# Tell Me Your "My Cat Was Missing For Days But Came Home" Stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386 "2015-12-04T04:47:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/21 "2015-12-05T05:05:05Z")
**The cat came home!!** I guess he had been to see the queen. šŸ˜ƒ Today was rough for me. I had really started to accept that he was laying dead in a ditch somewhere, never to be seen again. I cried all day off and on. Life was sucking, hard. Then tonight, just a few minutes ago, while I was feeding the dogs, the thought popped into my mind that he was out on the porch waiting to be let in. I didnā€™t hear him meow or jump off the banister or anything- there was no reason why I would know he was out there. But I had that thought, and I literally ran to the door and opened it, and there he was!! Ohmygodsohappy! Reunited and it feels so good. Thanks for your stories. They did help me to keep a tiny piece of hope alive! And thanks for the well wishes. He ate a LOT. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/22 "2015-12-05T05:20:39Z")
I am so happy for you. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/23 "2015-12-05T05:26:26Z")
Really glad to hear it. Give that kitty a scritch. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/24 "2015-12-05T05:27:02Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I am so happy for you. Thank you. I feel like a crazy cat lady for how upset I had become, and how happy I am now. But I love this cat; we are very close. šŸ˜› I miscalculated his age because math is hard- he is 3 and 1/2. I got him right after I moved here to NC from AZ and he has been with me through a lot. While he was gone, I was thinking about how he hogs my pillow like in the pic I linked, and only gives me the bottom part, and yet I sleep better that way than when heā€™s not there. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/25 "2015-12-05T05:37:05Z")
I just came here to look for an update, and it was the one we all wanted. šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/26 "2015-12-05T07:00:01Z")
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your cat has telepathic control over you. He doesnā€™t even have to meow in order for you to do his bidding. The next time you go grocery shopping you wonā€™t have any recollection of buying 20 cans of prime albacore tuna. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/27 "2015-12-05T07:03:51Z")
Iā€™m so glad you had a happy reunion šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/28 "2015-12-05T08:01:32Z")
Oh Iā€™m so happy to hear it!!! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/29 "2015-12-05T08:08:56Z")
> [@My cat died today](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-died-today/308493/1): > > A couple of years later, Helene and I broke up, and I eventually moved to Orlando, bringing Mao with me. For six months, from April to September, I lived on the porch of my auntā€™s house in St. Cloud. Mao was very upset with the move, but she slept near me every night, purring like a deisel engine. When I got my own place she was again upset with the move, but happy to discover that the new house had less people living in it, and thus more room for her. > > Less than two months later, I let her out one morning as I left for work. I came home well after dark, and she wasnā€™t at the door waiting for me. The next morning, she still wasnā€™t at the door, and I began to worry. When there was still no sign of her that evening, I knew something was wrong. I printed up ā€œLOSTā€ fliers and posted them on mailboxes, telephone poles, fencesā€¦ I gave one to the guys at the Fire House down the street, to most of the neighbors, and brought one to the Kissimmee animal shelter in case she turned up there. > > For more than a month I spent several hours a day after work looking for her, calling her name, hoping that she was just lost and would come to my voice, but no luck. She was gone, vanished, and I blamed myself for letting her out unsupervised before she knew our new home well. For months I checked the shelter regularly, but I never found her, and the good folks working there assured me they hadnā€™t had her brought in. I was beside myself for having failed in my responsibility, depressed at what I saw as somehow abandoning this poor cat because I had to go to work. > > Imagine my surprise then, some 14 months later. I was jogging the same route I had used for more than a year, when in the dusky light I saw something dart across the road and into the trees. I called out and she stopped, but the noise of passing traffic scared her and she plunged into the swampy forest. I called and called, but it was soon dark and I had to give up the search. Every moment away from work was spent in the area, looking for her and calling her name. Two weeks later, I saw her again. She ran into a fenced yard, but I could plainly see her. I ran the mile or so back to the house, and got my car. > > The people living in the house were a bit surprised when I knocked on the door and explained that I wanted to drive my car into their backyard in order to catch a cat, but they acquiesced and opened the gate for me. After nearly 30 minutes of cajoling, I managed to throw a towel over her, grab her, and toss her into the car. I jumped in the driverā€™s seat, slammed the door shut and hollered my thanks as I drove back onto the street, my precious little girl mewling painfully from the floorboards of the passenger seat. Skinny from a year of picking through garbage, she hissed and spit at me as I picked her up again, and fought to get freeā€¦ lemme tell you, a 20 pound cat with a full set of claws is no picnic to carry 50 yards. It oughta be an Olympic event, but I bet no one can get proper insurance for it. > > Anyway, once I had her inside with the door closed, she immediately settled down. It was as though she recognized the place, knew she was home at last, and was grateful. For months she would sit next to me wherever I was and just purr. I beamed at how very very lucky I was to have her back in my life, and decided that she needed to stay indoors for her own good. Mao never seemed inclined to go out after that, either, so I never felt like I was depriving her of anything. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/30 "2015-12-05T09:44:23Z")
šŸ™‚ Hooray for happy endings ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/31 "2015-12-05T14:15:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your cat has telepathic control over you. He doesnā€™t even have to meow in order for you to do his bidding. > > The next time you go grocery shopping you wonā€™t have any recollection of buying 20 cans of prime albacore tuna. I, for one, welcomeā€¦ Well, you know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/32 "2015-12-05T14:46:41Z")
The story of my three furry friends; Faust was born in 1999, he was the only long haired one in the litter (daddy was a Norwegian forest cat, mommy a typical mix of everything) he moved around with his owner, my (then) girlfriend, until she moved somewhere with no outside. The he came to live with me. On day one my roommate let him out. I thought that would be the end of the story but 3 hours later he was sitting on my doorstep happily meauwing to be let back in. My apartment had a closed of back yard and for the next few years he could come and go as he pleased. He was always welcoming me in the street after I parked my car and we would race to the door (he always allowed me a huge lead before sprinting to the win) At some point I was renovating the apartment (from the '30s ) and the open crawl space led to a huge mice infestation, he was catching upwards of 3 mice a day. One day my parents visited and of course a mouse showed himself. With my mother sitting on the table, I opened the front door, called Faust and he came running; catching and killing the mouse in under a minute. He would walk with me into town, only stopping at the railway. He would walk my friends home (some of my friends live nearby) My friends would off course encourage such behavior (once with a herring) And ever 3 or four years he would escape in the days before new year; in holland we tend to overdo it with fireworks on New Yearā€™s Eve. I always tried to keep Faust indoors for that period of the year but as youā€™d imagine itā€™s tricky to keep a true outdoors cat indoors. Heā€™d escape and get spooked by the fireworks and be gone for a week. I donā€™t know where he went but he always returned around the 5th of January. Then I met my wife; she lived nearby and of course Faust walked with us to her place. She had 2 cats; Chelsea and Indy. After some initial unfriendliness they got on fine. When she moved in with me the cats came with. Chelsea had an adventurous streak and would be gone for a week a couple times per year, once while a friend of mine was cat sitting during my holiday:) Then we got married and got pregnant and needed a place with more than one bedroom. We moved to a house on the other side of town. The first night we slept there my eldest was born (3 months premature) while my wife was still in hospital Chelsea escaped on the second night (through my screened bedroom window) I dreaded telling my wife but on the fourth night I was woken up by a cat sitting on top of the garden shed meauwing itā€™s head of. So in 16 years my cats always came back:) Then my son became allergic to cats:( We found homes for all of them, but last month Faust, who was living with an old roommate of mine (and his) got disoriented and incontinent and we took him to the vet. He was the best cat. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/33 "2015-12-05T15:17:15Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Thank you. > > I feel like a crazy cat lady for how upset I had become, and how happy I am now. But I love this cat; we are very close. šŸ˜› I miscalculated his age because math is hard- he is 3 and 1/2. I got him right after I moved here to NC from AZ and he has been with me through a lot. > > While he was gone, I was thinking about how he hogs my pillow like in the pic I linked, and only gives me the bottom part, and yet I sleep better that way than when heā€™s not there. Youā€™re not crazy. Heā€™s a family member, so why wouldnā€™t you worry? So glad he came to his senses. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/34 "2015-12-05T19:34:13Z")
Glad to hear the cat came back (we thought he was a [goner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjjbqPAtwA&feature=iv&src_vid=h01U0JAR-4o&annotation_id=annotation_3590944153))! Had a lot of cats over the years and most of them have been homebodies but we do have one big traveler. We have a tuxedo cat that turned up missing one day. Looked for her all over and no Squeaky, not for days and weeks. We figured something happened to her, we didnā€™t know what and it was sad and we missed her. And then one day about six months later there she was on the doorstep, crying to be let in. She was thin and kinda patchy looking but there was our Squeaky. From what the neighbors told us when we were looking for her, she had a bad habit of going to other peopleā€™s houses and seeing if they would give her anything. (We fed her a bunch but she was looking for variety.) The people down the street apparently thought she was their cat and when they moved, they took her with them. Dunno where they went to or how she figured out the way home, but she did it. Still with us today, 19 going on 20 and mostly stays inside and when she goes outside she doesnā€™t go outside the fence. We make sure! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/35 "2015-12-05T19:50:52Z")
Iā€™m so glad your baby came home! My cat, Sadie, will sometimes get into moods where she tries to bolt out of the apartment at any given opportunity. Usually she just sniffs around near the front door, I grab her and bring her back in, and thatā€™s it. Some years ago she managed to slip out without me noticing. By the time I realized she had escaped she was long gone. This sucked, and hard, because I had to fly across the country for a work trip the very next day. There was nothing to be done about it. Several days after I got home from the trip, I was walking back from the nearby Blockbuster and found Sadie sitting on the back porch, giving me one of those ā€œwell itā€™s about damn timeā€ looks. I brought her in[and she immediately curled up on my luggage](http://pasteboard.co/2Ew5CF5t.jpg) to take a nap. Sadie is still going strong at 12 years old. She is still a champion napper and Iā€™m still really bad at putting my luggage away after a trip. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/36 "2015-12-06T00:48:47Z")
So many happy stories! Yay for the return of all these well-loved kitties. I love a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/37 "2015-12-06T01:37:20Z")
Yay! Glad Kitty came back! ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/38 "2015-12-06T03:15:05Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > So many happy stories! Yay for the return of all these well-loved kitties. I love a happy ending. I know! You have to wonder, though, where they go and what they doā€¦ I swear, when GoPros get small and cheap enough to attach to a collar, Iā€™m going to find out and report back. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/39 "2015-12-06T04:45:20Z")
Oh good news - I came in to tell the story of my cat Merlin who went missing for a week and then turned up late one evening, hungry and skinny, but alive. We figured heā€™d got trapped in someoneā€™s garage and they went away for a week or so. Never did find out, but lucky to have him back, as you are! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386/40 "2015-12-06T13:06:18Z")
Very happy to hear heā€™s home. The fact that heā€™s back wonā€™t stop me from telling my tale: Years ago I had an outdoor cat. One morning I drove him the the vet for a routine visit. I didnā€™t have a carrier so I stupidly just tried carrying him into the building. As I was crossing the parking lot with him in my arms he made his break. He clawed my shoulders and leapt out of my arms. Over the next several days I became convinced Iā€™d never see him again. Then, one day about a week later, I heard him meowing to come in. He had traveled more than 5 miles to come home. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-your-my-cat-was-missing-for-days-but-came-home-stories/739386.md?page=3)