Stray Cat Missing

[lynne8832]

Yea, I guess it's the timing of coincidence when he's around and you are out of town. I also agree Norachan that the cats can be gone for quite awhile before showing up again and yea, get them indoors is the best thing to do.
Over at my place, it's the same. some community cats disappear for some time and show up again. I did follow one of the cats and he went like 4 - 5 streets away and he looks at home over there. So these cats come back after awhile.

Yeah I agree, I can’t believe he came by so often while I was out of town and he’s not here now! But like you said, the weather has been nice and I’m sure he wanders to other places to eat. I’m sure he probably has other places that he likes to hang out. Now that I’m back in town, I definitely want to try to keep him indoors… if he ever shows up again I get so worried every time he does this, so I’m really hoping he turns up in the next few days

 

[tabbytom]

Yeah I agree, I can’t believe he came by so often while I was out of town and he’s not here now! But like you said, the weather has been nice and I’m sure he wanders to other places to eat. I’m sure he probably has other places that he likes to hang out. Now that I’m back in town, I definitely want to try to keep him indoors… if he ever shows up again I get so worried every time he does this, so I’m really hoping he turns up in the next few days

If this is his routine, he'll definitely show up again.

Guess it's time you get the stuffs ready for trapping and a prepared place indoors for him.

 

[mister obama]

She's an 11 year old feral born cat that I've been caring for since she was about 3 months old. I was feeding the neighbourhood cats and it took me about 6 months to lure her and her litter mates indoors. She now lives with me and my other cats, but has outdoor access to a big enclosure. The thing is, in spite of all my efforts to make the enclosure fence cat proof, she's really determined to get out. The other 12 cats are happy to hang out here but Lizzie does that squirrel hop thing from tree to tree until she can get on top of the fence and then take off into the woods.

Sometimes she'll go out for a couple of hours then be back at dinner time. Sometimes she's out for a day or two, comes home to eat and then is gone again an hour later. Every summer she takes off for weeks at a time. Her longest ever outdoor adventure was 2 months and three days. She worries me, but there's not really anything I can do about it. I live in a very remote area in the middle of a forest so I guess it's a nice place for a cat to run free.

She's not really a feral cat anymore. She's very affectionate, loves to be groomed and petted and regularly sleeps on my bed. It's just now and again she gets the call of the wild and she can't resist it.

I know just how she feels, but I'm old now and don't leave the fireside and kitchern table...

 

[mister obama]

If this is his routine, he'll definitely show up again.

Guess it's time you get the stuffs ready for trapping and a prepared place indoors for him.

On the "media section" there is a lot of info about trapping, cept where to buy one of those drop traps, somebody said they are for loan at the humain-society, hose off any sent left or won't enter.

 

[lynne8832]

Hey everyone! Good news - Monty is back to his normal routine of showing up 2-3 times per day and I plan on working on keeping him inside soon. However, tonight I went to refill his dry food bowl and accidentally startled him and he swatted at my hand. The scratch was small and superficial, but it did bleed. I washed it out with soap and cold water and put some neosporin on it. Should I be concerned from a rabies standpoint? I know that he was previously unvaccinated, but he received his rabies vaccine on February 7th (5 weeks ago) when I brought him for his TNR appointment. My understanding is that it is very unlikely that a human could get rabies from a cat scratch, but I just wanted to see what everyone's opinions were. Thanks everyone!

 

[tabbytom]

Hey everyone! Good news - Monty is back to his normal routine of showing up 2-3 times per day and I plan on working on keeping him inside soon. However, tonight I went to refill his dry food bowl and accidentally startled him and he swatted at my hand. The scratch was small and superficial, but it did bleed. I washed it out with soap and cold water and put some neosporin on it. Should I be concerned from a rabies standpoint? I know that he was previously unvaccinated, but he received his rabies vaccine on February 7th (5 weeks ago) when I brought him for his TNR appointment. My understanding is that it is very unlikely that a human could get rabies from a cat scratch, but I just wanted to see what everyone's opinions were. Thanks everyone!

Glad that he's back!

I've no experience in rabies as the don't have rabies in our country. Maybe you hang on for awhile for others to chime in.

 

[lynne8832]

Hi all.
I have posted here a few times about a feral/stray cat, Monty, that I have been feeding and taking care of for the past 5 months. I had him TNR'd almost 2 months ago. He used to come to my house 1-2 times per day and frequently stayed on my porch all day, but recently his pattern has changed. There have been a few weeks where I won't see him for 1-2 days (3 days is the longest that he has gone without coming back) and then he will show back up. I have no previous experience with stray or feral cats, but my thought was that he was "disappearing" for a few days because someone else is feeding him or he is wandering more because of the warmer weather. I have tried to keep him inside, but he clearly does not want to be an indoor cat. He was here a lot last week and was stopping by multiple times per day. I came home on Thursday and he was waiting for me on the porch. He was last here on Friday afternoon and he came by twice that day. I have not seen any sign of him since and this is the longest that he has "disappeared" for. There are two other strays that have come by a few times in the past few days, but they just come to eat and then leave, they have not been sticking around the area and they do not seem territorial at all, they actually seem very skittish. Other cats have stopped by before and that has never prevented Monty from coming back, so I doubt that is the reason that he hasn't returned. I called the local animal control and they have not had any cats brought in that match his description and they also have not had any calls about sick or injured cats in my area. How long is considered "normal" for a stray or feral cat to disappear for before it becomes concerning? I have read stories of strays that go missing for week, months, or even years and eventually show back up, but I am starting to fear the worst since I have not seen any sign of him in almost a week. I am hoping that he did not go near the main road and get hit by a car - I would think that he would know to avoid it because he has lived here for his entire life. He seems to be a very smart cat and he knows the area well, so it seems unlikely that he would get hit by a car or attacked by another animal, but of course it is possible. Should I be concerned at this point? I keep trying to remind myself that I lived here for over a year without ever seeing him, so he must have other locations that he visits and maybe he is just off exploring or hanging out at someone else's house, but I am starting to fear that I will never see him again and I really care about him.

 

[Norachan]

It's really not that unusual for outdoor cats to disappear like that. Especially now that spring is coming and there are all these birds and rodents around. Do you have a doorcam or any other kind of camera set up so you can see if he comes back to your property? He might be coming around late at night.

The only way you can make sure he is safe and save yourself all the worry is to either keep him indoors or allow him only restricted outdoor access. Have you thought about a cat enclosure and shelter outside? Or cat -proof fencing for your yard?

 

[lynne8832]

It's really not that unusual for outdoor cats to disappear like that. Especially now that spring is coming and there are all these birds and rodents around. Do you have a doorcam or any other kind of camera set up so you can see if he comes back to your property? He might be coming around late at night.

The only way you can make sure he is safe and save yourself all the worry is to either keep him indoors or allow him only restricted outdoor access. Have you thought about a cat enclosure and shelter outside? Or cat -proof fencing for your yard?

I do have a wildlife camera on my porch to see when he comes by, so I know that he hasn’t been by at all in the past 5 days. But it sounds like that doesn’t automatically suggest that something bad has happened to him? Even if this is the longest time that he’s ever been away? I will definitely try to find a way to make him a “catio” or have another way of keeping him in an enclosed area if he shows up again so that I don’t have to keep worrying about him! I guess it’s very possible that he is just off exploring in another neighborhood and might turn up again soon, this is just unusual for him given his previous pattern of coming by daily

 

[Norachan]

But it sounds like that doesn’t automatically suggest that something bad has happened to him? Even if this is the longest time that he’s ever been away?

No, not at all. I understand how worrying it can be to care for a cat that is entirely outdoors, but cats don't understand that we're concerned about them.

Even a completely feral cat that relies on hunting, rather than on care givers for food, will vary their location. They wouldn't always hunt in the same place and they would switch their routines up quite a bit to avoid conflict with other cats, attracting the attention of predators and depleting their prey. Outdoor cats rely very much on their wild animal instincts and that's probably what your boy is doing.

Of course cats are much safer if they're kept indoors or only have enclosure access, but in situations where it's not possible to keep them in we just have to trust that they know what they're doing.

 

[lynne8832]

No, not at all. I understand how worrying it can be to care for a cat that is entirely outdoors, but cats don't understand that we're concerned about them.

Even a completely feral cat that relies on hunting, rather than on care givers for food, will vary their location. They wouldn't always hunt in the same place and they would switch their routines up quite a bit to avoid conflict with other cats, attracting the attention of predators and depleting their prey. Outdoor cats rely very much on their wild animal instincts and that's probably what your boy is doing.

Of course cats are much safer if they're kept indoors or only have enclosure access, but in situations where it's not possible to keep them in we just have to trust that they know what they're doing.

Thank you so much for this, it made me feel a lot better. I have been searching for him and just waiting to see him pop up on my porch again. He seems to be very smart and know the area well - they estimated that he was 3 or 4 when I took him to the humane society to be TNR'd, so he has clearly been living outside and doing well on his own for a while. I guess they are just unpredictable and he has no idea that I expect to see him at a certain day/time, he just shows up when he wants to, which may change from time to time and his patterns might not stay consistent - I think I just need to keep reminding myself of that. The times that he has done this before have been 2 (maybe 3) days and I get so worried and he just shows back up - so he had to have been somewhere for those few days! I'm sure he probably wanders off into the nearby neighborhoods and has other food sources.

 

[lynne8832]

I just wanted to update everyone - Monty has continued to come by every day or every few days, and I don't worry as much when he doesn't show up for a few days or a week, I think it just took me some time to realize that stray cats do not really have a routine and to trust that he is okay even if I don't see him for a while! There are two other stray cats that have started to come by as well! They both have their ears tipped, so it looks like someone has TNR'd them previously!

 

[shadowsrescue]

Are you still thinking of bringing him inside? So happy that he is still coming by for visits.

 

[lynne8832]

Are you still thinking of bringing him inside? So happy that he is still coming by for visits.

I would love to, but he seems miserable when he is inside and just seems very stressed out. I also live in a small 1 bedroom apartment, so I feel like he would not be happy living inside here in the long term, but my current plan is to just let him continue to come and go as he pleases and hope that I am able to transition him to fully indoor eventually! I am really glad that he still comes by to visit though! He has been here every day this week!