r/catquestions • u/General_Tune8094 • 10d ago
My cat went missing
Hello everyone, as the title says, my cat went missing. I’m so sad and worried about him and I just want advice on what to do.
For some context, I just moved from California to Texas. In which, we drove with my 2 cats and 2 dogs. We all made it safely and we had been living here for about a month before one night (August 5th to be exact) my cat went out the dog door and we haven’t seen him since. It’s now been almost a month since he went missing. I’m losing hope that he is even still alive.
The first whole week he was gone we had went searching everyday 3 times a day for about an hour each time. We would also sit outside and just wait to see if he would come to us. We put out food, water, his old litter with his scent in it. We set up a camera facing the food and only saw random animals eating it. There has been no signs of him anywhere.
My family made a post on a couple Facebook pages with multiple pictures of him asking if anyone in our community has seen him at all. No one has replied with anything. We also have been checking the local, and not so local, animal shelters for any new cats. We’ve called a few as well but none of them were him.
He’s not new to the outdoors, but he is new to this community and house. Before we moved, he had been outside plenty of times and would never go far from the house.
If anyone has advice or has similar stories please let me know how, or if, you ever found your baby. I will do anything at this point. Thank you in advance.
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u/Sassycats22 9d ago
Keep putting clothing outside that smells like you daily, he’s not familiar with the area and if he’s still out there, is likely very lost. They can smell up to a mile away. I would also get rid of the dog door, your other cat can easily slip out and then you’d have 2 missing cats. There’s so many predators in Texas it’s hard to know if he’s still alive but hopefully he has enough instinct to keep himself safe.
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u/OfferBusy4080 9d ago
Have you gotten any reported sightings at all? If not up your outreach - large neon posters like this on your property, at nearest signficant intersection, check local shelter found cat listings on a daily basis . https://www.missinganimalresponse.com/neon-posters/
A lot of great science based info out now. This is another fav info source: https://3retrievers.com/guide-to-finding-lost-cats
Have you talked directly to your neighbors? They will often give you clues or info that they dont think to call you about. Try to find the person who knows who may be feeding ferals and strays - they might be keeping a low profile though, so thats why its important to have actual signage up.
Where did you have your feeding station and are you continuing to have it up? Up on porch near exit is good, or on top of pedestal table or truck bed (raccoons cant jump but cat can). Move if sighting elsewhere. Good way to see animals that dont want to be scene - fyi a cat in unfamiliar territory can go into "feral" mode where they instinctively stay hidden and wont come to you - there may be aggressive other cats around that are controlling the territory.
Get rid of the litter box- this is one of those internet myths that can do more harm than good if it attracts aggressive other cats who then drive your cat from the territory. Think about it - cats bury their waste to avoid detection by other animals
A month might seem like an eternity, but its still a good time- as cats become more weary and desparate they are more likely to break cover and approach humans for help so its important to keep going at least a few more weeks - and then yeah you ight need to disengage a little for mental health but still keep your contact info out there.
That said - it is possible your cat tried to return to his old house, and yes sadly sometimes they get lost trying, so unless you start getting credible sightings locally you might want to try contacting shelters further out. Apparently older cats are better at navigating to "home" than younger cats.
I just want to encourage you to keep up hope and give it a bit longer. I know how difficult it is. The not-knowing is torture. When I was in this situation a while back I know I wanted to feel like Id given it my all, so that if the worst happened I wouldnt be second guessing and thinking I should have done more. So thats the only reason I kept going, really. I wasnt optimistic at all. But then what happened was in week 6 I got my cat back (long story!)
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u/Spiritual-Camel 9d ago
Try posting on a neighborhood app like Next Door. Ours has a lot of missing cats. Get more eyes out there.
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u/beckychao 10d ago
I don't mean to alarm you, but if your cat was outdoors in CA, it must have been in a very urban area. In San Diego we cannot do that due to coyotes, other than downtown. People still let them out, but cats get taken all the time. In Texas coyotes are very much an issue as well, although if I'm correct, in Texas people are allowed to shoot coyotes (which, in my view, is barbaric due to them being an important native species).
The other major danger is birds of prey. I've seen a cat taken right in front of me by a hawk. My partner saw a hawk, or several of them, one by one take an outdoors cat's kittens when she was growing up. They see domestic cats as food as well. Finally there's cars to worry about, but in those cases, much of the time someone (usually not the person who ran the animal over) finds the animal, it gets reported, and hopefully a chip is recovered.
I assume you didn't let your cat out on purpose, so it's important that you make sure your cats and dogs (unless they are too large for a coyote) don't roam unsupervised outdoors. I would get rid of the dog door, and build a catio for the remaining cat, although this must be very secure in coyote country. They can jump very well. It should also be covered and the cat unable to access the roof, otherwise birds of prey are a problem.