Cat almost ran away; microchips

Tonight my brother opened the back screen-door and our recently adopted cat Fangs, escaped. I do not let her out since she drools alittle(she used to drool alot before three teeth were extracted and a dental cleaning) which would make most people think rabies, and I am pretty sure she was an indoor cat before. When we both went to look for her, she kept running away from us. We eventually lost her position at a bush adjacent to another neighbor's yard. 30 minutes of fruitless search ensued. I went inside to look for fish in the freezer and luckily I found some frozen sardine that I put on a paper towel and started walking around where she last left. After awhile I went inside but left the back door open enough for the cat to come in. Eventually my brother told me the cat came back inside, circa less than five minutes after I came back from the sardine walk.

My family dismissed the notion that the sardine is why she came back. But she came right up to me chopping the same sardine up to microwave it(so it would stink more) and starting meowing. Do forumers here think the use of sardine to attract her was why she came back?

Are microchips effective? I cannot imagine most people that "find a cat" being proactive enough to get them scanned at a vet or shelter. Is there anykind of microchip that does not require you to pay an annual fee? Recently I was keen on getting a microchip but the damned extortionist requirement of annual fees disgusted me. I will get her a breakaway collar and tag, ASAP, because this will only happen again especially when my cat hating grandmother is back from Greece.

Originally Posted by Thrasymachus

My family dismissed the notion that the sardine is why she came back. But she came right up to me chopping the sardine up to microwave it(so it would stink more) and starting meowing. Do forumers here think the use of sardine to attract her was why she came back?

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This is a very fun story! So the cat fetched the sardine in the outside, and com back into the house to get it microwaved?
Ie the sardine reminded her about home, sweet home...

Sounds the cat is very intelligent... And apparently also quite fond of you.

Congrats!



Do you have tattoo´s in the ear where you live? This may be a good alternative to microchip. Easier to see. The drawback is the tattoo´s often get unclear with time. And if they take annual payment for microchip, they may take annual payment for tattoo too: somebody must keep the registry.
(In Sweden it is free during the years; you pay for it only once).

Another advice is you train she recognizes her name, and you train on she comes when you call on her.
IF she get lost another time, the best time for searching is often late evening or early morning, when everything is queiet (spelling?).

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Thrasymachus

my cat hating grandmother is back from Greece.

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Does she has aches somewhere, like rheumatic aches?

Try to let her lie down taking it easy, and try with letting the cat lie on this aching place.
Chances are good the pain will lessen, perhaps even disappear. And thus - Fangs will get a new partisan in the family.


There is an old saying cat skins are good for many diseases, rheumatical but also others. Even cancer they say.
The point is, a living friendly cat is still better.

(I wont swear on cancer, but Im fairly sure about rheumatism and old skelettal brokes and such - I myself get helped)

I did not leave any sardine outside for her at that point. I was in the process of chopping up the same sardine I was walking around with. I was gonna place it inside by the left-open screen door so it could have wafted out scent. Since it was night she probably wanted to hunt anyway and leaving a stinkier and easier target of food in my rationale was the best chance of bringing her back.

My grandmother will never like cats or dogs. Even today there are frequent reports of Greeks putting kittens in plastic bags and throwing them in waste bins to suffocate in that manner. It is a cultural thing, even most young Greeks do not keep dogs and cats as pets.