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.
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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.
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Jingles & AO continue ~ sit outside quietly near the door she went out at feeding times ~ so she can scent you and return ~
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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.
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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.
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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 .
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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).
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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…
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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 .
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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 .
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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.
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Still jingling for kitty’s return!!!
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My spooky kitty returned the night before I was leaving to move to another state.
The final step of the move was flying with my two cats to my new place over 1,000 miles away. Then spooky girl vanished about a week before – but I did think that she wasn’t far, just upset by all the boxing & loading etc. I should have known better and kept her in the bathroom, instead of trying to stick to their daily routine until we left. Must plead the ignorance and over-optimism of youth on that one. (The other cat was an opposite personality, very friendly, and thought the whole business was great fun. He did have to be corralled to keep him from tripping the movers.)
The cats had to have health certificates. Spooky kitty was gone and missed the vet appointment. The kindly vet said “She is likely to show up, call me no matter when she does, and we’ll get the health certificate all set. A lost cat on the street with no home doesn’t have a good future.”
She turned up Saturday night, the plane was leaving Sunday afternoon. Called the vet. He met this little spooky former-stray kitty at his office on Sunday morning, wearing his church clothes, to get her papers in order so that she would not be left behind. God bless that vet!
(I had a friend on backup for Plan B in case kitty didn’t show up in time … but honestly I didn’t really have a friend that I fully trusted to understand the care & keeping of spooky kitty.)
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Yeah, that’s the weird thing about ours. It was kind of a complex situation, but she was actually spotted AFTER my daughter had moved back home (her roommate was still living in the house, but there was so much damage to ours after the hurricane that my kid moved home to help us). So as long as you have good neighbors, they should call you if they spot her.
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I’m so sorry! A trick I learned to help locate my kitties when they’re outdoors - if you wear a headlamp and look for them at night, their eyes will reflect back. You’ll be able to see her from pretty far away, then get closer and talk to her.
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Any signs that Diana has been staying close by or hanging out anywhere?
I thought I saw some tracks in the snow. Unfortunately it has snowed another 3 inches last night .
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Maybe she has found a spot to hunker down. Continued jingles for her safe return!
