My indoor cat escaped two days ago. Gone without a trace. We are all just heartbroken. Anyone this has happened to - did you ever find your cat? Did it ever come back home?
My cat ran away quite some time ago. I haven’t seen her since. There’s a cat that hangs around in my apple tree a lot that looks just like my cat. In fact, I thought it was my cat the first time I saw it. I give the stranger kitty treats and food all the time. I like to hope that my cat is in a good place, perhaps with lots of other runaway cats, playing and laughing and gossiping about dogs. 
I miss my cat. 
yes, this did happen to someone else on the board. the cat did return. iirc it was about a month later.
Is there a local animal shelter? Can you call to see if a cat answering your cat’s description has been brought to them?
People around here sometimes put up posters with their missing pet’s picture, and a phone # and offer of a small reward.
I hope your cat comes back. We would be heartbroken if any of ours got lost.
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Quite a few years ago, our beloved old indoor cat got out through a window and disappeared two days after we’d moved to a new house. I made posters with his picture on them and put them up around the neighborhood, called the animal control center (and WENT there every day, too, just in case), left posters at nearby vets’ offices, and was just about to put an ad in the paper when he came back, four days later, no worse for wear.
I’ve had more than one cat disappear for a few days only to come back safe and sound, so don’t give up hope. DO check with your local animal shelter, humane association, and veterinarians and ask around the neighborhood. Good luck, and I hope your kitty comes home soon.
:eek:
I hope your cat is ok. My recent experience has shown that cats should never be outside. I hope it returns home safely!
I think there is a service called “Pet Finders” (I think that’s their name) that will call up all your neighbors, tell them about your lost pet, and ask them to check places like their garages, etc. (Often pets will get stuck in a neighbor’s garage - this has happened to my sister’s cats more than a few times, and just happened to another friend.)
Also, put flyers around your neighborhood, with a description of the cat, and also encouraging people to check garages and sheds - anywhere a frightened animal could get stuck in.
Many pets have been recovered this way. Good luck to you. I KNOW how difficult this time is for you.
If (GOD FORBID) your kitty does not return, (and if you feel comfortable doing this), I would advise you to get your next pet at the local animal shelter or pound. That’s what I did when I lost a much loved cat a few years ago. I went out right away and adopted this adorable little orange kitty who was just one day away from being destroyed. He is a great kitty, and looks up at me with gratitude (I am not kidding) and love every day. I adopted him in the memory of my dear lost kitty, and I know it was the best thing I did under the circumstances. (But that’s me - not everyone would want to adopt another pet so soon.)
But I don’t want to leave you with the sad prospect that you might lose your cat. As I said, my sister has recovered many a lost kitty by putting flyers around the neighborhood. And several of them were found in neighbor’s garages. Also, when I was a kid, our family had a kitty that took off for YEARS. Like, years!!! Then she turned up one day, like a bum or prodigal child, and lived out quite a few more years in the family home. You never know!
And the cat DID come back, I’m happy to report!
My very good friends cat got out and didn’t come back for about a week. She was on her way out of town, and I came over twice a day calling that stupid cat. “Haaiiiiley”, “Haaaaaaaaaiiiiiillllllllyyyyyyy!”. We were very worried because we have a lot of animals in our woods (we’re in the country). We posted pictures and went door to door (her sister and I). Finally, one day I was on the porch calling her and out she ran! She was quite skinny, but no worse for the wear. I suspect she got stuck inside somewhere (like a garage or barn) and couldn’t get out. She was thrilled to be home and hasn’t strayed since!
Good luck, and don’t give up hope. Remember, there are LOTS of nice pet people out there. One may have taken your lost kitty in and is waiting to see a picture or an ad in the paper.
Also, call the local Humane Society. They frequently end up with lost kitties.
When you find your kitty, don’t forget to collar her and put an ID tag on. Last year I found a lost Rottie and took her in, and it took several days to find the owner, due to a lack of tags. If she had been tagged, I would have had her back to the owner within hours instead of days.
Zette
Try placing her food and water outside. If she’s around, she’ll come to feed when she’s hungry enough.
My house cat snuck out the door one day. We didn’t notice for a while. Looked all over, found a bit of grey fur (she was all grey) by the road, was really depressed. Posted signs around the neighborhood etc.
About a week later, we were leaving to go somewhere when I spotted a grey cat walking along side our house. yep. she was back. Seemed tired, a bit hungry, dirty, but otherwise her normal aloof self.
My parents have a 30 pounder. This cat is absolutely huge… She fills up the sink and her fat rolls spill over the side. God it’s an enourmous cat. To any extent, my mother decided she was gonna leave the back porch screen open one day. I forget what she was doing, but O.D. (the cat) decided she was gonna just step outside for a minute. My mom shut the door back and next morning, lo and behold, there was this poor fat shivering mewing thing outside the door. Mom opened the door and O.D. shot back inside, never to venture out in the wide wild world again. 
That cat is so funny. hehe…
This just occurred to me: have you checked inside for your lost cat, or do you know for certain it got out? Once one of our cats got shut in a linen closet and was trapped for a day. They also can get shut in closets and there may be other possibilities in your house.
My cat, Max, was missing for 3 weeks once. I was still in mourning but hard started considering the merits of a new kitten when he waltzed in the back door just as fat and happy as could be. That wasn’t the last time he roamed, but it was the last time I gave him up for lost.
I hope your kitty comes back. My furry man was missing for a day once, and I was a wreck.
Don’t despair yet - and do check inside; those little buggers sure do find some good, practically right-out-in-the-open places in which to “blend.”
A friend’s timid and tiny kitty fell thru a window screen. Needless to say months passed and there was no luck finding her. Everytime I saw a black and white cat in their vacinity I stopped to see if it was Bobbie Sox trying to make her way home.
Almost one year to the day later a woman called to tell the family that she had been feeding their cat for weeks and was just recently able to grab her long enough to cut her collar off. It was half around her neck and half under a leg – there was a wound. Bobbie’s rabies tag and the help of the local vet clinic allowed the woman to identify the owners.
The family raced to the location and then raced Bobbie off to the vets for a check up! Of course there was much appreciation for the woman that cared for Bobbie all those months.
Bobbie Sox – Wonder Cat
Our family cat is a real agoraphobe. She absolutely REFUSED to go outside.
However, when we were redecorating the house, she started to become very agitated most of the time. Clearly, she was NOT happy about the changes being made to her domain.
My family and I were moving furniture in and out of the house one day while the carpeting was being installed, and my brother hurt his back. In the ensuing confusion, the porch door was open for about half an hour. It was at this point that Tugger made her escape.
Bear in mind that this is a cat who had never been outdoors before. She was missing for a full week, and we assumed that something horrible had happened to her (we live in the country, in an area of the county that still has some fierce creatures).
But the neighbors called a full week later. There was a frightened and somewhat defensive kitty in their garage. AFAIK, she hasn’t been outside since.
So take heart, salinqmind. As this thread shows, the cats often DO come back.
Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and advice. I made up flyers today and we plan to saturate the 'hood. My cat weighs about 20 lbs., double front paws - he’s not the kind of cat you can easily forget! He’s definitely not in the house. I’m putting dry catfood out at night just in case. We’re hopeful someone will have seen him - or notice that something is decimating the wildlife in their backyard!
It is not at all unusual for cats to take off for a day or a few days if they manage to get out of the house, as you can clearly see here.
Make sure you check around your house and your neighbour’s houses very closely. If (crossing fingers against this) your kitty has been injured, he may be hiding somewhere difficult to spot - under a porch, inside a shed or garage, somewhere like that.
Odds are still quite good that he will show up on your porch looking very nonchalant about the whole thing. That’s what mine usually did. If cats could talk, I swear they would be saying, “What? I was only gone for three days. You need to relax. Jeez.”
That was me (under my old username of chrisbar).
My kitty Oreo ran away over the memorial holiday and we did everything we could think of to get him back. Thankfully we did.
Some tips:
Posters - put them up at the shelter, local vet offices, WalMart, grocery stores, local churches, anywhere you can think of.
Shelter - many shelters have a “lost pet” form you can fill out to leave a description of your cat. They are supposed to call you if a cat resembling yours comes in. My word is Don’t Trust them to do so. Visit the shelter frequently (twice a week if possible) I don’t mean to depress you but animals, especially adult ones, don’t stay longer than a week on average before they are put to sleep.
Newspaper - take out a lost ad. That’s how we got our Oreo back. Also if you have a local columnist that writes about community events, see if they’ll mention your loss. The fellow that writes the Miscellania (sp) column here was extremely helpful to us.
The last advice I can offer is simply; don’t give up hope.
Good luck finding him!
Tally
I really hope you get your kitty back.
When he does return, get that cat chipped! For about $25, you can have a very small microchip implanted under the skin of the cat’s shoulder. The chips are about the size of a grain of rice.
Animal shelters, vets, municipal authorities, etc. routinely check lost, picked up, and hurt animals for chips. This will connect you with your kitty faster than any other method I know of.
Many people don’t get their indoor cats chipped because they are indoor cats. But indoor cats do occasionally get out. Our vet also told us that they are more likely to intervene (with surgery, or whatever) on an injured cat if it is chipped. They know that the owner is likely to be trying to get the cat back, and that they are more likely to be able to reach the owner. Either way, they provide palliative care.
Good luck!