Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

So, I stayed at a friends house accross the city for the weekend. I always leave the window slightly cracked when I leave so that my cat can get some fresh air since I turn off the A/C.

Anyways, I came back, and the window had been pushed open and the screen had been knocked out of the window. The cat was missing. He's an indoor cat who's never been outside before except when I hold him and sit on my porch. I live on the first story of a huge apartment complex, so there's tons of bushes and places for him to hide around here. He has tags with my phone number.

Anyways, I've never had an outdoor cat before. What are my chances of having him come back? He's a big cat with front claws, so I'm not too worried about him getting beat up by an animal, but I'm just wondering how long cats can remember how to get home. He might have been gone for 4 days already.

Right now I had my porch door propped open with food outside the porch and the front door propped open with food sitting in it so that if he does wander home he'll want to stay. I also took off work today to sit home with the doors open so I could be here if he came back.

Edit: The cat was the one who opened the window and knocked out the screen. He has knocked out the screen before, I never would have guessed he could open a window.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Sorry to hear about your missing cat. Since we're talking about an inside cat with no outside experience I'd say he's most likely dead by now. Whether killed by something wild or run over by a car chances are he's gone for good. You never know though, something might have scared him away from the house when he got out and he got lost.

Swede

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

I don't think he'll find his way home, he'll need to be picked up by somebody. I think someone will find him and give you a call. You'll get him back man.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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Right now I had my porch door propped open with food outside the porch and the front door propped open with food sitting in it so that if he does wander home he'll want to stay. I also took off work today to sit home with the doors open so I could be here if he came back.



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That is one of the sweetest things ever! (I need to find my box of tissues) You stayed home from work?


My limited experience is that after 4 days the chance of his returning on his own is kind of slim. However, I don't think it's impossible. Tomorrow you should check the animal shelter in your neighborhood.

I will say a prayer for you and your cat. (what's his name?)

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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I will say a prayer for you and your cat. (what's his name?)

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Thanks. His name is Turkish (like the guy in the movie Snatch). I'm going to put up some signs tonight and everything. I'm just glad he has a collar with tags and my phone number on it. Pretty much the only hope I have left.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Yeah. I figured they probably didn't find their way home after 4 days. I'm hoping that he's been back since I was gone and just couldn't figure out how to get back in.

Making signs right now though.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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I will say a prayer for you and your cat. (what's his name?)

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Thanks. His name is Turkish (like the guy in the movie Snatch). I'm going to put up some signs tonight and everything. I'm just glad he has a collar with tags and my phone number on it. Pretty much the only hope I have left.

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Good choice.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

A couple of things:

1) your cat knows how to get home. It's a scent/marker thing.

2) I really hope someone finds him and calls you. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

http://home.earthlink.net/~akamikeabrams/closeup2.jpg

Olive and I will think good thoughts for his return.

I think he's OK, and I think he'll come back. Cats are amazingly resilient and I think have a killer sense of direction. He's probably just out seeing the sights.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

turkish turkish2

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Continuously leave food just inside the window. Chances are he's hiding somewhere close by and is starving. He can smell his food from a long way away, so if he's anywhere close, he should come home. Also, if you can make "filling the food bowl" noises near the window, this might encourage him to come home.

Check the animal shelter. You never know, he might be there, though if he has tags they would have called you.

My indoor cat escaped last fall and was gone for 4 days. We put up signs all over the neighbourhood, went out every evening searching for him, went to the animal shelter every day on my way home from work, and kept calling his name from the back porch every night. I left food out for him every night, but he wasn't coming home. I'd almost given up hope when he suddenly appeared at the back door, eating the food I'd left out for him. He ran off when I opened the back door to get him, but I moved the bowl just inside the house and waited. About ten minutes later he slowly walked inside...he was totally freaked out, but was obviously starving from being outside for so long.

So don't give up...he's probably just freaked out and hiding somewhere. Eventually hunger will bring him back.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Awesome story, gives me hope. Just talked to the girl who I got him from and I guess when he was about 6 months he disappeared for 3 or 4 days when he got out once. He came back a little beat up (he had walked through some chemicals downtown) but made it back.

Maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So, I stayed at a friends house accross the city for the weekend. I always leave the window slightly cracked when I leave so that my cat can get some fresh air since I turn off the A/C.

Anyways, I came back, and the window had been pushed open and the screen had been knocked out of the window. The cat was missing. He's an indoor cat who's never been outside before except when I hold him and sit on my porch. I live on the first story of a huge apartment complex, so there's tons of bushes and places for him to hide around here. He has tags with my phone number.

Anyways, I've never had an outdoor cat before. What are my chances of having him come back? He's a big cat with front claws, so I'm not too worried about him getting beat up by an animal, but I'm just wondering how long cats can remember how to get home. He might have been gone for 4 days already.

Right now I had my porch door propped open with food outside the porch and the front door propped open with food sitting in it so that if he does wander home he'll want to stay. I also took off work today to sit home with the doors open so I could be here if he came back.

Edit: The cat was the one who opened the window and knocked out the screen. He has knocked out the screen before, I never would have guessed he could open a window.

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This is not advice, but perhaps the best song ever will cheer you up.

http://core.ele-mental.org/~ecc/mp3/...0the%20cat.mp3

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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Awesome story, gives me hope. Just talked to the girl who I got him from and I guess when he was about 6 months he disappeared for 3 or 4 days when he got out once. He came back a little beat up (he had walked through some chemicals downtown) but made it back.

Maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight.

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Keep us updated. I really hope he comes back...the four days my cat was gone were brutal. I kept getting up every 20 minutes or so to go to the patio door to look outside for him. I felt extra awful because this happened in November and the weather was starting to get cold. I pictured him shivering, scared, and hungry under someone's deck.

And then there was the lovely day where someone called me and left a message to tell me they saw a dead cat on the road that matched my cat's description. I was at work when I got the message, so I had to wait all day to go check to see if it was him. Thankfully, I could tell right away as I was driving up to the carcass that it wasn't him.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

You may get lucky like we did. We have an indoor only cat who got out one day. After a week, we considered him gone. About 6-7 weeks later we got a phone call from someone 3 blocks over that found him in their yard. He dropped from 13 lbs. to 8 lbs., but other than that he was perfectly fine. Also, he was declawed and still survived. Cats have great survival skills.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

reading this thread made me feel sad. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]


godspeed, Turkish, I hope you find your way back.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Our record on a house cat that got out and came back was over a year. If it was more than a couple of days 2-3 months was pretty normal.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

FYI - Cats can survive a LONG time without food.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Inside cats are bone dumb outside the house. They don't know to run up a tree, avoid a dog, step out of the way of a car, or how to fight.

Unfortunately the prognosis is not good. Still, my family has had cats disappear for days or even weeks and come back. But there are so many predators out there, including people and cars and in some places coyotes and hawks, that chances are slim. Additionally, other cats can carry fairly common viruses that can literally kill a cat within two days. The lifespan of an outdoor cat is a short one, and for a cat that's been raised indoors all its life, even shorter. Good luck to you both.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

that's sad [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] i hope your cat comes back.
a lady i work with just had her cat run away too, it's been gone 6 days now i think and doesn't have tags. i feel bad, that's gotta suck.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

I'm a dog person myself and generally dislike cats, but the pics you put up made me feel sad, I hope you get him back, turkish is an awesome name. My dog ran away once, and i live in a masssive forest so i thought my chances of getting him back were almost 0%, though by chance i was in the pub later that day and overheard some people talking about the police finding a dog that had been roaming the woods earlier, so i went to the police station and there he was, a bit beaten up, but he's fine now. I know how it feels though.
Hope he's back soon.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

You might want to check nearby shelters. Some put animals to sleep quite quickly. The shelters should be able to tell you of the ones they know about that put them to sleep really quick, so you can check those first.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

did your cat snore? if so, bring the food in and lock the door.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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You might want to check nearby shelters. Some put animals to sleep quite quickly. The shelters should be able to tell you of the ones they know about that put them to sleep really quick, so you can check those first.

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Thanks for the advice, I'm planning to go tomorrow. Luckily there aren't any predators around here and the area I live is like 8 apartment complexes. I'm hoping that he will wander to someone if he doesn't find his way back and gets really hungry.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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did your cat snore? if so, bring the food in and lock the door.

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No. But I don't get it?

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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reading this thread made me feel sad. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]


godspeed, Turkish, I hope you find your way back.

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Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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did your cat snore? if so, bring the food in and lock the door.

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No. But I don't get it?

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I believe he was being a douchebag.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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did your cat snore? if so, bring the food in and lock the door.

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No. But I don't get it?

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I believe he was being a douchebag.

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Naw, if I was, I would have said [censored] the cat, it's been all day and it's probably already dead.

Instead, I was making a reference to my snoring cat and the pleasure it would bring me if it was gone.

Better?

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

My mother had a cat return after being away for about 2 weeks. But He was a cat with outside experience.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

horray!!!!

i was sitting in the living room 4 tabling with the front door and he just came walking in... he's filthy but seems unharmed.

thank you so much for the kind words guys. didn't know anyone around here was capable of being nice [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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horray!!!!

i was sitting in the living room 4 tabling with the front door and he just came walking in... he's filthy but seems unharmed.

thank you so much for the kind words guys. didn't know anyone around here was capable of being nice [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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wow, that's awesome !! good to hear [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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horray!!!!

i was sitting in the living room 4 tabling with the front door and he just came walking in... he's filthy but seems unharmed.

thank you so much for the kind words guys. didn't know anyone around here was capable of being nice [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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That's awesome! Reading this made my night. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Now make sure he never escapes again! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Awww, what the hell, I'll even say congrats and be happy for you...

Don't expect this BS to last long though.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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horray!!!!

i was sitting in the living room 4 tabling with the front door and he just came walking in... he's filthy but seems unharmed.

thank you so much for the kind words guys. didn't know anyone around here was capable of being nice [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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that's so awesome. i saw the pictures of your cat and was very sad. i love cats. sometimes i get nervous when my cat stays outside all night (she's an outdoor cat) but I still get nervous. I love cats!

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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FYI - Cats can survive a LONG time without food.

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not mine, they're always looking for their feedings at 6am and 5pm, and trying to bug me at 2am for a small snack. but i still love em.

glad to hear your cat made his way home mason, it was only a matter of time.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Get him chipped.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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Get him chipped.

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He is

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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Awww, what the hell, I'll even say congrats and be happy for you...

Don't expect this BS to last long though.

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does anyone even listen to you anymore?

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

Great news! I'm happy you are back together.

Re: Missing Cat... Any chance he\'ll come back?
 

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Awww, what the hell, I'll even say congrats and be happy for you...

Don't expect this BS to last long though.

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does anyone even listen to you anymore?

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Yes...you