Are people this mean?

I have a cat that has been missing for 5 days now. I put a flea collar on him and clearly made our address, last name and phone number visible in case he got lost. We have combed the streets looking for him, waited patiently for him to return, but we have this suspicion that someone has taken him in even though he has a name tag. Would someone be so cruel? He was the most friendly cat you could come across, going up to any random stranger. Right now at this point, i'd be glad if someone had taken him in instead of having my worst fears realized that he had been killed by something. We don't live in the city so there's not much traffic..we have a few cornfields nearby so i was thinking he was lost in there...but for 5 days? I'm a nervous wreck. Is there even hope anymore? He was only a year old : / I keep wondering if he had gotten in a fight with another older cat, but cat's don't fight til the death?

A suggestion:

Best Friendsâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] Animal Radio recently interviewed Kat Albrecht, author of The Lost Pet Chronicles, and she gave some very good advice on finding a lost cat:

Most people donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t differentiate between searching for a dog and searching for a cat, which is a huge mistake, because they are like apples and oranges. Cats are territorial, so when an indoor cat escapes outside, they feel displaced into unfamiliar territory. A displaced cat (and also an injured or sick cat) will hide and they will be silent. So walking around and calling the catâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s name doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t work.

What that cat does is to look for the first place where she can hide, and she will stay there. Weâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve had people who have recovered their cats six weeks later, and the cat was two houses down, living under the neighborâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s house or under their deck.

Weâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve actually recovered lots of cats by treating them like ferals and setting a humane trap. These cats will sit there and watch and even listen to their person calling, but they will usually not respond.

Eventually, some of them will reach a threshold point between the seventh and tenth day where they finally do meow or they go into the humane trap, but many of them, especially the ones with skittish temperaments, just continue to hide.

As for a cat who is used to going outside, we really do advocate making your cats indoor-only. However, if an indoor/outdoor cat does go missing, it may be that theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve been chased by a dog or beat up by another cat. They may run into an unfamiliar area, and they may hide in fear as well, or than can be transported out of the area by crawling into a car or the back of a truck.

Outdoor cats are still territorial. They donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t generally travel great distances by themselves, so theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re going to be found within their territory or just beyond it. Youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll want to get into your neighborâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s yard to search under their porch, under their house, and in potential areas where the cat is trapped, because, again, the behavior of an injured or sick cat is that they will crawl in or under something thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s familiar to them and they will hide. And again, they wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t answer your call.



Joy Moffat
Community Programs Special Project Coordinator
Best Friends Animal Society
[email protected]

So sorry to hear about your cat. I know what it feels like to have cats disappear. I hope yours decides to come back asap.

Good luck finding your cat - try the advice you've gotten on how to catch him - the people here are very experienced - and please don't give up hope!

Keeping you and your little one in my thoughts.

jessica---- just wanted to give you some hope. My kitty got out a few mo. back and was gone for 6 days. we searched and searched and never saw her etc. we put up flyers and no calls or anything. After 6 days (my 3 yr old let her out Tue morning and the following Mon night) she showed back up on my doorstep. she was a strictly indoor kitty so I was a wreck with her being out! And she showed up with out a mark on her. not sure where she was......

oh and a rain storm was rolling in the night she came home (guess she didn't want to get wet)

Jessica, please don't ever give up hope.....

My horrible little creature Maverick was away for a week before she decided to come back. Dont give up hope!

Thanks for your kind words. As of today,he has been gone a week. We finally got the ad up in the paper and still no one has called. I've done things like leaave food out, leave my shirt out so maybe he could catch the scent, nothing. It's as if he vanished into thin air. I guess i just want reassurance that he's okay but it's impossible to know. I've been a wreck since the day he was missing. I knew something was wrong when he didnt come to the back door for breakfast.

I have a picture of him on my desk when he was a little kitten, it tears me up every time i see it. I barely feel like i even had the chance to get aquainted with him, he was only a year old. I'm so sad.

How about borrowing a trap or buying one and trying to trap him. He may be coming back at the wrong times when you are not around. He may actually be hiding right within 10-20 feet of your home and just not responding. My Eliott is strictly indoors and knows his name and will respond to it in a second even in the middle of a deep sleep. But he was hiding 10 from my front door and would not come. I ended up leaving a trap out because turns out he was coming out but only when everyone and every noise stopped. For awhile I could watch him come out of hiding, but as soon as he saw me he ran back. Even though he knows me and knows his name.