Your Cat May Go Missing If It Finds A More Favourable Environment
Cats are particularly sensitive to change in their home environment so they may decide to move on if they find a more favourable place that caters for their needs.
For example if a new dog or baby arrives in your household your cat may start thinking that they would be better off taking up residence in the nice quiet house of the old lady who has fed them in the past.
In order to prevent this happening try to ensure that your cat is well looked after at home, it has clean fresh water, great cat food, a clean litter tray and, most importantly, a safe, comfortable, quiet place where it can hide away inside your house in order to get some complete peace and quiet when your cat needs to.
Cat Missing For 10 Days
my lovely cat has been missing for 10 days. she is an adventurer and often goes off for 2 or 3 days, but this is the longest by far. we have put up posters and notes through neighbours doors. she is microchipped so clinging to hope this means if she is taken to the vets they’ll call us.each day that passes makes me feel that it is more and more unlikely she will not come home. the not knowing is horrible. just don’t know what else to try. have been out every day shaking her food and calling her. how long before i should give up searching? What else can i try?any thoughts/advice gratefully recieved. . thanks.my lovely cat has been missing for 10 days. she is an adventurer and often goes off for 2 or 3 days, but this is the longest by far. we have put up posters and notes through neighbours doors. she is microchipped so clinging to hope this means if she is taken to the vets they’ll call us.each day that passes makes me feel that it is more and more unlikely she will not come home. the not knowing is horrible. just don’t know what else to try. have been out every day shaking her food and calling her. how long before i should give up searching? What else can i try?any thoughts/advice gratefully recieved. . thanks.
My old cat once disappeared for 3 weeks but came back perfectly fine, if a bit hungry.Hope you find her.
Eight Probability Categories Related To Lost Cat Behavior
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How To Find A Lost Indoor Cat
Having an indoor cat go missing can be especially heartbreaking, because we arent used to them wandering far from our feet! ð¿ So, how does one find a lost indoor cat?
The first step is understanding that cats are territorial creatures, and that they often dont leave their territory on purpose.
Indoor cats usually have a much smaller territory than outdoor cats. This means they only feel comfortable exploring their home territory, so they probably wont travel much further than a small distance from where they live.
In fact, a 2017 study found that missing indoor cats were found, on average, a distance of only 39 meters away from home.
Outdoor cats, on the other hand, are known to travel farther. They were found an average distance of 300 meters or three football fields away.
But now, back to indoor cats. Start searching your immediate surroundings in order to find a lost indoor cat. like in the garage or up a tree and your feline friend will likely be back in your arms in no time.
If Your Cat Has A Microchip Or Collar:
If your cat is microchipped or wearing a collar, there is a good chance you will be called by either a vet or a rescue centre if the cat is brought in.
The only times this is unlikely to happen is if the microchip has ‘migrated’ to another part of the cat’s body , or the collar was lost.
It is smart to periodically ask your vet to check if the microchip is still in the correct position or if it has migrated . If this is the case, you might want to get another microchip.
If you call around and still can’t find your cat, then follow the steps below.
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Feline Temperaments That Influence Distances Traveled
Temperament influences actions. How a cat behaves when in its normal territory will influence how it behaves when it becomes lost or displaced into unfamiliar territory. In addition to posting flyers and checking the cages of local shelters, encourage cat owners to develop a search strategy based on the specific behavior of their cat. Here are guidelines to use:
Dont Leave Your Cat Out Overnight
Even the most street smart cats need to feel secure when it gets dark. Make sure you bring your cat in if you are away for the day and at night. Knowing your cat is safely indoors will give you peace of mind, and keep your cat safe. This is especially important during heavy rainstorms or annual celebrations such as Guy Fawkes when your cat can become disoriented.
Let us know if you found this article helpful? Perhaps your cat has gone missing before, and there was a happy ending to the tale? We would love to hear about it, so feel free to share in the comments below.
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Will My Other Cat Look For My Missing Cat
Some people wonder if their other cats will look for and maybe help them find the missing cat in their family. Eva Morchairs shared a success story like this on Quora:
Tofu didnât come home after being let outside to play. I stayed up all night worrying about her. Come morning, still no sign of her. I had another cat, Fifi, that wanted to go outside and play. Before I let her go outside I picked her up and held her face up to mine and made eye contact with her and asked her to go and find Tofu. I told her to go find her and bring her home. I gave her a small kiss on the nose and I opened the back door for her and let her go play. About twenty minutes later my mom called out to me Fifi and Tofu were both sitting on the steps outside my back door.
So, it seems like its worth a shot. You could try asking your other cats to help you find the missing one. But of course, this may not work, as the companion cats may not be willing to explore unfamiliar places in search of the lost one, in favor of their familiar territory.
My Cat Ran Away Will She Come Back
My cat ran away will she come back?
My year and half old, female, spayed cat got outside. She’s never been outside nor has she ever really had much of a desire to go. I’m assuming that she went into the sun room when my husband let the dog out in the morning before work and didn’t realize that she got out and shut the door behind him.
It has been a complete 24 hours and she still has not returned. I have walked the block, the wooded area, called everywhere I could think of, put up signs on poles around our neighbourhood and jingled her bell ball outside and called her name .
I thought maybe she would return home tonight because the commotion would be quieted, but it’s 3 AM and she hasn’t returned. I am sick. I had an outdoor cat before and he didn’t return one day either. So that’s why I refused to EVER let Daisy outside.
She doesn’t have a collar on because my dog rips it off of her when they play. And she’s not micro chipped well, because she NEVER goes outside. But if she does come back, she’ll be micro chipped 20 minutes later.
She is my BABY. What else can I do? And how long do spayed, female cats tend to run away for? I read all over this post about neutered males but nothing about spayed females. She has all of her shots and she is treated with front line so I’m not concerned too much about her getting a disease or getting fleas. I just want her home.
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Respondent And Missing Cat
The respondents in this study seemed to have a strong human-pet bond with their cat compared with the general population. Of all respondents, 90% answered they were strongly attached to their pet and regarded them as a family member. This is a higher proportion than in other studies of pet owners in Western countries describing a strong human-pet bond , and only 3545% of respondents in one survey would have regarded their pet as a family member
Set Up A Facebook Page For Your Missing Cat
Another thing you can do is set up a Facebook page for your missing cat. This can contain detailed information including photos, more information about their personality, the noises they make and their habits. You could advertise the page on your missing cat posters so people can comment on your page and add any information they may have. They can also like your page and put a link to it in their status so friends and family who live nearby may hear the news too. Making this kind of Facebook page is as easy as making a Facebook profile page for a person.
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Visit Shelters To Search For Your Lost Cat
Visit the local county animal control shelter and local animal rescue shelters daily to see if your cat is there. The shelters have so many volunteers, employees, and staff on hand, on any given day, that unless you talk to each of them they may not know that you are looking for your missing cat. Also, if you search animal shelter websites for your missing cat, dont narrow your search by a specific breed. Sometimes, if the person entering the information on the shelters website isnt sure of the cats breed, they may list it incorrectly.
Distances To Where Cat Found
Of the 602 cats found alive, the distance from where the cat went missing to where it was found was recorded for 479 cats. Of these cats, 2 had implausibly high distances for cats to travel unassisted and these were disregarded. For the remaining 477 cats found alive, the median distance was 50 m with the maximum distance being 25 km. For the 17 cats found dead where distance was recorded, the median distance was 200 m , with the maximum distance being 5 km . Of cats found alive, distances varied by outside experience in the 6 months before going missing . Those cats that were indoor-outdoor and allowed outside unsupervised had longer distances compared with indoor cats that were never allowed outside . The median distance for indoor-outdoor cats was 300 m , respectively n = 150 cats) and indoor-only cats was 39 m . Median distance for outdoor-only cats was 183 m . These did not differ significantly from indoor-only cats .
Median distances at which missing cats were found from where they went missing by outdoor experience in the 6 months prior to the cat going missing error bars indicate 25th and 75th percentiles.
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How Do I Attract A Lost Cat
Here are some more ideas to attract a lost cat back home:
- Leave the garage, or another door cracked open cats like to sneak inside
- Put your cats favorite bed, blanket or scratcher outside the scent will attract them
- Put some special food out, like tuna or sardines. The smellier the better! Just make sure its salt and oil free. Heat up the food to increase the aroma
- Go outside, and talk in your normal voice, as if youre chatting on the phone cats are known to be attracted to their humans voice
- Keep an eye out: cat parents have reported their cats returning most often between the hours of 8pm-2am and 4am-7am4
Why Is My Cat Not Coming Back
Even though it is completely normal to get worried if your cat does not come back, you should not panic. It can happen that your cat has been injured or hit by a car, but these are not the only reasons. Know that it has nothing to do with your pet not liking you or feeling unwell in your home.
If your cat is a good hunter, it can happen that their territory is lacking prey, or prey have been hunted by other cats. Your cat might then be tempted to travel further away to find new catches.
A cat that has not been neutered can go to great length to find another cat in heat. Dominated by their instincts, your cat might have escaped for a few days and come back as nothing had happened.
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Locations Of Missing Cats And Distances Travelled
An important finding was that most cats were found near their point of escape, with half being found within 50 m and three quarters within 500 m. This is in line with recent studies that have found most cats were recovered by either returning home on their own or being found in the neighboring vicinity . In the current study, indoor-only cats tended to be found nearer to their escape point compared with indoor-outdoor and outdoor-only cats, highlighting the importance of tailoring the distance radius of a physical search to the outdoor experience of the cat. A larger radius of search may be required to find cats that are indoor-outdoor or outdoor-only under no supervision compared with strictly indoor cats and thus may require investing more time, effort and resources. Therefore, a search in a 200-m radius is more likely to suffice in a search for a missing indoor-only cat, but a search for an outdoor or indoor-outdoor cat is more likely to have to be extended up to 2 km radius or more.
If Your Cat Does Not Have A Microchip Or Collar:
- Visit your local schools and ask the teachers to speak to their classes to ask the children to look for your lost cat. Again, a photo helps here, and a small reward can do wonders to motivate children to search the local neighbourhood on your behalf. Let’s face it, children get everywhere, so if anyone is likely to find your cat in an unusual location, it could well be a child or teenager.
- In fact, offering a reward will motivate many people to help you look.
- Contact your local radio station and ask them to put out an announcement about your missing cat. They may or may not charge for this service, but it will ensure you hit a large target audience all at once either way.
- Place a ‘Lost’ or ‘Missing’ advert in your local newspaper, preferably with a photo if you can afford it, or at least with a good description of your cat if a text advert is all you can stretch to financially.
- Get T-shirts or badges printed with a picture of your cat and your contact information. Wear these whenever you can and pass them out to your friends and relatives.
Ideally, a “Lost Cat” poster will include a photo of your cat and your contact information. A rewardâeven a small oneâwill motivate people to look.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure!
You might not like to think about this if your cat is currently missing, but if you take the right steps from the moment you adopt your pet cat, you will most likely avoid the worry that goes with a missing cat.
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Additional Lost Cat Behaviors
The Silence Factor: This is a term that Kat Albrecht coined to describe the lost cat behavior when a sick, injured, or panicked cat will hide in silence. It is a natural form of protection for a cat to find a place to hide under a house, a deck, a porch, bushes, or any place they can crawl. The Silence Factor kills many cats because while the cat is sick or injured and hiding under a neighbors deck, cat owners are typically busy looking for their cat down at the local shelter or they are busy posting flyers on telephone poles. Instead, the proper search for most cats in most situations is to conduct an aggressive, physical search of the immediate area while understanding that the cat might be close by but hiding in silence.
The Threshold Factor: This is an interesting behavioral pattern that Kat Albrecht observed with displaced cats. Many of these cats initially hide in silence, but eventually break cover and meow, return to their home or the escape point , or finally enter a humane trap. While some cats take only hours or a few days to reach their threshold, many others take several days before they break cover. We suspect the threshold is reached due to their thirst, although more research needs to be conducted into this lost cat behavior.