Should I Still Be Hoping My Missing Cat Will Come Home?

Thanks Alisa Brown, Norachan and Shadowsrescue....I am not able to console myself...I love him dearly...Today whole day I talked to neighbours...The thing here in India is that people are least concern about cats...if you talk to them they ignore or shout...I asked the night watchman and he told me that he did saw my cat who was sitting at the end of our lane of houses He said then when he crossed our lane doing night duty he heard loud barks of dogs. He said it seems there were 6-7 dogs. and then he says all was quiet after two three minutes. Now what I concluded from his story is that my cat might have been attacked by dogs and if he was attacked then where he vanished...and if he was killed by dogs then where is his body. Also if he was injured badly by dogs then he might have ran and went inside some neighbours house for safety. I asked all the neighbours of that lane to check their indoors..there are approx. 15 houses in this lane.. And out of them few ignored my request and few checked and told me that he was not inside their homes.

I am confused. Whether I should believe the night watchman story or doubt on my nasty neighbour.

And if henry is injured where did he went...And if he was killed by dogs where is his body...even if I presume that dogs might have eaten him but still some trace might have been there.

I have called many times to him and I am roaming day and night and calling his name but he did not respond.

Thanks Norachan I read your message timely and I changed the heading which I had put for fliers and posters now with word reward first.

It has gone to print and I will get by tom evening and then I will paste around.

Thanks Shadowsrescue...I will go door to door tom

Thanks Alisa Brown for your kind words and advise..I do not understand where he has gone. I have called so many times but nothing....Now it is 10.00pm night. Today my eyes are very heavy and have headache also feeling nausea. I will try to get some sleep and will get up early morn around 3 and start the search again. I have kept my main gate of house open day and night for the past three days and hope that Henry comes in.

Please pray and thanks once again to all.

I am so sorry you are so upset.

One thing to remember is that if a cat is scared it will not come even if you call it because they will be afraid of giving away their hiding spot to predators. If the dogs did scare him he may not come out for several days.

Some cats will run blindly for quite a while if the are afraid and may get lost and hide in small spaces. You may need to widen your search area and begin to look in small crawl spaces and under things. I am not sure what is around your area but my friend found her cat after 17 days hiding in a hollow log.

We have coyotes and bobcats where we live and always fear when they get out they will get eaten, but cats are pretty clever. 

If you didn't see any blood or fur where the dogs were or for a distance in that area chances are they scared him, he is hiding.

Many dogs fighting over prey tear it apart and there would be some evidence of blood or fur-I know it sounds scary I was in this position when I though a coyote ate my cat. I heard them barking and fight and hear a cat meow but he turned up 2 weeks later high up in a tree. I found no fur or blood anywhere so I knew he got away. 

If your cat can climb look up in buildings also,  if the dogs chased him,  he could have climbed on top of something.

Don't give up - you have to be strong because he needs you to come rescue him. If you do not find him after a few more days he may creep out once he thinks the danger is gone so you will have to stay on a schedule when you go out looking each day.

Go at the same time. He may hear you calling and is just afraid. If you set a pattern he will begin to expect you there at the same time every day and when he grows more confident may show himself to you.

Dear Alisa, Thanks for your kind words. I went around at 3.00 am even covered a distance farther from my home and came back right now (it is 6.30am) and I didn't find him.

My surrounding area is like a round big disc and inside 10 lanes having 20 houses on a single lane. Also each lane has few damp dirty ponds with water hens and other water birds and weeds, gardens, and open spaces. And I have covered all the 10 lanes. Each lane is linked with one another and its circular type. There are only three four small shops also here selling things of necessity. This area comes out towards main road which has heavy vehicles and lot of traffic and I know my cats never go out this circular boundary. Only I am the one in this vast area having cats Also there are lots of dogs each lane might be having four stray dogs who bark at strangers. Dogs of my lane were friendly to my cats and they never harmed them. But dogs of other lanes were not good and barked and chased my cats.

My lost cat Henry cannot climb high walls because he just recovered from his spinal injury as he was earlier badly beaten by my neighbour. He cannot pass stool on his own. His tail is still dead. I used to massage his back and tail daily as told by vet for he believed and was happy that as he has recovered otherwise his tail would also revive soon. Henry was quiet healthy and happy, played a lot and wanted to go out. I never had wished that he ever went outside due to dangers but it is very sad and unfortunate that they don't listen to us and become stubborn and cry to go out. I tried my best convincing him with love not to go out I brought so many toys for him but these days he just cried to go outside. And if I didn't opened the gates he escaped through other mediums. And one of that medium was scaling through the boundary of that neighbour. I never wanted that he goes towards neighbours house and so after Henry's lots of meowing and crying to go out I used to let him out through main gate and I was having no problem because he went out around 12.pm and came back around 2.30 am. And then he used to come to my  bed and sleep with me. But it has been four days now he is not back.

Also watchman has told me yesterday that my neighbour was heavily drunk and was standing out on the street that night and babbling something. But God knows what really has happened. My cousin phoned me and said maybe my neighbour might have trapped henry and threw him somewhere far away. I will got to a lake nearby and see may be he threw in it.

Everything has gone upset. We didn't ate anything for the past three days. I didn't cooked any meal. I feel henry was hungry how can I eat. I only cooked for my other cat molu. Only if my Molu could talk to me in human voice and tell me where is henry as I know he might have seen him he knows the truth as what has happened to his friend henry, as Molu wanders at night too and also  because he can smell each other.

I will again go out after few hours to my neighbouring area and look for him. By evening I will put up fliers and will stick to my schedule of calling him. I am not able to know the reality whether he was attacked by dog or my neighbour.

Thanks once again for your motivation and support. I pray that all the cats who have gone missing come back to their homes. I was meditating these days for the return of George( Norachan's cat) and also of Patches. Wherever any missing cat is, I pray that they are safe and are having their food and want to come back home.

Oh your neighbor is a horrible, horrible man.

I pray that he did not hurt Henry, if you find out he did, I just don't know what I will do.

Please you must eat and stay strong for Henry if you get weak you cannot help him.

I wish i was there to help you.

Hi Winkie,

                                    I am just horrified to hear your neighbor has done this to your cat.  Do you have animal cruelty laws there?  Has your neighbor gotten in trouble for this?  Just terrible. Having to agree on what everyone else is saying. Just keep looking and walking around. I'm sure if dogs ran him somewhere he is scared to death especially having some health issues, he might be having a hard time getting around, so if he is safe he is staying there. How about a tree. He might not be able to get down.  At night you might see his eyes glowing so just keep looking. I hope he will be back soon. I know its hard, believe me I have been threw this before myself. Keep your spirits up and keep looking.

Dear all, I found my dearest cutest sweetest and loving child Henry dead. I was again roaming like a mad person calling his name and few distance away from my house I found him dead in a pond. He was all drenched in mud and I couldn't recognise him. I was suspicious as it was a cat's body so I went inside the pond and took him out and saw it was my dearest child sleeping forever. His dead tail was hanging as it was and his pink nose was not touched by mud. His eyes were open. It seems dogs had chased him to the pond and killed him. I am so helpless and very sad. Cannot stop my tears. Before leaving the house to search him again in this sunshine (as I thought why not look at day time also I kept crying inside the house seeing his toys and things which lay as scattered as he left). I had prayed to God to show me and make him appear in front of me dead or alive.

I cannot control myself now crying. Hope he would have forgiven me for not finding him few days before as I was not able to locate him. His meows are ringing in my ears...he was very much attached to me even while he was fast asleep with eyes closed he used to meow to me slowly till I replied back. My loving baby hope you forgive me.

Thanks once again friends for your kind support and listening to me in distress.

Oh my Dear Winkie.  I am so so so sorry to hear of Henry's passing.  Please know you are in my thoughts.  Words cannot express my sorrow for you.  RIP dear sweet Henry.

OH MY GOD I am so sorry I am weeping for you and HENRY. 

He is at peace now and will want you to be happy in his memory of his love and how you cared for him.

Grieving is hard I am doing it now but set up a nice final resting place for him and you can sit with him when it's quiet and share time together.

I had my morning coffee sitting at my baby Stella grave site this morning planning the types of flowers I am going to plant for her.

I will pray that My Stella's spirit finds your Henry's and they enjoy each others love in the afterlife. 

I'm so sorry Winkie.

I'm crying for you and Henry now. I'll remember you both in my prayers.



Please know that you gave Henry a good life, he knows that you loved him and took care of him. He won't forget the kindness you showed to him and his mother.

Thanks Shadows Rescue for your kind words..

Thanks Alisa and I was sorry to hear about your little Stella..she was really a cute baby...Alisa it is very unfortunate that in India there is least respect for animals. Though the irony is at our Indian temples people worship idols of animals like bull, mouse, monkey, birds, tiger etc but then whats the use if we do not care for the live ones. and sadly the cat is considered to be ill omen and bad soul. And therefore no one keeps cats as pets and if they find any cat nearby they either chase it away or kill them. And so here there is no cemetery or a place to bury the dead animal. Even for dogs if a pet dog dies he is secretly thrown in some highway or street or dumped in dirt. At home too we cannot bury any dead. Also no one can cremate the dead animals.

Each time when my loved animal dies I always wished that I bury him with honour and respect after all he/she had been part of me and my family like my own child but I could do nothing. Yesterday when I found Henry dead at pond I went inside to look at him and pond is quite deep. There is a boundary wall of an open plot full of weeds and trees and near to that is this water pond. and there is a lane going by the side towards the street and people pass by. I climbed the wall of the plot and then was able to see clearly the location of Henry's body inside the pond and then I went inside the pond which had water full of algae and mud and with great difficulty I reach the end of pond where he was lying dead. People who were passing by stopped to see what I was doing and when I took out the stiff body to clearly see my henry and placed it above that adjacent boundary wall I couldn't stop myself crying and I wailed loudly hugging his muddy body then people who were standing outside asked me what had happened. I told them it was my child cat who died after bidding farewell to Henry I did a short prayer there touched his feet and again took him and placed it near the pond. For I knew I had no other option to bury him with respect and at least here in water he will be disposed of soon. There should be some cemetery or a place for dead animals too.

If God will give me money I will buy a big land and make a cemetery for animals against all odds.

Today morning I again went to see my henry. And this time I didn't went inside but saw from outside my dear baby was lying  sleeping still. My mom says to put salt on his body so that it gets decomposed faster otherwise some birds might eat him up. But I feel not to put salt on him. But I will keep a watch daily so that no one eats him up and slowly he himself will be over.

I loved the way you have built a grave for your Stella and grew flowers around. But here we cannot do. I am helpess the way Indian society in the name of religion have grown. My views are but quite different. I know we all are souls wrapped in different clothes. We change the clothes when we die. And what we take along is our good deeds and good actions.

Thanks once again.

Thanks dear buffy2011....I am totally finished right now...seems I have no energy left in my body...even I am not able to walk..I am very much sad that I have lost my Henry..I always had a tough fight with this so called society and religion where there is hatred towards all animals..I try my best to educate the people. My Henry had faced many hardships and now I pray his soul rest in peace and is happy.

Dear Norachan..Thanks for standing by me in my time of grief. It is very difficult to digest that my loved one is gone. I would like to share with you something:

Norachan you know how Henry had spinal injury and how he fought to save his life and how much cared he needed. You know he was injured in August and now it is March end. For full six months I helped me to took out his potty and loved him so much in these six months. I had told you earlier he used to meow to me a lot and talked with me. Infact he was so cute that he thought if I take his potty out then why not him take mine out. He used to cry to me to take me along inside the bathroom each time I went in the morning and I allowed him because he meowed at the door so loudly. You know he used to sit  beside me in the bathroom and wait till I was done. And then he used to pull the tissue paper and meowed to me. And I understood and I laughed hugging him more. Then if I opened the water tap he used to put his hand inside the water jug and splashed on me. You can't imagine how animals communicate to us. It was heaven for me. There were thousand of his ways that he kept talking to me all the time.

Now what I am going to tell you is more interesting: Recently I do not know why for few days back I started talking to Henry that as you have recovered I will join back my job and you will have to manage by yourself. He listened and meowed more. As if telling me if you will go I too will leave you and go. And the night when he left me he called me and when I answered him as I was sleepy he tilted his head and stared at me so lovingly without meowing this time and stayed in this position for few minutes and then left. I think he told me that he was leaving because an hour ago I had told him that I will be joining my job in few days. Maybe he heard me leaving for the whole day and he left me prior to my going. I shouldn't have talked to him that I was going. Now I feel guilty.

It seems to me he knew he was going to die...That's why he meowed and hugged me tightly in these last days...

Here is a pic he climbed up the roof and I was down in my room and he meowed to me to come up to him. And when I looked at him I clicked this pic. It was on 14th March. Thanks Norachan and I pray George comes back to you at the earliest.

Dearest Winkie,

My heart just breaks for you.  Henry was so lucky to have you for his human Mom.  You shared a very special bond that will never be broken.  He will watch over you and always be with you.  You will be in my continued thoughts.

Today my mom forced me to put salt on Henry's body so that it gets decomposed. And I went to put salt. Before putting salt I couldn't resist myself to stop looking at him and then I clicked few pics as memory so that after putting salt I will not able to see him again. I am sorry but I had to put salt as today flies were around his body...I am so sorry that I cannot do the funeral because of social pressure and laws.

I am so sorry. Thank you for explaining your culture to me. I am so sad at your pain and grief and thank you for your kinds words about Stella. 

If there is anything any of us can do to help you through this please do not hesitate to ask us.

I am sending much love your way. I hope a new kitten finds you that needs such a loving person as yourself for a momma.

HUGS

Henry's story broke my heart but I'm glad you showed him such kindness. Rest in Peace sweet Henry. He will never know cruelty again

winkie said:

 
Today my mom forced me to put salt on Henry's body so that it gets decomposed. And I went to put salt. Before putting salt I couldn't resist myself to stop looking at him and then I clicked few pics as memory so that after putting salt I will not able to see him again. I am sorry but I had to put salt as today flies were around his body...I am so sorry that I cannot do the funeral because of social pressure and laws.

Click to expand...

When he is finally gone you will always be able to visit the pond and speak with him there knowing his remains have returned to the earth. You can call it Henry's Pond.

As for princess,I've tryed everywhere....but so many cats look so similar...it gives me hope than I take another look and it only makes me feel worse. Ive also got a reward out to anyone who has info on my cat ...she's been missing for 8 months now so she could be anywhere or any state around Alabama.

She is so pretty. I am praying you find her.

Do you think someone could have taken her since she is so gorgeous? Have you possibly seen a cat in someones window?

Winkie,

I'm so sorry that you lost Henry this way. However, it must be some comfort to you to know what happened to him. If he was still missing you'd keep searching and worrying and never be able to grieve for your boy. Even though it's heartbreaking you know that Henry will never suffer again and, as Alisa says, you can remember him whenever you see the pond. Just think of all the good memories you have of Henry and remember that he had a happy life. He would never have had that if you hadn't been there to help him and his mother in the beginning.

Maybe there is some other way you could remember him too? When I lost my cat Zebedee I planted some daffodils in my garden. They flower every year on Zebedee's birthday and it reminds me of him. It's nice to have something positive and life affirming such as flowers or trees. It helps you to remember that life goes on.

You said that in India people have very little respect for animals. I know this is true, but it's because of people like you that this will change. You showed so much consideration and love for Henry, you treated him as if he was your child. You have the chance to teach others about how animals should be treated by your example and by your job at the zoo. This is a wonderful opportunity. If you can convince just one person to start to see animals in a different way then Henry's death will have had something positive come from it.

Also, no matter how hopeless you feel at times, know that you have all your friends on The Cat Site. We support you. We know how important it is to have people like you in the world..