Hello Everyone,
As you can tell from my handle, I understand the minds of dogs a LOT better than those of cats. My first post is to ask for help figuring out what to do.
My husband and I I live in a rural area, our cat of 8 years disappeared recently. He was an aloof, independent, indoor/outdoor cat. We have about 15 acres of woods, 2 acres around the house are cleared.
A house is not a home without a cat, and I wanted one who would be able to take care of itself outdoors. There are a lot of animals in the woods-I would not force our cat to be outside, but I would not want to adopt an indoor cat who would go outside and then not understand the outside world.
I thought we had found him. The adoption description said that he had spent the first 10 months of his if outdoors (good trick here in freezing NH!). Then he was taken in (trapped?), received medical treatment and was fostered for about a month before we adopted. He had not once gone outside while at his foster parents, while he was there he also had not shown any interest in going outside until the last day.
I met him three times, took the dogs with me to the farm where he was being fostered to make sure everyone got along, which they did. Even though he was obviously frightened, he never tried to scratch or bite, and allowed me to touch him. So Friday afternoon I brought him home. I was told he would probably hide for three days and then come out. He liked to hide inside the box spring of his fosters' bed. We have a guest bedroom downstairs which is very quiet, so I opened the crate in there (kept the dogs out when I opened), and after he ran around the room a couple of times he went under the bed. He was fairly calm (I thought). I put some cat food in a bowl near the feeding area in the kitchen, put the litter box in the room and went to bed.
The next morning I went downstairs and could not find him. It looked like some of the food was gone, and now I am kicking myself because I had not completely closed off the pet door. We have a pet door to our deck which can be blocked if you close the glass sliding door. I had been planning to keep it closed for several weeks and let my husband talk me into leaving it partially open. His theory: animals need to be taught to use a pet door, this cat would not recognize it as a way out.
Now I feel awful, and I am kicking myself for not closing that blessed door against my better judgment. I think he ate some food and made his way out the pet door (the glass door was open about 3 inches to let air in, enough for a skinny cat to squeeze through). On the other hand, maybe he is hiding. I have called the local humane society and put fluyers all over the neigborhood. But he could be in the house. If he is outside, the weather is great right now, a cat who lived on his own for almost the first year of his life would have no trouble getting on until winter.
I can get into the mind of a dog, but not a cat, and not a feral one. He can't possibly recognize our house as his home. If he went out, will he try to go 'home'? Is he likely closeby? Did he wander to an abandoned shed? I appreciate any words of wisdom from people with experience and if you want to chew me out for not closing the sliding door all the way I guess I deserve that.
As you can tell from my handle, I understand the minds of dogs a LOT better than those of cats. My first post is to ask for help figuring out what to do.
My husband and I I live in a rural area, our cat of 8 years disappeared recently. He was an aloof, independent, indoor/outdoor cat. We have about 15 acres of woods, 2 acres around the house are cleared.
A house is not a home without a cat, and I wanted one who would be able to take care of itself outdoors. There are a lot of animals in the woods-I would not force our cat to be outside, but I would not want to adopt an indoor cat who would go outside and then not understand the outside world.
I thought we had found him. The adoption description said that he had spent the first 10 months of his if outdoors (good trick here in freezing NH!). Then he was taken in (trapped?), received medical treatment and was fostered for about a month before we adopted. He had not once gone outside while at his foster parents, while he was there he also had not shown any interest in going outside until the last day.
I met him three times, took the dogs with me to the farm where he was being fostered to make sure everyone got along, which they did. Even though he was obviously frightened, he never tried to scratch or bite, and allowed me to touch him. So Friday afternoon I brought him home. I was told he would probably hide for three days and then come out. He liked to hide inside the box spring of his fosters' bed. We have a guest bedroom downstairs which is very quiet, so I opened the crate in there (kept the dogs out when I opened), and after he ran around the room a couple of times he went under the bed. He was fairly calm (I thought). I put some cat food in a bowl near the feeding area in the kitchen, put the litter box in the room and went to bed.
The next morning I went downstairs and could not find him. It looked like some of the food was gone, and now I am kicking myself because I had not completely closed off the pet door. We have a pet door to our deck which can be blocked if you close the glass sliding door. I had been planning to keep it closed for several weeks and let my husband talk me into leaving it partially open. His theory: animals need to be taught to use a pet door, this cat would not recognize it as a way out.
Now I feel awful, and I am kicking myself for not closing that blessed door against my better judgment. I think he ate some food and made his way out the pet door (the glass door was open about 3 inches to let air in, enough for a skinny cat to squeeze through). On the other hand, maybe he is hiding. I have called the local humane society and put fluyers all over the neigborhood. But he could be in the house. If he is outside, the weather is great right now, a cat who lived on his own for almost the first year of his life would have no trouble getting on until winter.
I can get into the mind of a dog, but not a cat, and not a feral one. He can't possibly recognize our house as his home. If he went out, will he try to go 'home'? Is he likely closeby? Did he wander to an abandoned shed? I appreciate any words of wisdom from people with experience and if you want to chew me out for not closing the sliding door all the way I guess I deserve that.