My cat disappeared and turned up under a neighbor’s house five days later. She had probably been under the house, but the neighbor apparently didn’t notice the odd noises coming from underneath her house. Finally, her cat started to act really odd, directed the person to one of the screens that led to the crawl space under the house, and there was my cat. Fortunately she remembered seeing my notices plastered all over the neighborhood.
[QUOTE=anna’s girl;7183287]
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.[/QUOTE]
No, it was very residential in my case. He had to cross one insanely busy road in the process as well. I don’t know how he did it so many times. It was a little over a mile in my case.
I had a tamed formerly feral cat that lived in the house and one day she just bolted out the door. I had looked for her everywhere and called and called for her with no luck. Then one night I saw her on the porch eating with the barn cats, but if I went outside, she would run off and acted like she didn’t know me. A few days later I let my JRT out to use the restroom and as soon as he walked out, the cat ran up to him and started purring and rubbing all over his face. He decided that there was no way he could potty with a cat stuck to his face, so he turned around and came back in the house. The cat followed him right in and suddenly remembered who the people were.
I’ve owned a couple who have gotten out but come back in short order. I never found them during exhaustive searching; they just came home eventually.
Several years back, a friend’s family moved from western NY to middle Ohio. They packed up their three indoor cats and hit the road. Somehow, two of the family felines escaped at a rest stop on the NYS thruway. Ran off and presumed dead; we’re talking heavy traffic on an interstate, miles from anything those cats had ever known, indoor cats with no wilderness savvy.
They showed up together at the former family home about four months later.
There is certainly hope; do check out your old house.
Awe…poor kitty.
My indoor/outdoor stripey tiger went missing 3 weeks ago - turned up back at our old house. He hadn’t lived there for over 18mths, but it’s quite close (1/2 mile, maybe).
Put flyers in the mailboxes between your old and new houses - we started getting txts from people who had seen him on our old street.
I hope you get your kitty back soon! It’s an awful feeling.
A friend of mine lost one of her cats in Chicago in the middle of winter. The cat was gone for three months. For three months, my friend walked the streets in Chicago at night, looking for this cat. During that time, she became well acquainted with the local feral cat population, enough so that she was fairly certain her cat was not hanging out with those cats.
One day, the cat showed up on her second story balcony, skinny, stinky, and dehydrated. She still has no idea what happened, but the cat just showed up one day. She thinks she maybe got trapped in a garage or something somewhere and came back when she escaped. Crazy!
Thanks again so much everyone.
I’ve flyered new and old neighborhood. Talked in person to my old cat lover next door neighbor and found the cat lovers/feeders in my new neighborhood. Put up flyers in the local grocery/stores.
Found a local lost pet Facebook page and posted on craigslist.
It feels good to do something and to meet new neighbors, who have all been super receptive.
Hoping!
Kitty sounds well able to look after herself so don’t make yourself sick with worry (so easy to write, not easy at all to do).
Go out calling her at dusk & dawn & quiet times - you can just sit & read (on your phone?) & she may just appear, ie you want to appear calm & safe rather than worried & too full of energy.
You might leave her some “litter trails” to help her find her way back home, also add some home scents to the trap, e.g. your Tshirt (unwashed so it smells like you), some of her old litter etc.
Often cats are not far from home (unless chased) - instead they go into a safe hole or up a tree etc & just freeze out there.
Even if she hears/sees you, it may take several visits before she decides to reply - listen for the tiniest mew.
Our 7 month old kitten got out of a door left open. She had never been outside and we live in a new condo community where every single building of 8 townhouses looks exactly the same and there are at least 50 buildings. Kids and I walked around for hours calling for her and looking under the shrubbery and cars with flashlights (I’m surprised no one called the cops). We gave up at about 10:00 at night and I was certain we’d never see her again.
Lo and behold, the next morning I went out and she was under my car and came out talking up a storm (and she usually has little to say). I have no idea how she knew that was my car. My daughter is convinced that because the car smells like horse (and it does!), the cat associated that smell with us and knew it was our car.
I had a cat disappear for months after a new kitty addition to the household. The cat usually meowed when I called her name, so I figured she was pretty long gone after weeks of walking the neighborhood while calling for her.
Lo and behold, I was out for a run one evening, and there she was sitting on a fence of a vacant house nearby. Someone had been feeding her because there was a bowl of water and crunchies near her. She was happy to come home and has stayed put ever since.
Don’t give up!
[QUOTE=anna’s girl;7184650]
Thanks again so much everyone.
I’ve flyered new and old neighborhood. Talked in person to my old cat lover next door neighbor and found the cat lovers/feeders in my new neighborhood. Put up flyers in the local grocery/stores.
Found a local lost pet Facebook page and posted on craigslist.
It feels good to do something and to meet new neighbors, who have all been super receptive.
Hoping![/QUOTE]
Checked with the local shelters? I’ve picked up quite a few cats that were fairly far from home. One was a good 20 minutes, by car. They can end up hitching a ride in or under a car and the driver never has a clue. Also ask neighbors to check sheds, garages, etc. My old barn cat was once locked in a storage container for 3 days. The container belonged to my Dad and was rarely opened. Apparently he’d had someone come out one day and clean it out and the cat must have slipped in.
I have, fortunately they have a online database of found pets here. We are almost completely no kill in my city. 
[QUOTE=anna’s girl;7186105]
I have, fortunately they have a online database of found pets here. We are almost completely no kill in my city. :)[/QUOTE]
Do you have something with the cat’s scent on it to put out like a dirty litter box or a blanket? Sometimes the smell can help a wayward cat reorient itself.
So sorry about your cat! Did you report her to your local shelter and check your local shelter in person? Most people assume a cat will eventually return and don’t check shelters for weeks, if ever. Is she microchipped or wearing a collar?
Once my cat, who had previously been indoor only, got spooked during a brief stroll outside and did not come back for two nights. The second night I thought to do what, in retrospect, I should have done immediately: stayed up late and left the back door propped open. I had to evict a curious raccoon about 10 pm (he moved along promptly when fixed with a hard stare) 
but a little after midnight my cat came running in, very hungry and thirsty and obviously extremely relieved to be back.
I think lost cats often go to ground because they feel frightened and disoriented, but they feel more emboldened to move around under cover of darkness. I read the result of a study somewhere that stated that the majority of cats in suburban areas stayed within a one-block radius of home: unless they are trying to return to a remembered prior home, they don’t tend to go very far. This strategy is worth trying, because there’s a good chance your cat may still be around in the immediate vicinity.
Another tactic that I also used, recommended to me by others: take the contents of the cat’s familiar litter box and deposit on the property, outside your door, etc. to mark the spot. For a normally indoors cat who may not be familiar with the lay of the land, this is like putting up a big signpost that says YOUR HOME IS HERE. Good luck - I think you have a good chance of finding her if you don’t give up.
No advice, but I do have a story – my mom’s neighbour lost a cat that had been exclusively an indoor cat (I think the story was that she got spooked out of the house when there were workers coming in and out during renos). The cat was missing for MONTHS and the owners had completely given up hope. One day the cat returned – so thin that she had put a foreleg through her collar – but healthy and unharmed. Cat is still alive many years later and has never shown any interest in repeating her adventures.
I’ve got fingers and toes crossed for you, OP – don’t give up hope!!
My coworkers cat disappeared. Months later his neighbor mentioned he was taking[/I]his[I] new cat to the vet. Yes. Coworker’s cat left him for a better home. Can’t blame the cat, coworker is a dog person with little understanding or sympathy for cats. So in some cases cats do end up in good situations, so don’t fret too much. He may be doing okay until he can make it back.
My cat Jack is missing. He’s been MIA for over a week. He is primarily a house cat, occasionally venturing about 10’ from the back door to sit on the patio table. Never any farther.
I’ve looked everywhere for him - throughout the house, even in rooms I know have been shut up. Under the back porch, under the house, in the attic. I even looked in the rafters above the covered front porch (and saw a shed snake skin hanging from the rafters! ). I even looked in the crisper drawer in the refrigerator, even though I knew there was no way he got in there. I thought about him possibly being attacked by my several large dogs - they’re good with cats, but still - things happen. But in the rare event that the dogs have killed something (like the possum in the yard this week), they leave the body alone. And with two german shepherds, a doberman, a giant schnauzer, a standard poodle and an english setter, coyotes aren’t coming in my fenced yard. I’ve been down to the barn twice a day, and called for him there, even though he’s never been down that far. I’ve walked the road and my pastures looking for his body.
Strangely, my gray cat Spike has been hanging out in the house all week, when normally he’d split his time between the house and barn. He’s scarcely moving from the kitchen chair the Jack likes to sit on. I keep hoping for some “Timmy’s in the well” signs from any of the animals, but no such luck.
I’m just so worried and I can’t get him off my mind. I’d honestly rather know he was dead then not find any trace of him.
StG
You have my sympathy. It’s a horrible feeling.
As for the night thing, I am a night person so I am up and periodically calling till around 4 am. I even drove to the old place last night at 230 AM.
That said I caught the second cat since Friday, in my trap, sometime between 4AM and 7AM. It was even an Orange Tabby, just not my Orange Tabby. 
Thanks again everyone!
