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Missing cat

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  • 13-02-2010 8:44pm
    #1
    shnethb
    Registered Users Posts: 107 ✭✭


    Hi, Just wondering what the chances of a missing cat showing up. We have a 10 mts old neutered male cat who we have just started letting out and today he didnt come back, We have had a good look for him but no sign. A friend said that becuase he has been keeped inside he wont have the skills to find his way home but dose anyone know what the chances are he will show up???


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    #2
    pirelli
    Registered Users Posts: 2,876 ✭✭✭pirelli


    shnethb wrote: »
    Hi, Just wondering what the chances of a missing cat showing up. We have a 10 mts old neutered male cat who we have just started letting out and today he didnt come back, We have had a good look for him but no sign. A friend said that becuase he has been keeped inside he wont have the skills to find his way home but dose anyone know what the chances are he will show up???

    Put up posters, and look everywhere. He might turn up eventually. They are good survivors are cats.


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    #3
    sunshiner
    Registered Users Posts: 438 ✭✭sunshiner


    generally you would introduce the cat outside slowly, a few mins at a time with you staying with the cat,that way the cat builds up confidence,leave a window or door open so they can come in.

    For now go out call the cat,have a look around bushes,under cars,ask your neighbours if they have seen it. Good luck i hope you find him :)


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    #4
    The Sweeper
    Registered Users Posts: 10,658 ✭✭✭✭The Sweeper


    Phone the local vets and give them a description and explain the situation. If you have a picture of the cat, print up fliers and put them in the letterboxes of your neighbours, and see if you can put them up at your local newsagent, butchers shop window, supermarket and petrol station. Call the local pounds or animal surrender agencies - whatever's near to you.

    Then go searching for him again - you need to check any small hidey hole area - under hedges, in dark corners, anywhere he may have gone if he was frightened or hurt. Keep calling him. Sit at the door he usually comes in and out quietly for a while - if he got a bad scare he may be hiding and watching you.

    Call the roads maintenance department and explain your cat is lost and, horrible as it may be, you need to check if they found him after he was hit by a car or somesuch. Describe him and ask them to call you if they hear anything.

    Also, if your cat is say black and white, and you speak to someone at a vet or a shelter who says "yeah, we have two male black and white cats here, but neither of them have markings like you're describing" - GO AND LOOK YOURSELF. One person's mental image of a silver tabby may not be anothers and you need to check out leads in person.

    Good luck, I hope he comes home.


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    #5
    vincent coffey
    Registered Users Posts: 125 ✭✭vincent coffey


    sorry to hear about your cat - but please dont worry. we have a 9 year old neutered tommy who dissappears for weeks on end every summer and autumn and every year we worry ourselves sick and then he returns one day as if nothing hapened. rememmber that toms can wander over a large area (even when neutered) and it can take him some time to check out his territory. Also try and keep to a routine as he may be coming back when there is no one at home. Lastly I found that bribery (using wet catfood instead of dry) also works well. .


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    #6
    The Sweeper
    Registered Users Posts: 10,658 ✭✭✭✭The Sweeper


    vincent coffey wrote: »
    sorry to hear about your cat - but please dont worry. we have a 9 year old neutered tommy who dissappears for weeks on end every summer and autumn and every year we worry ourselves sick and then he returns one day as if nothing hapened.

    What are you going to do the day he doesn't come back?


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    #7
    vincent coffey
    Registered Users Posts: 125 ✭✭vincent coffey


    Get a dog. I hear they are more likely to do what u tell em


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    #8
    morganafay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,534 ✭✭✭morganafay


    I hope he comes back.

    I would say definitely put up posters in your local shops, outside your house, and through the neighbours letter boxes. My four month old kitten went missing a few weeks ago and was in a neighbour's garage for four days, but couldn't find her way home (your cat mightn't know his way home because of being an indoor cat) and the guy's friend saw a poster and told him.

    He could have wandered into someone's house and they might be feeding him, so I would say to definitely put up posters.

    Also maybe leave a bowl of cat food outside to try to entice him back, and keep going out and calling him really loudly every now and again.

    I had an indoor cat that was almost 3 who I started letting outside last year, and he loved it and became a much happier cat straight away, so I really hope that it works out with your cat, hope you find him.


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