Why can't I move on...

Post Reply New Topic

So I may have posted another thread about a missing cat, he still has not been found 2 months later. And now I am losing sleep...I just keep thinking about him whenever I try to sleep, and makes it hard to actually sleep. I went and looked for him...my brother still lives by my moms old place where the cat lived and he hasn't turned up there either, which he is a smart cat so I'd think if he was still around there somewhere he'd hang around my brothers house and at least make an appearance, he knows my brother to so I'd think he'd get his scent or something and maybe at least hang around long enough to be seen so we could get him and bring him to my moms new house....he would have liked it a lot of space and such except he's not there to enjoy it because he went missing. I mean sometimes that happens, and he was an outdoor/indoor cat, also the cat I grew up with one day after 14 years never came back...I was sure he was dead and wasn't the sort of animal to die around its people but with this cat I just can't stop thinking about it and worrying about horrible ways he may have died...when maybe he's not even dead and wandered off and got offered enough food in another house he went for that and maybe the people aren't so aware of the whole what appears to be a stray animal might have a microchip with an ID.

He wasn't the type to wear a collar so its a possibility.

Hugs. That sounds terrible. I’d miss our cats if they disappeared.

I think he is probably still around and if you can go search for him in the evening with some food, or put out traps, bait it and check them twice a day or have your brother do it, he might turn up. The new residents of the house probably won't see him because cats tend to hide from people they are not familiar with.

Also, have you posted on/checked Craigslist and the shelter website?

I've posted some lost cat ads and have been re-checking craigs list and the nearby animal shelters lost and found page. And now he's been missing like two months with no sign of him I already tried walking around and looking for him....so really my only hope now is if he turns up at my brothers place because he'd recognize him and if new people are in the old house maybe that familiarity would be enough for him to go over there. But yeah tried the cat food, putting boxes out hoping maybe he would seek shelter in one and stuff like that but none of that worked.

My dad used one of these traps from the animal shelter when his cat escaped during a fire while they were evacuating.



You bait them with tuna or something cats really like and check them at least twice per day.

It took a lot of convincing for my dad to do. The entire neighborhood had burnt down and he didn't think she could have survived but I talked him in to doing it and he checked it everyday for two weeks and two weeks later his cat turned up in it.

While indoor/outdoor cats typically decline when in the wild, it's often a slow decline and they can live for many months off of what they manage to catch.

May still be worth a try, but it seems like he's like gone from the area entirely...he is an outdoor/indoor cat and always tried breaking out whenever my mom and her boyfriend had to keep them in due to one being un-able to go out and things like that. I kind of think he may have run off because of the chaos of them packing to move, as he disappeared soon before they planned to move him and the other cats over to the new house. So IDK if someone offered him food and perhaps a more stable environment maybe he moved in somewhere else like his mom did with us...because she was a stray that just sort of decided she was our cat.

Indoor/outdoor cats have outdoor territory and they are possessive of it. They really only seldom leave it, and typically only when they get pushed out by another cat, because they don't like change and their territory is bordered by the territory of other cats. Your cat may very well be frequenting the same areas around the house or neighbors' houses that he did when your parents lived there.

Back when my family had cats and they were indoor/outdoor, I managed to discover some of the places where they actually went.

Cat 1 spent a lot of time on fences staring at dogs as they barked at her, and in a neighbor's backyard about five houses down.

Cat 2 would go as far as 1/4 mile down the street, but spent most of his evening sitting on the wall of a house slightly less than that distance away. He just sat there guarding his territory.

I think cat 2 went a little farther than most cats because he was big and knew it and in the cat world, size = dominance.

This document has examples of cat territory size.

[url=Cat territory size]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x06uP7fEurVLCo7wqmycoGl0JIk0j1cGhAnPvnlINjA/edit?hl=en&authkey=CI2Gv7YN[/url]

I would place the trap someplace near the house where you know your cat might frequent but far enough in case your cat is afraid of the new occupants. And let the neighbors who might come across the trap know what you are doing. You might want to leave a note on it with your contact information in case the cat shows up in it between checks and someone notices.

That's sad, I hope your little cat comes back, sometimes they do I couldn't bear it if I lost my kitty.

You might even just go and sit there on the sidewalk for a few hours one evening. Maybe with a bowl of tuna handy in case he does come around. You can pass the time reading a book or browse on your device while you are waiting and walk up and down calling him occasionally.

Once when my cats were still allowed out at night I was calling one of them at the top of my lungs for what seemed like ten minutes and I soon found out why it took him so long. He appeared out of the darknes galloping down the sidewalk from the other end of the street which was 1/4 mile long.

Last year a kitten turned up in a bush across the street. I think someone had dumped him or he was semi feral. I managed to feed him and he would show up every night between sunset and 9pm, and also between around 10am to be fed but I could never figure out where he went or came from. I finally caught him, socialized him and found him a home.

Cats often hide in some dark places like underneath houses or in hideaway spaces when they are ill and in pain. They do this because they know that they will not be able to defend themselves if a stranger cat or another kind of animal attacks them. Cats will often stay hidden and still if they are very ill, not making any sound at all for that reason. Unfortunately some of them die like this and owners eventually give up the search after calling unsuccessfully.

This may or may not have happened to your cat Sweetleaf. The next thing to do, if you haven't already done it, is to look at the places under the cat's home and other dark places it could have been hiding in, in immediately neighbouring properties. Sick cats don't travel far from home.

These discoveries are very painful, though knowing is at least an end to the wondering. Your cat may have been taken home by someone from another area, or even have had two homes all along and may have moved house with its "other" owner. All you can do is do what you can, and then stay open to the possibility of his return one day if there is no evidence of harm in your current searches.

I so hope you will be reunited with this loved cat. The not knowing what or when is very hard to deal with I know.

My cat ran away in July and I haven't seen him until yesterday a cat that looked like him was in my yard. When I went out to call it, it ran away. I'm going to get a trap, but I'm ok knowing he's alive and happy. I accepted it a long time ago because he was always a bit of a wild cat and seems to have decided to go feral. We will see what happens.

Well the cat has been found...apparently someone who lives not to far away from my moms old house brought him to a vet and they checked his microchip. I guess it was one of those people that puts food out and sometimes shelter for strays so he started hanging around there. But yeah glad he is ok...was worrying a bit about the cold nights we've had, he does have a pretty thick winter coat and the winter has been pretty mild but still thinking of him cold and alone outside wasn't pleasant. But turns out he was doing ok, the vet even told my mom the people said they started getting kind of attached to him but still thought it best to see if he had an owner. He would be an easy cat to get attached to because he's a really sweet big, cuddly cat....doesn't like to be picked up though.

I appreciate the people who go out of their way to help stray/feral and lost cats, if I had a way to do that I probably would to...but that would be kind of hard in an apartment where I am not paying a pet deposit and as I likely could not afford a constant supply of cat food for stays at this point.

Wonderful news! The best of outcomes.

I'm very glad your cat has been found and he has been reunited with your mom. All three of you must be very relieved.

One of my male cats, before he was neutered, went missing for three days ones. I spent all of those three days looking for him in the pouring rain. On the night of the third day, I was exhausted and starting to lose hope and I had just climbed into bed when I heart a faint meow at the front door. I jumped up and ran to the door and opened it and there he was as dry and warm as could be.

He was neutered shortly there after, and then no longer allowed out at night after coyotes got two of our other cats so that was his first and last mating excursion.

Yeah I was so worried I'd never see him again...also I think its possible the other cats missed him, especially his brother and the small black cat with no tail, the mom cat is a bit stand-off-ish especially since he has gotten big but she's like that to that no-tail cat to. Mom cat also doesn't have a tail but hers had to be removed in surgery because she got an injury that pulled her tail out from her spine so they had to amputate it..this other cat was from one of my brothers friends and was born without a tail.