Some background. Female cat that was feral for two years. I trapped her a few years ago and had her fixed then let her back out. She became tame and I brought her indoors full time 9 months ago. This wild thing turned out to be a total love bug.
I moved about 2 months ago so this outside is unknown to her.She went out the door and over the fence when a loud truck startled her.
I have a small woods behind my house and that’s where she went.
I’ve searched and called, put a trap out with tuna, talked to neighbors etc.
If she’s deep in those woods she’s not real close but not to far either.
Does anyone think she’ll come back? I remember reading here of a few stories but I can’t recall them in detail.
Needless to say hubby and I are really upset and sad.
Anyone?
Many years ago, in Alaska, we gave friends a feral turned tame kitty (we took him in before winter) as theirs had died. They lived at least 5 miles away from us.
He was home the next day. :-0
Don’t give up hope!
I had a cat once that ran away was gone for almost 3 months came back a week or so before Halloween missing part of its tail that we think got caught in a snare trap. There was snow already on the ground we had written her off as a goner. It happens. Don’t give up hope keep food out. Hope your kitty shows up!
We took in a stray who went missing for an entire winter and came back in the spring. We don’t know what happened- she didn’t come back in amazing condition but not starving- assuming she found someplace else to mooch off a bit.
How far away is your old place? Maybe it would be worth checking it out, if not too far away.
My cat, who commutes from my house to my barn with me, ran away when we were on vacation and disappeared. When I got back, he was hiding at the barn, having made his way there – something he’d never done before as he’d always made the trip in the car with me.
I trapped a feral, took him ~40 miles to get neutered, used a different route back and dropped him off, with permission, at a farm ~10 miles from my place. About 3 weeks later he was back. He is still completely feral, but I do see him occasionally.
I agree with checking your old place if it isn’t too far.
Christa
I’ve had 2 cats go missing for extended periods of time.
The first got himself shut in a neighbor’s garage while they were on vacation. 10 days later he came racing home.
The second cat, very shortly after we moved to our new home, decided he liked the old neighborhood better (where he’d lived his whole life) and went traipsing back there… following the exact car path we took to get to the new house, not going the “most direct route”. The little stinker. We figured that out when we started getting responses to our “missing cat” posters saying “Oh, yeah, I just saw that cat when I was at the gas station” or “We were playing with that cat on our porch yesterday!”. My mom mapped the sightings out until one day a family saw the poster BEFORE they saw him and lured him into their home for a pizza party (and then called us). Happy day, indeed.
So, it happens. Definitely not time to loose hope.
We had our never been outside mutant exotic shorthair escape and disappear for six weeks. She was found eight miles away on the other side of a lake!
So don’t give up hope and keep looking. Sounds like your cat has better outdoor experience.
Thank you so much everyone! My old house is only 2 miles away, I’ll definitely be checking there some more, I drove by today and yesterday.
My old next door neighbor knows what she looks like from her feral days, so I will talk to him tomorrow.
As all of you know it’s a horrible feeling of the unknown.
I feel much better after hearing your stories, she did grow up in my old neighborhood so hopefully she’ll turn up there.
Thanks again and keep the stories coming. 
Cats orient themselves by the sun. That is why you are supposed to keep them in for a bit when you move so they can reorient themselves, right? I would definitely let the people know who moved into your old place to keep an eye out. Two miles is nothing for them to travel.
don’t lose hope and keep calling with food! doing it right before nightfall seems to do the trick for me - we’ve had a few cats that were feral turned housecats that would escape time to time. my girl will slip out when i’m not noticing and if i call her with food she will come back.
best of luck - definitely check your old house and keep up hope!
We lost our cat when I was pregnant in 1997 for 2 weeks. I was on bed rest and saw her on the patio chair one day. I scooped her up and made her stay inside. She was a strange cat and went into cars and slept if the windows were down. She was with us until January 11, 2012 and was 23. Strange cat, I still miss her.
My favorite barn cat of all time disappeared one day out of the blue…we looked and looked for him for weeks - put up posters, CraigsList ads, and notified animal control (he was micro chipped)…drove the neighborhood each evening calling for him. No luck.
He was gone for five months! Then one day I went into my feed room and he was there! Skinny, flea-infested, tick infested - and sooooooo happy to be back that he only left the tack room if I was at the barn.
We have no clue where he was…but we’re so glad he came home…
I bet you guys find your loved cat…give it time and don’t lose hope…
Fingers crossed. Put up pictures and a description to ever vet, groomers, pet store, etc. in the area. Grocery stores, street corners, etc. are also great places. You also might want to see if there is a facebook group for your state’s missing pets.
My cat kept going back to our old house many times after we moved. He would be gone for up to a month at a time before I finally found him and brought him home only to repeat it in a few weeks. Every time he came home fatter! The last time I brought him home I literally found him on a neighbor’s patio behind our old house eating chili cheese fries out of a take out container!
God…I’ve gone through that. An awful awful feeling that I never want to experience again 
We did get our missing cat back after about 6 weeks though.
A neighbour had a live trap available to use. They’d been feeding him in their backyard for a couple of days and happened to see one of the posters that we put up for our missing cat. They set the trap and bam we got him back. He was still very skittish (was adopted from the shelter) so it was tough to try to get him back. People would call us and say they saw him but tried to grab him. He’d end up bolting off.
Chances are if she’s not at your former residence, she’s probably not that far from your house. It might be easier to go out after dark with a flashlight and treats and call out while looking for her in the woods (so the eyes will reflect the light).
Jingles for a safe return! It’s an awful thing to endure…
[QUOTE=sketcher;7183088]
Cats orient themselves by the sun. That is why you are supposed to keep them in for a bit when you move so they can reorient themselves, right? I would definitely let the people know who moved into your old place to keep an eye out. Two miles is nothing for them to travel.[/QUOTE]
We’ve been here two months, I didn’t let her out on purpose and was not going to let her out at all.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7183219]
My cat kept going back to our old house many times after we moved. He would be gone for up to a month at a time before I finally found him and brought him home only to repeat it in a few weeks. Every time he came home fatter! The last time I brought him home I literally found him on a neighbor’s patio behind our old house eating chili cheese fries out of a take out container![/QUOTE]
How far away was your old house?
Also to the others that mentioned going back to a place/barn were you in a rural area?
I’m in the burbs but far from rural, there is plenty vegetation on the way down there though. It’s also just one road from here to there.
Oh and I caught a cat in the trap tonight but it wasn’t mine. So someone is smelling the tuna I put in there.
