Found my lost kitten, but he is now different and not meowing

My two kittens are now about 14 weeks and 9 weeks old. The older kitten has grown to about more that twice the size of the younger kitten. This has been causing problem because when they were playing together wrestling and pouncing the younger ones often got overwhelmed and ended up cried and hiding underneath the couch. In addition to this, last month the younger kitten has also suffered from fungus disease that caused some hair loss.  Due to these issue, in mid December we moved Mesi, the older kitten, to outdoor - just in the front yard next to our car garage. He was OK with this setup, he liked to play with water when someone washed the cars even jumped in to the car as soon as it was opened. He was very playful, often went out of the fence as some children next doors liked to come and play with him. There has been a few attempts someone tried to take him because they thought he is a handsome and cure stray cat, luckily my neighbors noticed it and prevented it.

So it happened in Jan 26 that he was indeed missing. After he was fed in the morning he went out of the fence and he did not return. No one has seen him around. We were very sad. We searched for him for days, asking neighbors, checking out some places up to 1 km away from our home also some pet shops and clinics but he was nowhere to be found. We were preparing a poster and planned to place them in more wider area, when on the 8th day (Feb 2) my sister saw him in front of a house about 3 km away. She took him back to our home and we were very happy, but something is wrong.

Mesi was found a lot thinner, I guess it has been hard for him to find food or compete against stray cats out there. As soon as he got home we fed him and he finished one can of wet food, usually he would just eat half of the amount. The day we found him, he was just sit there quietly, he did not seem to recognize us or our voice, he did not respond when we called his name. He was not playing, as if he did not recognized the younger kitten too, on the other hand the younger kitten recognized him. He just sit there when the younger kitten played with his tail, but after a while he hissed at the younger kitten. This has never been happened before. He also did not even try to play catch and bite our fingers, something that he loved to do. He has never open his mouth and meowed, not a single one.

It's now the fourth day since we found him back. We keep him indoors together with the younger kitten. He is still not playing. He allows the younger kitten to play with his tail or sleep together or share his food. He is exploring the room and comes whenever someone enter the room. We noticed that he opened his mouth a few times as if he is meowing but no sound comes out :-(  We do not know what has happened to him during the 8 days but it seems he is very traumatized. His behavior is totally changed, as if he is a different cat. He does not seem to have any injury on his body though, we planned to take him to a vet in a few days.

If anyone has any experience with similar situation please advise.

Definitely take him to the vet!! Sounds like he may have caught something. Until you make sure, I might keep him away from your little one.

This might seem a very stupid question, but are you absolutely sure that the cat your sister brought home is Mesi?   The reason I ask is because there was a thread awhile back by someone who made that mistake, so it does happen.  

Definitely take him to the vet as soon as you can.  And as @luna tuna  has mentioned, it is best to keep him away from your other cat until Mesi gets a clean bill of health.

In the meantime, it might help to treat him as though he is freshly adopted to get him used to you again.  Keep him in a separate room with his bed, litter box, food, water and toys but visit him frequently.  Sit down on the floor on his level and talk to him softly, using treats if necessary to encourage him to come to you.  Let Mesi take the lead here.  Playing with him will help you bond again.  Use interactive toys - wand toys are among the best for this.

Below are some articles that might help.
[article="32804"]How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home  [/article][article="32680"]How To Successfully Introduce Cats The Ultimate Guide  [/article][article="22399"]Top Selling Cat Toys  [/article][thread="198151"]Best Interactive Toys  [/thread]
It is really best to keep Mesi inside, if at all possible.  Since he is no longer bullying your younger cat, hopefully this won't be a problem.   Cats are subject to so many dangers outside.  Predators, including human ones, may harm them.  They can get in fights with other cats and catch infectious diseases.  They can get in accidents, like being hit by cars or getting trapped somewhere.  

Below are some articles about the dangers of outdoor life and ways to make the outdoors safe for your kitty.
[article="30395"]How To Keep Your Cat Safe Outdoors  [/article][article="29670"]Cat Enclosures  [/article][article="22410"]How To Make Your Home And Garden Safe For Your Cat  [/article]
Mesi might also respond to leash training and enjoy taking walks with you.  Many of our members walk their cats, although it sometimes takes awhile to for cats to warm up to the idea.
[thread="308216"]How Do You Train A Cat To Go Outside On A Harness  [/thread][thread="93089"]Walking A Cat On A Leash  [/thread]

Hmmm, @Margd  has a good point--are you sure it's your kitten?  3km is about 1.86 miles, and I could be wrong, but that seems like an awfully long way for a 12-week-old kitten to wander, especially since he stuck around your house outside for over a month.  According to one study, domestic adult cats wander only about 5 acres, which is about 0.007 square miles.  There have been cases of cats turning up further away, but from what I understand, these may be cats who had recently been moved and are trying to find their way back "home".

I certainly HOPE it's Mesi, but given the distance and the fact that, while some have very unique markings, a lot of kittens look identical but can have very different personalities, and that this kitten is exploring the house like it hasn't been there before, I worry that someone else may now be missing THEIR kitten terribly.  It could be that the 9-week-old one is just trying to be friendly to the newcomer.  Unless this kitten has absolutely unique markings or a microchip, it might be worth checking with the people in the area where this kitten was found, and if no one is missing one, well then, it sounds like it has a home now regardless.

Generally, the best bet is to keep them inside, even if it means separating them for a bit until the little one gets a little bigger.  It sounds like a few people have tried to take Mesi in thinking he was a stray already, or, perhaps they decided to just keep him.  Or perhaps, ironically, someone saw him and thought he was THEIR lost kitten.  There are also mean kids, dogs, raccoons, owls, other cats, cars, etc.  My mom's cat was torn up by the neighbor's dog.  Just so many things can go wrong.  You can always build an outdoor space for them too where they will be safe if you'd like them to be able to go outside.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you for a good outcome!  Hugs!

I feel slightly sickened reading this, you've almost certainly abducted another person's kitten. 3 kilometres, are you kidding me?

Since you have pictures, compare them to the kitten very carefully to match the markings, then you can be sure it is your kitten, no two markings are exactly alike unless they are identical twins. He may have hitched a ride in someone's car. As for acting different, 8 days is enough for him to begin to forget his housemate, and add in the fact that he is so traumatized, he will take weeks to get back to his old self. He may not be meowing because of a sore throat from all the crying, Give him lots of love and attention, and it wouldn't hurt to have him checked out by your vet to rule out a fever, illness, or injury. Keep us posted!

Hi Rendy @Rendy

I know I already replied, but I just read your original post on your kittens from November 30 and am guessing that Mesi was the first one you found in the attic.  I can see that this was the first time you've had cats and it's clear how concerned you were for them and cared for them, and that you came here looking for help to help them as they were both so young.  I think it's wonderful that you did your best to help them, especially having no experience with cats.

I can imagine how heartbroken you were when Mesi went missing, especially after all you went through with him in the beginning.  I would like to encourage you to compare pictures as @Di and Bob  suggested, and use all the pictures that you have to compare head, body, feet, legs, tail, eyes, etc--all parts of this kitten.  As Di and Bob suggested, they won't be identical, but some are SO close that they are really, really hard to tell apart.  The head might look the same but the body, feet or tail might look a little different, or vice versa.  There are pics of cats on here that I could swear were my cats at a first glance.  So it would be very, very easy for anyone to make an innocent mistake of misidentification.

As heartbreaking as it may be to discover that this might not be your missing Mesi, you can imagine how heartbroken someone else might be, perhaps children too, at this very moment missing THEIR beloved kitten, and you have the key to restoring them to happiness (and maybe after this, they will keep their kitten inside).

If you don't have pictures, check with your vet.  My vet at one point was taking pictures of all of their patients.  I would also have your vet confirm the gender of Mesi and this kitten.  I don't remember at what age it's easier to tell, but mistakes can happen there especially when they are young.  In your original post, the first kitten was referred to as "female" and assuming that was Mesi, you now refer to him as "male".  If Mesi really was male, and this kitten is female, well, there's your answer.  If they are the same gender, then more investigation really is necessary.

If there are no pics of Mesi, or not enough to perform a thorough comparison, I would knock on some doors in the area where this kitten was found to see if anyone is missing a kitten.  You can even ask them to email you some pictures for comparison and confirmation, if they have any.

If you discover it's not Mesi, you can at least stop the heartbreak that some other person (maybe a child) is feeling, and when you are ready, you can get another kitten (or if no one claims this one, seems like you already do).  I sincerely hope this is Mesi, but please be 100% certain. I really do think three kilometers is a looooong way for any cat to wander, but especially 14-week-old kitten, especially after he had already stayed outside near your house for over a month before disappearing.

When I was growing up at my grandmother's, the cats were always indoor/outdoor cats, but it always ended in tears for me.  I never got to see any of them live to old age.  We either found them squished on the road, or they simply never came home again and me always wondering what happened to them.  So when I grew up I vowed to never have any outdoor cats, for my sake and theirs.  Barring any health issues, my cats all live long lives and I do what I can to ensure I don't have that heartbreak anymore of finding they met an early demise or simply vanished never to be seen again.

It still can happen that they get out somehow, so I do still get them all microchipped and they wear breakaway collars with tags ("breakaway" is important so they don't get hung up on something and choked to death, which happened to one of my friend's cats).  For example, my house was broken into once, and the burglars left out the back door, leaving it wide open and so my cat did get out.  Thankfully I found her.  Another time a friend came to visit my apartment and for whatever stupid reason didn't shut the door behind her (maybe she thought I would?) and the same cat wandered out into a busy apartment complex parking lot.  Thank God I found her before she got hit by a car.  We also get terrible storms here, and an occasional tornado, so it's not out of the question that a branch (or worse) could come through a window while I'm at work.  And so on.  While my cats are content living inside, out of curiousity I'm sure they would wander outside if the opportunity presents itself.

I don't mean any of this to sound like a lecture at all.  I empathize with the heartbreak you felt, having felt it myself, and so I just wanted to share what I do now to avoid it and keep my babies as safe as possible.  There are so many dangers out there for cats on the loose.

Hugs, and once again, still hoping for the best outcome.  Please keep us posted!

Hi All,

Margd's question is valid. Luckily Mesi has white fur with some dark grey patterns so it was easy to compare it against a few video recordings that we made earlier. We are very sure this is the same kitten. I can imagine it if he was a fully ginger cat then it will be hard to compare it. Honestly we don't know if he has a twin sibling, he was the only kitten found abandoned in the attic.

Today he is more active walking around the room but still has not meowing yet.