Mystic Is Missing

I let her out with the other cats yesterday around 10 am, and that is the last I saw her. I was taking my dogs for a walk around 1:30pm and noticed blood on the dirt driveway (long driveway so about 150 ft away from the house and about 10 ft from the gravel road). That seems to be causing me to jump to conclusions I don't want to accept. I don't know how long the blood was there, I don't know if it's her blood or not, it could have been from another animal from the previous night or earlier in the morning. It rained pretty hard late yesterday afternoon so the blood is all washed away. I never heard anything though, my dogs didn't bark (one is a primarily outside dog too, but getting old), no cat screams, nothing. The other cats are all acting completely normal like nothing happened either. One of them even wants back outside today, but I'm not letting her.

I guess I just want some reassurance that there is still hope. I keep running through my head that I've failed her and I should never be allowing the cats outside even though I try to minimize the risks as much as I can. She is 13 years old, and has been and indoor outdoor cat for about 10 years, and was originally found as a stray as a kitten. I do live out in the country, neighbors are half a mile away, very few cars come down this way, but there are plenty of predators. She normally comes in and out throughout the day though, inside almost every night if not right at the door in the morning, and is normally right at the door if the weather turns (too hot out, too cold, snowy or rainy), it's been cloudy and raining off and on since yesterday afternoon.

I am so sorry you are going through this! I hope Mystic is okay and will be home soon! I'm sure there is still hope; keep calling for her and paying attention at night too, when you said she normally comes home.

I am SO sorry! And I'd have panicked a bit with blood in the driveway. However, ALL of us have blood, and none of it wears a name-tag, so it might well be some small prey that one of the cats took. Or a raptor.

Lighting a candle that she comes home safely and soon!

Still no sign of her... I think the worse part is just not knowing if she is dead, live and scared, or hurt somewhere dying, and knowing that if she doesn't come back I might never get any kind of closure. Most of the lost pet advice is useless out here. I live out in the country, mostly commercial farmers out here now, day labors not neighbors and they wont be back until harvest in the fall. I'm over 20 miles outside the closes town.

I don't understand how she could just go missing in the middle of the day. Especially without me or the dogs noticing anything.

The blood was definitely from something bigger then something like a mouse, but a rabbit is still a possibility, or maybe even a squirrel.

I am very sorry you are going through this. I can understand the worry you are feeling right now. I hope and pray she comes back safe and sound. Here’s sending my hugs and prayers your way.

This is a tough thread for me to read, I lost my older cat Sage on May 1st and he abruptly vanished the same way your cat did... to this day, I don't know if he got picked off by coyotes, got chased and then became disoriented, got taken in by someone else, fell victim to foul play, or what. In light of his age, perhaps he simply died of natural causes somewhere in the neighborhood... it's not like an urban neighborhood, there are open spaces with brush, a terraced hill with multiple levels, a sandy wash down below that serves as a wildlife corridor, etc. Too many places to realistically check, as many are on private property, 10-4?

I wish I knew what happened to Sage... I ran "Lost" ads for him in our local rag, checked the neighborhood & our local animal shelter numerous times, did everything humanly possible to find my cat, but to no avail. Not knowing what happened really sucks, there is no closure for me... common sense tells me he probably got picked off by varmints, but I hold out hope for some sort of miraculous reunion. Here's hoping you have better luck with your missing cat... Sage's abrupt disappearance has left a great big hole in my heart, but the two young cats I rescued are helping to fill that void, and of course I still have Crackhead.

I'M OFF FOR THE WEEKEND, GOOD LUCK IN YOUR SEARCH!!!

Yeah just on my property alone (I live on an acreage) there are too many places to look. On my property alone I have 3 ponds, acres worth of wooded areas that are a tangled overgrown mess of thorny plants and downed trees and branches(easy for a cat to navigate but near impossible for a human), as well as lots of over grown grassy area, and broken down buildings. Then around my house in some directions it's literally hundreds to thousands of acres of hay and canola fields and more wooded areas.

I do have 9 other cats (and of course the dogs and chinchillas), but she is one of only two cats I actually intentionally got (the rest are in one way or another the result of people dumping cats out here). I got her just days after moving here with my husband, she's the first pet we got together. Although she is 13 she doesn't really act old or sick at all, and I know 13 is starting to get up there but isn't that old, so I don't think she went off to die. I hate to admit it but there have been a lot of coyotes this year, and my outside/guard dog is getting pretty old (nearly 12 year old rottie mix).

Keeping that candle lit, Darlin. Not much else to do at this point. But I've seen cats come home not TOO much the worse for wear after months.

Take whichever dog is closest to her out to search. Make a grid search of your property. Look up when you search in case she went up a tree. Look in small holes in the ground, under tree roots and under buildings.

BTW It's time to bring you guard dog rottie inside. coyotes will attack dogs as a pack and can seriously injure and kill any dog particularly an older one, especially an older one who doesn't realize of admit he's slowing down. Your dog will alert from inside the house, I promise.

Prayers for all of you.

Kflowers said:

BTW It's time to bring you guard dog rottie inside. coyotes will attack dogs as a pack and can seriously injure and kill any dog particularly an older one, especially an older one who doesn't realize of admit he's slowing down. Your dog will alert from inside the house, I promise.

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Oh, his isn't free roaming, he has an about 30x60' area just outside the house that he spend the day. From there he can see most of the yard, including the driveway. He can't be an inside dog, when he is in the house he has to be crated for various reasons. My other two (younger) dogs are free when I am outside. I was also in and out of the house with two of the dogs (the rottie was outside the whole time) several times during that day (before it rained) doing gardening and stuff before I took the dogs for a walk around the property, which is why it's so surprising/confusing that she just vanished without anyone noticing.

coyote can jump any fence under 10 feet. If your rottie calls for backup it's good to know you've got it for him. Of course the inside dogs will tell you when danger approaches.

It's been 11 days, I don't think she is coming back. I'm having a hard time excepting that fact though. My best guess is a coyote got her probably fairly soon after I let her out. She went out when I let the dogs out for breakfast (yes I fed the dogs at 10 am) and they are normally more focused on me and food then wildlife at that time.

I feel like I've failed her and I don't want to except that she is just gone and I'm never going to see her again. Going over and over in my head I think there was just too many things working against me this year that weren't an issue in the past or at least not all at once. I really don't have an effective guard dog anymore (too old), with all the rain the grass in the yard and ditches are over grown (easy to hide a predator, it's taller then my dogs in some areas), coyotes are smart it likely had been watching for days and noticed a pattern of when the cats went out and also there seems to be a lot more coyotes this year.

Some cats come back after months or even a year of more.

Yeah, I know people keep saying they sometimes come back after months or years, but I'm sure those are more often in cities or at least towns, not out in the sparsely populated country side and woodland. Beyond the property there are way too many predators (coyotes, lynx, bears, mountain lions, foxes, birds of prey...). Also more likely in places it doesn't regularly get down to -40 or below in the winter like here. If she is still alive but doesn't come back within the next few months the chances of survival drop dramatically.

Bummer... I still miss Sage, but I won't go as far as to lock down the other cats 24/7, it's unfair, my cats like going outdoors. Just gotta bring 'em in before dark... not always easy, since Crackhead likes watching the sunsets with me (see pics).



This high desert country is hard on small domestic animals, gotta take what steps I can to keep my cats outta danger.

Sidewinder , letting them out and getting them back in after a short time is exactly what amethyst was trying to do and what she did until Mystic went missing.

Amethyst, I'm sorry you lost her, I hope you find peace.

Sidewinder said:

Bummer... I still miss Sage, but I won't go as far as to lock down the other cats 24/7, it's unfair, my cats like going outdoors. Just gotta bring 'em in before dark... not always easy, since Crackhead likes watching the sunsets with me (see pics).

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This high desert country is hard on small domestic animals, gotta take what steps I can to keep my cats outta danger.

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Yeah my cats normally all come in at night too (99% of the time), but Mystic when missing in the middle of the day (sometime between 10am and 1:30pm) that is what makes me so uneasy, I thought she would be ok out at that time. I normally don't let them go out after about 5pm and try to get them in or start hunting them down by 7 or 8pm if they are still out because I can hear the coyotes by then. In the summer the sun doesn't set until about 10 or 11 at night, so "before dark" would be late . I've been letting some of my cats out for about 10 years and never had an issue, but as I said things aren't the same this year, some of my safeguards are no longer there (nicely mowed lawn, ditches mowed, guard dog, etc) making it more dangerous this year then it has been in the past.

I've been keeping my other cats pretty much on lock down or only supervised outside time, much to there annoyance. I have one cat that goes for walks with me and the dogs, so I know she is right there with us, so as long as I am outside she isn't far. I can't spend all day outside though, so I keep scooping her up and bringing her and her sister (the two that still primarily go out) back in when I go back inside.

Sending all the peace I can muster to your sore heart...

Just to give an idea of how remote I am, this is what it looks like in most directions from the edge of my property... the other direction, across the gravel road, is a hay field and hundreds of acres of woods.

The world is so large, and they are so very small.