DD's Bilbo is missing

DD's Bilbo has been missing for two nights now and of course she is distraught. She teaches and lives on the 400 acre campus of a large private boarding school, which includes living and teaching blocks, staff houses, sports grounds, stables, a golf course and a lot of wild forest. Bilbo is known to most people and has freedom to roam, but he has never been gone so long and is always home to eat and sleep. She has emailed all college members and support staff, been searching the grounds all night, and now does not know what to do. He knows his way around so I fear that if he could get home he would have by now. He is either shut in somewhere, or has had a fatal accident or encounter with a fox. I can only hope that it is the former and that DD's mails will make peole search their own property.

Bilbo started life here, as one of my foster kittens, and Dd fell in love with him and his sister and took them back tot he UK to live with her. His sister, MIna, is also looking for him, crying and sitting watching the cat flap.

I can't think what else to advise her to do apart from ringing the vet and the police today and putting up a notice at the local railway station in case someone off campus has seen him. Any further suggestions and a lot of vibes would be appreciated, we all know this is one of the worst nightmares. DD has already agreed that if he comes back she will keep the cats inside at night from now on, something she has refused to consider up till now.

No news after three nights. She has tried everything she and I can think of, and she is convinced he is not on campus, she has been over and over every bit of ground and building. Today she is going to go down the enclosing roads and put fliers intot he houses. I also suggested she should phone hte local council road maintenance to ask if they have seen a dead cat on the road. It is so hard for her to maintain a calm classroom atmosphere with this hanging over her.

There is hope! Her fliers have achieved some results. Apparently a b/w cat has been seen over the last two days in gardens in the village on the other side of the forest. He tried to get into someone's house yesterday. Faith has had several calls and is now on her way to try and track him down. The stray matches Bilbo's picture. So hardly daring to hope, but there is a case for a little optimism. Keep those vibes coming.

We still do not kinow for definite that this cat IS Bilbo, though it seems likely. Faith went over there last night but although someone had seen him earlier in the evening, he did not respond to her calls. I have advised her to borrow a trap and bait it with some smelly clothes as well as his fave food, and even to take his sister over there in a carrier - he may be too frightened to come even to DD calling but could come out for his sibling.

Last night produced no results and no-one has seen him again. Mina was no help - she just went to sleep in her carrier! Faith is getting discouraged and I am trying to keep her morale up and suggest new ideas. She has to go away on Saturday for a week with a school ski trip (she is teacher in charge) and that is not helping. Fortunately the local branch of the British Cats' Protection League are being very helpful and have said they will take phone calls, monitor the trap and move it if necessary, and if he does turn up, they will look after him till her return.

After a further leaflet drop yesterday, Faith had a phone call early this morning. The caretaker at yhe local primary school in the village where Bilbo was last seen told her that over the last few days he has noticed that his cat was eating much more than usual, and then at 2AM this morning he found a b/w cat that he is sure was Bilbo, asleep in his bathroom. Unfortunately jhe tried to pick him up without securing the doors and cat flap, and the cat ran back outside. The caretaker said he didn't like to call at that time of night (!!!! as if Faith wouldn't have been there immediately) but he did first thing this morning. Faith is going to move the trap at lunchtime to his garden with some new smelly clothes and food, and will go over as soon as she can when she finishes class today. She will take Mina and sit and read quietly in the garden. It would be so wonderful if she can get him before she goes away.

She had to leave for her school trip with no further news. I just hope that he was not so frightened off by the guy trying to pick him up that he has run further away. Faith says all the houses on the estate have cat flaps so he is likely to stay around food sources. SHe has leafleted the whole estate and asked people to phone the Cats Protection League if there are any sightings. A professional pet finding company has contacted her offering help, but from their literature I am not sure they could do any more that she has done already, and they are very expensive. Does anyone have any experience of such people?

There have been two sightings today - but half a mile apart! They can't both be him. One was close to the place he was seen before. The CPL lady is following both of them up - she is a heroine of this situation.