One of my cats was outside when the guy came to do the termite inspection on my house. This cat was pretty spooky around new people (in hindsight I should have had him inside) and he disappeared. He was gone for about 3 days but he came back on the 3rd night. I was a complete mess and I went all over looking for him and calling him. I never saw him but I had a feeling that he wasn’t far away.
Fingers crossed that sweet Diana comes home soon! 
Four of my neighbors missing cats have turned out to be trapped in basements they were exploring. They were all ok. Try your neighbors. Best of luck.
Try this: Take a walk outside, maybe talking softly, carrying some kitty food. You don’t need to put it down. Go very close to any bushes or hiding places. Not calling so much as just alerting worried distracted kitty that it is you.
Walk out and back to the house on one side. Then do that on another side. And so forth until you have showed the way home is safe from all of the hiding places. Leave a little food dish at the door (if it won’t attract local fauna).
I had a very spooky kitty once. On the rare occasions when she got out, that routine brought her back home within an hour or so. It seems she just needed a lead to show that she could get home safely.
I did have to use a humane trap to get her back twice. It scared her some, but she went in the second time a few months later! I think she was almost relieved that she had a way home.
Jingles for her safe return!
I’ve had barn kitties go missing for a day or two (or a few weeks, even!) and then come home like nothing had ever happened. “Yo, lady, where the bleep is my food?”
On our local lost pets FB page a couple of years ago, someone was frantically trying to find her 8-week old kitten - he’d slipped out the back door, it was going to be in the teens that night with snow forecast - and then about 2 hours later, she came back and said, “I don’t know WHERE he was, but he just came up the stairs from the basement!”
Like ZuZu said, put out a favorite blanket, litter box, etc. so she smells it and know she’s still home. Hopefully the live trap will catch her. And don’t feel too guilty - we’ve all BTDT. Kitties are masters at doing the things they shouldn’t!
And you are sure she really got out?
Daughter called me in a panic once saying her beloved indoor cat had escaped. She had seen him but he would just run away from her. Turned out that cat was a look-alike. Her cat finally appeared from the fireplace, having spent the missing time exploring the chimney.
Aunt’s doted on indoor cat went missing and my aunt was a basket case. Turned out she had closed her front door and the cat was sandwiched between it and the storm door. She discovered her the next morning. The cat was fine.
My personal record for an indoor cat escaping and then returning was two weeks.
Here is the other thread. Many, many kitties who did return on their own.
Offering no explanations, of course. Just expecting a meal.
A friend in the Bay Area had her older, fat indoor-only cat escape. She was gone six weeks or so, til the homeowner who had started feeding her as a stray took her to a vet, who scanned her for a chip. Bingo!
Unfortunately I watch her go out the door and use the I am afraid cry that she only uses with my other cat. It was right before dawn so it was still dark outside so I didn’t see which way she went.
Thank you
Jingles!
You might also want to put out a game camera so you can see if she is around, or coming around.
I know of two indoor only cats (not the same family, not even in the same town) who got out and were gone long enough that the family assumed they were gone for good (one over a month), and then were found.
The one family only knew that their cat was around again because they still had the game camera set up (it was the type of camera that sends the photos to your phone) and they caught a shot of their cat on it. They ended up having to use a humane trap to catch their cat but once inside the cat went right back to being itself.
Jingles & AO continue ~ sit outside quietly near the door she went out at feeding times ~ so she can scent you and return ~
They can go completely feral when they get out and get spooked. Patience is key. Go look everywhere! Go out at 3am with a flashlight and look and listen when it’s the most quiet. My cat got spooked when I had to temporarily live with my parents and she was in an old dog carrier on a neighbors porch but still ran from me until I actually got my hands on her then she relaxed. She ignored the wet cat food being opened, treats being shaken, all the normal things she would come to in the house. Years ago I also had a roomates cat get out and he was living underneath the shed it took days of tossing him tuna to get him out enough to grab him. Blink cameras are easy to setup with wifi. It can help to put food out and cameras if you can see that she’s still around then you should be able to trap her.
This is excellent advice. I am just going to have to be patient, which is so hard. I was thinking about it this morning and I realize this cats MO is to find the fist hiding place and hunker down.
More than one game camera (or some sort of door bell camera) is your friend.
If you do not own any, ask around. I am sure you know people who have some that might be willing to loan it .
Our super shy and pudgy soft cat got out once right before a hurricane. She was lost for three MONTHS, but we finally caught her in a trap, well after I had given up hope. What helped us was putting up signs and talking to neighbors. We put out several traps along likely routes but didn’t catch her till one of the boarders spotted her under the tractor early one morning. That let us set the trap more in a targeted area, and we caught her with some tuna the next morning! A couple of game cameras would have helped a ton. She hadn’t gone far from where she’d escaped from; we found her within a 200’ radius of the house (we think she was living under the tackroom and eating rats, because the rat population had dropped drastically during the time she was gone). She tamed right back down (although we could never have caught her without the trap), and is snoozing on the bed as we speak (it’s been several years since she escaped, fortunately, and she’s living her best life now).
I was also going to say that she might be hiding somewhere near the house. Can you leave the door open so if she gets the courage up she may come in?
I know it is February and cold for many places but…
I will try that again, my other cat has to be locked in the bedroom when I do that and it’s the only thing that keeps me from leaving the door cracked at all times .
My biggest fear is that I don’t find her before I move in three weeks. I will work something out with the neighbors if that’s the case but I would rather take her with me .
One of mine got out once. I walked the neighborhood calling him, gave all the neighbors flyers I printed off with his picture and sat outside a lot, just talking.
I’d leave a piece of your dirty clothes out near a litter box and set up a trap with his favorite stinky food in it.
I left the screen back door propped open at night and sure enough I heard him scratching at the door to get in that night.
I’m sorry for the loss of your other cat and I’m sending jingles that your girl comes home soon.
Still jingling for kitty’s return!!!
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