My cat's been missing for nearly two weeks

My cat Izzie went missing two weeks ago. She's an outdoor access cat. I had gotten done with college and had only been home three times since I finished. I was busy visiting people. The last time I saw her was two days before she went missing. She had an abscess behind her shoulder blade. I would have taken her with me to take care of her, but I didn't think of it until later when I was already two hours away. I left her in the care of my dad and told him what he should do to help her. I asked him how she was doing a few days later and she said she was healing fine, so I wasn't worried until I found out she was missing.

Everyone in that family has already decided that she was probably tracked down by a wild animal who smelled that she was hurt, but I can't give up that easily. I've been in contact with the local shelter and have posted things all over the place. I live in a rural area with a lot of woods behind my house. I don't really know what else to do. I came home and tried calling for her and have left food out, but nothing seems to be working. No food had ever been taken from the bowl. I'm going to try leaving food out in the woods rather than near the house and see if that does anything. If anyone can give me any suggestions, it would be really appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear your cat is missing. I think if the abscess in her shoulder was starting to heal it's unlikely that the smell would attract another animal. It wouldn't be serious enough to slow her down either. Cats are at a real advantage in wooded areas because they can run straight up a tree if attacked. Nothing can climb as well as they can.

I live in the middle of a forest too and I've had my cats disappear in the past. One of them was gone for six weeks but she did OK on her own until I found her again.

Izzie may have gone out hunting and wandered further than she usually does. I've found the best thing to do is to keep looking and calling. If she hears your voice or catches your scent she'll follow you back home.

When you're out looking for her try to follow the deer tracks through the woods. Most prey animals follow the same tracks and so predators like cats hunt near by. As you walk grab hold of the branches at a height that Izzie would be able to smell. You could also try leaving a trail of used litter from her litter box or dust from your vacuum cleaner. Anything that smells like home would work.

Do you have a trail camera? If you could set one up near the food you leave out in the woods you can tell if Izzie comes to eat or not. Asian fish sauce diluted in a spray bottle and squirted onto trees and bushes usually attracts any cats in the area. The smell travels a long way.

Good luck, please keep us posted.

Thank you for the reply!  I don't have a trail camera, but I ordered one earlier today and it should be here by Thursday. I'm definitely going to try the Asian fish sauce and the used litter. I set up the food early today and some of it was gone when I went out later, but it could have been anything. I definitely won't know for sure what got into it until I get the trail camera. She's definitely a very good hunter, since she's brought mice, moles, and birds back home before. 

Alright, I got my trail camera today and set it all up. Now it's just the waiting game to see what is eating the food. It's been empty every morning when I go look at it, but there are tons of animals out there. I'm just really hoping I get a glimpse of Izzie within the next few days.

Good luck. I hope she shows up soon.

One of my cats managed to make her way through about 3 miles of woodland down to a village and found a nice lady to feed her. Luckily she was wearing her collar so the lady could call me and let me know where she was.

Cats can cover quite a lot of ground when they're hunting, but once they find a food source they stay put.

Vibes for you and Izzie.

After two days of no luck and some SD card problems, I got a potential sighting of Izzie on the trail camera. It was dark out, so there isn't color, but there was a raccoon eating the food and then another animal comes over. It's only one picture that they are both in and it looks like it was the first picture of the night. There isn't any good picture of the other animal and it could be another raccoon that was very close to the camera so it's fur looks brighter, but it's possible it was Izzie. Part of me thinks I'm just looking for any possibility that it's her, but it's still good to be optimistic.

It takes a bit of practice to get the positioning of the camera correct. I've got a lot of tantalizing shots of the top of heads. I could never tell if I was seeing a cat or not.

Izzie is quite a distinctive colour, isn't she? Another thing you could try is to get a large cardboard box, lay it on it's side and put double sided tape all around the opening. Put a bowl of food inside the box. Any animal that goes in to get the food will brush against the tape and leave some hair there. You should be able to tell if it's the right colour for Izzie even if you don't get her on camera. 

You could set up several boxes in different spots and if you get fur of the right colour on one try putting your camera there next time.

I think seeing a lot of wildlife is a good sign. I used to get fox, weasel, civet cats, Asian raccoon dogs and wild boar on my camera. If there is a lot of wildlife around it means there is plenty of food to sustain them all. A good sign that Izzie should be able to feed herself.

Good luck, please keep us posted.