest predator but cats usually come home when they are ready to take a nap. 🙂 He will probably show soon. ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/8 "2003-02-02T06:22:59Z")
speaking of coming for dinner, every night he will come and sit next to my mother at the table… He sits on his own chair and she gives him scraps. He doesnt beg or meow or anything… just sits politely and waits. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/9 "2003-02-02T08:50:37Z")
My cat Simon didn’t come home one night, and I grieved and grieved. About four months later, I was driving down a nearby street, and there was Simon, as happy a cat as you could imagine, playing a pounce-on-the-string game with some children in the front yard. Sometimes cats just up and move to a house where the food is better. If your pussycat is smart enough to avoid the aforementioned traffic hazards–and most are–I suspect that, even if you DON’T see him again, he’s safe somewhere. Maybe he’s found a new home. Maybe he’s gone feral. Maybe he’ll come back when he’s damn good and ready. But a cat’s survival instinct is second to no one’s. Remember, cats have a unique relationship with humans. We invited dogs to come live with us when we were dwelling in caves. Cats, on the other hand, took their own sweet time, waited until we invented houses and could be of real use to them, and THEN moved in. They still decide when they move in with us: lots of people have cats living with them who just “showed up” one day. And they decide when they move out too. All the same, I hope you find YOUR pussycat. Please keep us updated! ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/10 "2003-02-03T04:51:29Z")
Believe me, the food is better NO WHERE. This cat turns down prawns because he got used to the good fish we were giving him. When he hears the word fish, even if he is asleep he will jump up and run to the kitchen, and await his fish… Mum taught both of them this a while ago. He also doesnt eat Bacon… he got quite annoyed once when mum gave him some, so to make it up for him she gave him some Ham… Althought he still eats the dry food (kibble)… he just knows when he is getting a treat, and knows when he is getting left overs… ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/11 "2003-02-03T04:53:55Z")
forgot to mention… if someone takes him in, i dont think they will keep him long. When he gets nervous (around new people, in a new home) he will tend to mark his territory EVERYWHERE… number 1’s and 2’s. His furballs come quite often aswell, if i took him in a cat that urinated, pooped AND furballed all over the place, he would go straight to the local Vet (which is also nearby. Handy) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/12 "2003-02-03T05:13:33Z")
Make sure you give a flyer to the local animal shelters as well, \*\* moc. \*\* Leave a flyer at local pet stores, if they’ll let you. (If someone took him in, they may need supplies.) Put some up in nearby grocery stores, and vets’ offices too. You also may want to run an ad in the paper. Chances are, your kitty will find his way home. Cats are amazing when it comes to sense of direction. ---
**Author:** ![dp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dp)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/13 "2003-02-03T05:22:14Z")
i live on a farm and always have had cats. outside cats. a few years ago on 4th of July some friends asked us to go boating with them. we needed to get our own lifejackets because the game wardens will give you a ticket if you dont have them. we used to have a boat, but we had sold it. we kept the lifejackets in a rarely used farm junk building. the 1 room building was stacked high with junk. i went in to get the lifejackets and i didnt know that one of the cats had followed me in. i accidentlly shut the cat in and we left. the cat was a tom and he would leave from time to time to go courting. he would usually come home in a few days, so we didnt miss him at first. well, he never came back. we watched the nearest houses, but never saw him. on august 3rd, my daughter came in the house and said that she saw a strange cat in the junk house, through the window. i went out there and there he was, still alive, no food or water for a month! the hottest month of the year also. it gets sweltering in that building. he looked like hell. there had never been any rodents in there much because no feed was ever kept in there. that cat survived on bugs(and very few of them) and by licking condensation off of the window panes. he was in there for a month, the date of his disaperance was easily remembered because it was July 4, and i will always remember the day we found him, aug 3rd, because it was so amazing. it took about 2 months to get him looking normal again. he lived for 3 or 4 more years. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/14 "2003-02-03T06:10:56Z")
Cats are such natural born survivors that it’s a social problem. The feral cat population of NYC and other cities is out of control because the little buggers never miss a meal. They feed off garbage, pigeons, rodents, etc… OTOH, if your Pekingese had run away it’d be shacked up in a Salvation Army flophouse by evening. Dogs turned loose in the country have a decent chance at survival, but dogs that wander off in the city are often starving by the time they’re picked up by the Humane Society. Is your cat neutered? If not, that’s probably why he’s out, and he’ll keep on going out until he’s clipped. ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-it-survive/152240/15 "2003-02-03T06:32:33Z")
-Flyers are down at the high school (which is a 2 minute walk from my house) -Flyers are at the local shopping center (10 minute walk) -Ad will run in the paper tonight -He is neutered.