Re-socialized feral cat freaks out; MIA

Really need help with his; urgent.
Backstory: A friend ("Trysh") and I have been re-socializing "Buckley", a male cat who was dumped around October 2010. We re-trapped him in January 2011 along with, eventually, three other cats with the goal of placing them into Forever Homes. The cats live in Trysh's top floor, part of which she converted to a cattery.
Buckley did well, gets alont with all the other cats; got a little moody, standoffish in March 2011 because, we think in retrospect, we were trying to pick him up too much too soon. In May/June 2011 we discovered he loves Fish Flakes, and would do anything to eat them, including letting us pet him and brush him. By October he was ready to be adopted into a Forever Home.
On October 15th, adopters came to see him, liked him, wanted to adopt him, Trysh tried putting him into a cat carrier, Buckley FREAKED OUT. He has not been seen or heard from since. He has gone (we presume) behind the crawl spaces and eves in Trysh's house. There are no signs that he has eaten any of the food. Trysh does not believe the house has mice that he could have eaten; it is unknown whether he could have gotten out of the house.
So, some questions:
Why did he freak out so much; why did he lose trust in us so abruptly and, we're afraid, permanently. And suggestions how to get him to come out from hiding? And, how long can a cat go without food and water before he dies. All in all, he has always been a really docile, sweet, albeit moody, cat.
Thanks.

First of all, I am so sorry. Your hearts must be absolutely breaking.

The the food/water question. Cats bodies are not designed to use stored energy in the form of body fat. When they begin using fat it can damage their livers. How long this process takes depends upon the cat. Fat cats can begin to experience liver damage in a short period of time - potentially days. Cats that are the proper weight have gone as long as three (or more) weeks, though they may have been eating bugs and such.

So there's no way to know where the access points to crawl spaces are? Are you SURE he's not coming out at night to eat?

You might want to call a pest specialist - someone familiar with removing things like bats or raccoons from attics. They may be able to help figure out whether he could have gotten out given the design of the home. Don't know if they'd have a suggestion for how to get him out if there's no way he could have found a way to the outside. The most difficult "hidden feral cat" case I've seen on TCS was resolved by using the prey drive - a mouse in a cage - but that doesn't sound like a practical solution here.

I've notified a rescuer with far more experience than I have.

and

Thanks.
Buckley is of normal, a little above, normal weight. He lived on the streets at least four months before we eventually trapped him and moved into T's cattery.
I'm thinking/hoping he found a food source. There are definitely moles and mice on T's property but she does not think they are getting into the house.
Trysh sleeps where the four/three cats stay, so she would have heard Buckley at night had he come out.
T has worked with cats for 30+ years and never has a cat react like Buckley.

Oh no, Cindy, I am so sorry. How very, very upsetting for you and poor Buckley. I have seen this before.... socialized feral's freaking out like that, especially in regards to getting inside a crate . Even some of my kitties, freak terribly when they have to be crated - Perkins in particular.

I agree with Laurie in that I am wondering if he could have possibly gotten outside somehow ? And are you sure he is not coming out to eat at night? Feral's can hide for days after a scare like that, but if he does come back out, it won't take long to regain his trust. All trust is not completely lost. You won't be back to square one. First thing, though, is to find him . Loads of vibes he comes out very, very soon.

In the meantime, try heating up wet food so the smell can waft about (I guess there's no way to not feed everyone though, hunh?) and leave the room....

After 10 days, still no sign/sound from Buckley. We blocked off access to the crawl spaces by any other cat, left food inside the crawl spaces and put baby powder around the area (paw prints). Nothing.
My friend and I have concluded that he has escaped from the house. My friend hates Not Knowing.
Buckley was strictly indoor cat, he saw the front and back yards through windows. I don't know if he would recognize the area well enough to find his way back.
Likewise, until late January 2011, Buckley was part of the feral/stray/community cat colony I take care of, roughly two miles away (through busy roads). Does anyone know the likelihood that Buckley will find his way back to the colony?
Thanks.

Your poor friend and you too..... AND Buckley. I am sure this is upsetting all the way around, even for the new adopters who wanted Buckley. My feeling is he did somehow get out of the house. It is possible he could find his way back to that colony . Sometimes these feral cats have a good mile radius or more of roaming in their surrounding territories. Are the other feral cats from that colony still out and about? Because if so, Buckley would be able to "smell" his way back .... Could you start trapping near that feral colony . Either way, you might catch him or trap a cat in need of TNR. My heart goes out to Buckley, you and your friend for this distressing situation.

For Buckley to be found

My friend lives around two miles from the feral cat colony I take care of (in front of my condo). And yes, around eight of his 'friends' are still in the colony, including "Cindy/Sandy" that he showed up with on the same day. I will certainly look out for Buckley.
I'm sad for Buckley; he'll probably never know real, long term love from humans. He'd been such a loving cat with the right owners.
Funny story: A cat showed up around November of last year. Then a similar cat showed up; I thought until then I was dealing with only one new cat. So I named them Becky and Cindy because I am a twin. Cindy has a white strip across her back, Becky does not.
During a massive TNR effort one night in November 2010, I was not able to trap Becky but was able to trap Cindy. I had to rename Cindy, Sandy.
In January 2011, I trapped Becky and moved her into the cattery to socialize him. Only to have to rename Buckley; she is a he.

I have to laugh because I have been there, done that . I thought last year that I was just seeing ONE cat Boo Boo, long-haired black tabby. Then a few weeks later I saw Boo Boo by the feeding shelter and then the TWIN walked up to the feeding shelter (now named Willow). I thought I was seeing double, I couldn't believe it.... So out went the trap again . When the cats are all related like that, it is really hard to know if you are seeing one, two or more cats. I also had a family of all short-haired black cats. Try to tell the difference then ....

More vibes for Buckley ... makes me sad too. I really hope he shows up to your colony as he just might

IF (big huge IF) he shows up at either my colony or actually returns to where he escaped from, what should we do?
I'm assuming I should release him if I trap him again (I am TNRing this Friday). He is NOT ear tipped but I assume I could recognize him. He was not picked up a lot, but does love to be brushed.
There is another gray/white cat in the colony --the one who turned on the emergency flashers while in my car. But he's ear tipped.
Thanks.

First off, good luck today for successful trapping Second, if you trap him again, I would bring him in again if you could because he is adoptable Would those people still want to adopt him if you did?

Thanks for the advice.
I had to cancel trapping, will do it next Friday.
The people have elected to adopt "Princess Leia" another cat we re-socialized.
Buckley is still MIA. It is becoming increasingly likely that he is out of the house. Sad for him. I comfort myself by knowing/hoping he realized he was loved.
He has been out on the streets during winter before. I hope he has a good memory.
I'll give you an update if we find Buckley.

I'm glad one of the foster kitties is getting a home, but I'm so very sorry about Buckley.

he finds his way to the colony.

I am so sorry about Buckley. Don't give up on him returning to his old colony. I had to move a feral from one location to another, four miles away. He got out, twice actually, but he made it back. And he had to cross a very busy road.

I will be praying for Buckley's safe and quick return!

KRZ and everyone, thanks for the optimism. Do you know HOW they find their way back? Smell? I'm hoping he remembers Sandy, they showed up together back in October 2009. Look identical at first glance. I feel more sad for Buckley than myself, although we spent nine months socializing him.

I really don't know how they do it. I have heard it has something to do with the moon. In my case, we took the cat to a new location, he had never been there, and he managed to make it back to his original site, one week later.

The second time he made it back in about 5 days. I just decided to bring him home with me, and he has been very happy here.

I am still praying for him!

Thanks.
The people who were interested in Buckley agreed to adopt Princess Leia. So, at least one cat is now in a warm, dry Forever Home.

That is just great news to here that those people adopted another kitty :bigthumb:. Still hoping Buckley shows up soon :cross: and sending load more VIBES for him.

Buckley showed up at the cat colony from which he came!!!!



It took him about two weeks, he had to cross several busy highways, walk/run along busy streets, and through some dense bushes with thorns.  But he made it.  A little thinner in the face, but fur in decent shape.  I had my suspicions when he knew right away what fish flakes were (his favorite when he was being resocialized).  I called the co-foster, Trysh (he lived with her), she came over, we took pictures and compared them to the ones were know are Buckley.  And she said, yup, that's the guy.

He's hyper-aware of the other cats, figuring out his place in the colony; he is at ease eating in front of humans.  I can of course pet him.

We are not going to attempt to socialize him again; he's made the decision that he is more comfortable outside I guess.  Timing sucks; it gets colder from here on out (Washington, DC).  But at least we know he's alive and I'll make sure he gets a little extra food.  Still, I'm kind of sad that he won't know the joys of a Forever Home.  Though that of course is the human perspective. 

I'm fascinated by how he knew where to go back to; Trysh is more interested in knowing how he escaped from the house (cause what can get out, can also get in).

Aw, that's great news!!!!!

Hope your friend is able to figure out how he got out! Again, my recommendation is to call a pest control service.