Lost Cat

[Kieka]

Mods please move if this is in the wrong spot.

I could use some prayers for the safe return of Link. He is an indoor/outdoor cat (please no negative comments, I know the risks) and didn't come in for dinner last night. We are hoping he just got scared and needs some time to find his way home. My sisters cat disappeared for a month and came home.

I have flyers up. Activated his microchip lost pet network. Emails with his photo and microchip number to vets and shelters in a 10 mile radius. And the retired woman who lives across from me is going to check some yards today (I had to go to work, we are working on a 50 million contract that will give me a job for the next 4 years).

Prayers please.

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• Kieka
• Sep 21, 2016

 

[tabbytom]

Kieka - I hope you find your cat. I copied this post from another thread to help look for lost cats. Wonder if it's helpful to you. It's from this thread - 'HELP MY CAT HAS GONE MISSING page 2 post 31.
Do keep us updated :grphug:

This works because her used litter smells like her used litter.  Cats are much less visual than humans, or rather, visual in a different way.  Their eyes are adapted for spotting movement, and your house doesn't move, so smell is a better way for a cat to identify home.  Her used litter may be all she needs to tell her where home is.

These are hints from the HomeAgain chip company for finding lost cats:
http://public.homeagain.com/how-to-find-a-lost-cat-using-personality-clues.html

http://public.homeagain.com/lost-cat-experiment.html

http://public.homeagain.com/top-five-ways-outdoor-cats-become-lost.html

http://public.homeagain.com/outdoor-cats-getting-lost.html

One key is to see things from a cat's perspective.  Because their normal habitat is a house, they're likely to hide in a shed or garage and accidentally get locked in; it's worth asking your neighbors to check such areas on their property.

Also, cats are likely to hide during the day and come out at night, when they believe they're invisible, so get a good flashlight and go out on the allotment after dark with her box/bag of treats.  I lost a cat once at a rest area in high desert in Idaho -- nothing around but scrub brush.  She managed quite easily to hide all day, but as soon as the sun went down she came out and I heard her collar bell tinkling and was able to find her.  If your cat is frightened it makes perfect cat sense for her to hide during the day and come out at night when she thinks she's invisible.  And when she does, you want to be there for her.

If this is the first time she's been in heat (which is what it sounds like), hormones are driving her but she doesn't really understand what the hormones want her to do.  That means that, among other things, she's frightened and confused.  Once a tom or two have their way with her, the hormones will ease and she'll start looking for home, and for you.
 
Margret

 

[Kieka]

Thank you @TabbyTom. I will check out those articles. I did sit outside for almost two hours last night (6:30pm-8ish) calling him, shaking his treat jar and whistling which is what he normally responds to. I also walked the alley behind my house and behind the houses across from me. I called for him this morning at 1am, 3am and 5am when the neighborhood is really quiet. All my calling has done is agitate my other two cats who come running each time, not that I'm going to stop trying to call him in.

He doesn't use a litter box but the whole yard should smell like him and our other cats. So hopefully he can find his way home once he comes out from whereever he is. I'm going to walk around more with the treat jar after work. The only problem is the other two follow me and come to me when I do that so I can't go too far from home. I can lock them in the house but it only makes them extremely anxious when they hear me calling and can't get to me and Rocket makes herself sick when she gets too anxious so I can't do it too much.  

 

[tabbytom]

That's a little difficult to walk around with the other two following. Unless someone stays back to look after them.

I do hope someone will spot Link through the flyers or he'll find his way home :grphug2:

You said he did not come in for dinner last night. Could he actually be nearby like around the house? Sometimes we think when a cat is lost, means it wandered far away.

 

[Kieka]

The rest of my family is on vacation for two more weeks so its just me; so someone can't keep the other two calm while I search further away. Part of the reason why they've been glued to my side when I am home and why it took a day to realize he was gone. My parents are retired and home most of the day so usually someone is with them all the time. Our neighbor is friendly with him and we've given her her own jar of the treats we feed him so she's the one that will be looking around some today. All the neighbors within two houses each direction know who he is. But in general, he isn't fond of strangers so I am not too concerned that someone took him in thinking he was stray. Especially since right now his front leg is regrowing fur from being shaved so its pretty obvious someone is taking care of him.

I call them in for dinner at sunset every night and they usually all come. He's normally second in but he didn't come at all yesterday or any of the other times since. I've checked our yard, which is pretty plant heavy, and sheds but nothing. When he was injured last month he came in the house right away and went belly up as if showing me where he was hurt and a few years ago he got his collar caught (luckily it broke and he was just scared and covered in mud, we found the collar on a bush near a mud spot where you could see he had struggled) he ran straight home and huddled on my bed. The neighbors on either side of us have pretty bare yards without many hiding spots but I've looked over out fence into them and haven't seen him. I figure he's probably under a house or in a garage so hopefully he isn't trapped or won't be trapped for long. Most of our neighbors have screens over their crawl space because otherwise raccoons and possums start nesting there and I haven't noticed anyone having a work truck in the neighborhood that would require going into the crawl space (plumbing or electrical). He is a terrible climber but he can climb and knows how to get off roofs so stuck on a roof isn't a big concern. He's 13 pounds of pure muscle so I am not worried about the raccoons or possums because they wouldn't mess with him and the dogs near us are all the same size or smaller than him even the strays I see very rarely. We've also pretty consistently had an indoor/outdoor cat for the last 25 years without problems and only or next door neighbors house has changed ownership so I don't know of any anti-cat people who might have trapped him or done worse.

The only place I can think he might have trouble is the apartments behind us. They are supposed to be single story senior apartments but I know kids live in two of them and their yards are a mess. I can't see the ground when I peaked over the fence from the alley yesterday. Its a gated apartment complex but I am going to try to get in there today to flyer the apartments the border the alley. Or atleast put something in their parking lot.  

I got emails back from the vets I sent emails to and they've said no "stray" or "new" adult cats have been brought in matching his description. A few said they'd post his photo and all said they check microchips and have made notes of his number so it will pop in their system if he scans there.

 

[tabbytom]

Hope someone is looking after him now and get to see the flyer.

 

[Kieka]

Link is home (sort of)!

He was waiting for me when I got home from work. He was so happy to see me. Purring and kneeding the ground. But.... he couldn't walk. Well he could, but it was only on three legs. So I ran into the garage, grabbed his carrier and stuffed him into it. We started heading towards my vet and I called them. It was almost closing time but they stayed so that Link could be looked at. His leg is broken (x-ray below).

So then came my deliema and why his is sort of home. Because of which bone is broken I can take the cheap route and crate him for 6-8 weeks while it heals to make sure it heals properly. Or I can pay for him to have surgery and stablize it so he will be mobile sooner.

I'm going to pay for surgery. 1) he hits his head on his carrier door on the way home from the vet. So caged for 6-8 weeks? Nope. 2) I don't think Rocket and Fury could handle him being caged for that long. But the surgery ca't be done until Wednesday because my vet needs to order some things. Since I'm going to be working and he'd be home alone in a cage 10 hours a day I'm going to leave him boarded at the vet until surgery in hopes that he will be less anxious to get out if he's there instead of home.

It sucks and I am torn to pieces that I can't take him home right now. But it's going to be better for him and my other cats if he's at the vet with more attention and less anxious to escape his cage.

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• Kieka
• Sep 23, 2016

 

[betsygee]

Poor boy!  But so good he's 'home'.  Wonderful that he can get the surgery that will help him heal faster.  

 

[tabbytom]

Oh poor Link! [emoji]128561[/emoji] Wonder how he got injured? Could have been knocked by a car?

But, hey! He's back! :rub: Hope he gets well soon with the surgery. Ya, maybe board him for s few days and at least there are people looking after him all the time.

 

[Kieka]

My parents are coming home from vacation early so they will be here when he gets out of surgery. They are retired so he will have constant attention.

The vet thinks it was a car that clipped him. The side with the broken leg is bruised and he has small cuts all over. He's getting pain meds and antibiotics to help with those two.

 

[tabbytom]

That's good to hear that your parents are coming back early to keep watch on him. At least he don't feel do stressed up at home.

I was guessing it could be a car that got him.

I wish him speedy recovery.