i lost my cat away from home and am desperately seeking some advice

[Kwik]

wile e coyote... that made me laugh i am so used to cursing coyotes under my breath but they could just be minding their own business while being every missing pet owner's favorite scapegoat.

thank you so much for the constant faith and unwavering hope without those it's really hard to get out of the house and keep doing slimmy stuff. just want you to know how big of a difference it makes over here and i really appreciate it. i probably have more faith in god than i admit. there's this photo i took the day i saw slimmy on camera, and it was of a rain cloud with a wishbone? arrow? looking thing on it. i stare at it a lot because slimmy's always reminded me of a cloud and rain is very rare here. call it superstitious.. but i spend a good chunk of time searching the spot it points towards.. which is a neighborhood around the area i lost him, and a viable cat hiding spot with lots of greenery! even had a sighting there two days ago. hoping its a sign!

Glad you got a chuckle there and that's how concerned I am about Wile E.!!!!Cats are incredibly stealth,very cautious and smarter than the average bear!Not easy prey,not in the least.And besides that predators are opportunists,there are much better,safer opportunities than cats...opportunities that do not come equipped with lightening fast razor blades they use very well in their defense
Yep,my Faith is unwavering my friend and my prayers for you and Slimmy continue ...I don't believe in coincidences so your sign in the sky and meeting all of us here to give you Hope and Encouragement is for a Reason....I know what I'm hoping that Reason is & that Gives me all the more Hope
We all care,we care about you and we care about Slimmy-sad that meeting you is under these circumstances but I'm glad we did- and maybe,just maybe you'll be Encouraging someone else here one day!

 

[Meowmee]

you'd think that after the first time, that feeling of panic would be enough to make most people anxious about ever letting their cat out again ): it's such a jolting feeling. and i agree! just getting a phone call or a text or a ring video from someone thinking they saw my cat makes me feel so thankful people actually take time out of their lives to help. if someone was out there actively feeding and sheltering my kitty?? and trying to find out if he has a family? that's seriously a godsend. that family was SO very lucky their kitty stumbled on your cat sanctuary. i havent put a reward on my posters because of all the scam calls i get, but if someone reunited me with slimmy, they are getting cash money and being suffocated with attention lol.

I used to have indoor outdoor cats and they were trained well, as they aged and had illnesses I switched them to leash walks… so I won’t judge them for that but you need to take precautions at least… now my cats are all indoor and I don't take them on walks even because they are too skittish etc.

I don’t expect a reward etc. I am happy to help and my reward was seeing them reunited. But a thank you and a card would be nice it’s very unusual to have this situation. Usually I am just rescuing cats who were abandoned etc. …when I first saw him before that, I had posted him on craigslist and someone from one of the local rescue groups messaged me and told me to post him on a Facebook Lost and Found group and suggested I try to trap him. At that point I thought he could be someone else’s cat and he was just roaming around maybe. It’s hard to tell, but when he kept showing up and it was so cold, and then I saw that he had a collar so not long after I trapped him and he was tame etc. and he had a tag with their phone number. Easy peasy

But anyway, the lady who contacted me said I shouldn’t give him back to them because they weren’t taking care of him properly and now I wonder if she was right. Anyway, I don’t feel it’s my business to interfere in that unless there was some type of terrible abuse, etc.

 

[Meowmee]

thank you for this the coyote situation really gets to me as it seems most likely. but your story reminds me of all the other kitties i see on my cameras.. literally crossing paths with coyotes within the half hour (sometimes 5 minutes from eachother) and they're fine everyday. there was one cat who crossed path with a coyote and i never saw him on camera again. this was 1.5 months ago.. but i saw him on camera last week. it wasn't slimmy but it was SUCH A RELIEF. i have a feeling slimmy might be feeling like your zena.. just very scared. im about to go check and refresh my cameras and this was very motivating! i dread doing it because every time i check them (i have 6 now) its just demoralizing seeing zero sign of slimmy.

You’re welcome
I would be terrified if we had coyotes here… we have mostly raccoons and foxes, but they and the cats seem to interact well and there have never been any incidences. In fact Giorgio, one of my big tabby outdoor guys, who is now at the bridge, used to swat them away from the food and the raccoons were scared of him, This was during the day or am too, so the raccoons here adapted to come whenever food is out, but not as much in the mid day etc.
But it seems maybe many cats and coyotes can coexist as well.

I am hoping your guy will be home asap. Which reminds me I just saw another cat who hadn’t been seen for a while, but not so long, a rescue is trying to help me tnr him, he finally was on cameras again, so sometimes they don’t get picked up on the cameras and they could be there and you just don’t know it. Part of me was hoping he was little cat who was the first cat who started my former little group. On one of the videos it kind of looks like her instead of him maybe.

 

[CeilidhCat]

thank you so much for this message i read it last night and it was very touching. when the neighbor first told me he wouldn't let me search and the days kept going by, i really, REALLY disliked him (ok i basically hated him for a while). it was the neighbors who opened their doors for me, the kind people online like yourself and this forum, the cat shelter volunteers, the good samaritans, who made it easier to replace that frustration with a better feeling. thank you again! i hope i can output that sort of energy someday.

the story with your mom's cat sound so similar and i'm so glad it had a happy ending! how and where did you end up finding her? was there any sign of her when you were camped out? the spot i camped at had some houses facing the hill and im sure it spooked them seeing a dark figure, sitting there completely still in the dark with a flash light in one hand and a metal pan in the other. hopefully it was a safe place to camp. such a relief to know she came back alive after those months.

thank you so much for this message i read it last night and it was very touching. when the neighbor first told me he wouldn't let me search and the days kept going by, i really, REALLY disliked him (ok i basically hated him for a while). it was the neighbors who opened their doors for me, the kind people online like yourself and this forum, the cat shelter volunteers, the good samaritans, who made it easier to replace that frustration with a better feeling. thank you again! i hope i can output that sort of energy someday.

the story with your mom's cat sound so similar and i'm so glad it had a happy ending! how and where did you end up finding her? was there any sign of her when you were camped out? the spot i camped at had some houses facing the hill and im sure it spooked them seeing a dark figure, sitting there completely still in the dark with a flash light in one hand and a metal pan in the other. hopefully it was a safe place to camp. such a relief to know she came back alive after those months.

I didn’t get back on this site for a while, but just checked in
, and am so sorry Slimmy isn't home yet. In answer to your question, our cat was found in a field pretty close to where she was lost. She must've been hiding in bushes while we were looking and eventually got weak from hunger and was spotted and came up to my mum. (This was before motion cameras etc) . All we had to go on was hope and patience. Just know that you’re doing everything and more anyone possibly could.
We were lucky eventually that time. Our fur family are only ever with us for a short time, but it’s a good time.

 

[Kwik]

I used to have indoor outdoor cats and they were trained well, as they aged and had illnesses I switched them to leash walks… so I won’t judge them for that but you need to take precautions at least… now my cats are all indoor and I don't take them on walks even because they are too skittish etc.

I don’t expect a reward etc. I am happy to help and my reward was seeing them reunited. But a thank you and a card would be nice it’s very unusual to have this situation. Usually I am just rescuing cats who were abandoned etc. …when I first saw him before that, I had posted him on craigslist and someone from one of the local rescue groups messaged me and told me to post him on a Facebook Lost and Found group and suggested I try to trap him. At that point I thought he could be someone else’s cat and he was just roaming around maybe. It’s hard to tell, but when he kept showing up and it was so cold, and then I saw that he had a collar so not long after I trapped him and he was tame etc. and he had a tag with their phone number. Easy peasy

But anyway, the lady who contacted me said I shouldn’t give him back to them because they weren’t taking care of him properly and now I wonder if she was right. Anyway, I don’t feel it’s my business to interfere in that unless there was some type of terrible abuse, etc.

I recently found a kitten ,actually my outdoor feral buddy( now inside) actually lead me to him,shaking,malnourished under a bush..... at my Condo,216 units surrounded by a parking lot with a courtyard in the middle...... I picked up the little fellow and he was having difficulty breathing,his collar was choking him so he was obviously lost for some time- how is that possible that I heard no one outside yelling a name,never saw a soul searching
Anyway,I cut his collar off & can't tell you how many neighbors said" oh,a little orange kitty- he's been out there for weeks- couldn't find him when we looked"Against my better judgement I scanned him,was glad he wasn't chipped.Hes got the best home from a single gentleman who's crazy about him now
My point is that for quite some time this little guy was hiding in plain sight ,for some reason I keep thinking Slimmy is not far away.....and now I'm wondering about that arrow too... Just don't give up

 

[Meowmee]

I recently found a kitten ,actually my outdoor feral buddy( now inside) actually lead me to him,shaking,malnourished under a bush..... at my Condo,216 units surrounded by a parking lot with a courtyard in the middle...... I picked up the little fellow and he was having difficulty breathing,his collar was choking him so he was obviously lost for some time- how is that possible that I heard no one outside yelling a name,never saw a soul searching
Anyway,I cut his collar off & can't tell you how many neighbors said" oh,a little orange kitty- he's been out there for weeks- couldn't find him when we looked"Against my better judgement I scanned him,was glad he wasn't chipped.Hes got the best home from a single gentleman who's crazy about him now
My point is that for quite some time this little guy was hiding in plain sight ,for some reason I keep thinking Slimmy is not far away.....and now I'm wondering about that arrow too... Just don't give up

Thanks for helping that baby

 

[Kwik]

Thanks for helping that baby

Awww,of course. .. but Timmy found him and deserves all the thanks!

 

[cmshap]

how is that possible that I heard no one outside yelling a name,never saw a soul searching
can't tell you how many neighbors said" oh,a little orange kitty- he's been out there for weeks

I personally don't understand this sort of thing, how it happens.

I live in an apartment building, with many cat owners. Most of them are responsible cat owners. But I've been here for 8 years, and in that time, found multiple lost cats in the hallway that were out there for days/weeks. One I had to personally lure with treats and grab myself, then take to the building manager to try to find the owner.

Most recently, a black cat was spotted in various places in the hallway over the course of two weeks. The building manager (who is a cat owner herself) "trapped" him in a contained part of the hallway off to the side in the basement, and set up a litter box and food/water for him down there. It took another week before the cat's actual owner claimed him.

Three weeks, this cat was out in the hallways of a large apartment building, with his owner living here and not realizing their cat was missing? Even if this person was on an extended trip, and not present, I can't figure how that's possible. Whenever I travel, I have paid sitters who I communicate with consistently and they update me on my cat's wellness while I am gone.

 

[Kwik]

I personally don't understand this sort of thing, how it happens.

I live in an apartment building, with many cat owners. Most of them are responsible cat owners. But I've been here for 8 years, and in that time, found multiple lost cats in the hallway that were out there for days/weeks. One I had to personally lure with treats and grab myself, then take to the building manager to try to find the owner.

Most recently, a black cat was spotted in various places in the hallway over the course of two weeks. The building manager (who is a cat owner herself) "trapped" him in a contained part of the hallway off to the side in the basement, and set up a litter box and food/water for him down there. It took another week before the cat's actual owner claimed him.

Three weeks, this cat was out in the hallways of a large apartment building, with his owner living here and not realizing their cat was missing? Even if this person was on an extended trip, and not present, I can't figure how that's possible. Whenever I travel, I have paid sitters who I communicate with consistently and they update me on my cat's wellness while I am gone.

It just makes me feel sick ,I don't get it either..... I'd be outside yelling 24/7 and frantic knocking on every single door.....I don't understand either,it's horrible

When I was 16 I found a little toy poodle,had collar with aspca tag....it was a Friday night,back then everything closed until Monday- the little sweet dog stayed with me til Monday morning,I got tye owners address & went there to return her dog

She said" oh,didn't even know she wasn't OUT THERE.... I thought," out where?" The little dog was put out by the back door- there was an empty food bowl( crusted)& a dirty water bowl

Now,please understand I was a spunky lil NYC kid who didn't put up with much back then..... that little dig was not happy to see her owner.....I said nothing & left..... but went back around midnight

Oh yes I did!

 

[cmshap]

Now,please understand I was a spunky lil NYC kid who didn't put up with much back then..... that little dig was not happy to see her owner.....I said nothing & left..... but went back around midnight

Oh yes I did!

Good job taking care of that dog, even if you eventually had to return her to neglectful owners. We can only hope that such kindness makes a difference. Either the owner questions how they could have let this happen, or the dog learns what kindness really looks like and starts "demanding" (in whatever way an animal can) more attentive and responsible humans.

That may be wishful thinking, but I tend to believe that kindness pays dividends, in general.

Anyway, I also wanted to ask what you mean when you say you went back at midnight. What exactly did you do?

 

[Kwik]

Good job taking care of that dog, even if you eventually had to return her to neglectful owners. We can only hope that such kindness makes a difference. Either the owner questions how they could have let this happen, or the dog learns what kindness really looks like and starts "demanding" (in whatever way an animal can) more attentive and responsible humans.

That may be wishful thinking, but I tend to believe that kindness pays dividends, in general.

Anyway, I also wanted to ask what you mean when you say you went back at midnight. What exactly did you do?

Okay,I don't think I ever
confessed what I did that night and I hope I don't get anyone thinking I'm a dog napper-remember,I was 16
I had a friend drive me over,it was the dead of night. I really just wanted to see if that crusty food bowl and dirty water had been tended to...... no,it's was the same except her water bowl was tipped upside down...that was it,it put me over the edge as tye little girl was so excited to see me ( opposite of her " non reaction: to her owner).... I took her!

About one week later the owner of the kennel I worked part time at told me one of her clients lost her little poodle,her love of 25 yrs and was eager to meet this little girl.. it was lovely at first sight and they lived happily ever after

So now I admitted my crime and I must say" I'd do it again"

 

[Kwik]

S silent meowlook

Whew,I'm so relieved of your reaction,I just have a really hard time with lying,I might not say something but if I'm asked I've always fessed up-anytime I've ever gotten into trouble with my parents it was because I told on myself-lol

When I went home with that little dog my Mom & Dad asked me why I had the dog again,after returning her... they said"Well,better you than reporting the abuse& her going to the pound" but if ever a next time you come to us FIRST and we'll handle it-you could have been arrested.....and then I told my boss & never told anyone else until now......the statue of limitations have long expired! just being facetious-lol

 

[silent meowlook]

Sometimes you have to do the “wrong” thing for the right reason.
When I first was working in vet medicine the vet I worked for would fo convenience euthanasias. People moving and can’t take their young cat…..just euthanize. Me and a girl I worked with, she would sneak them out the back door and take home and adopt out, I would take wet towels and put them in plastic bags in the freezer as a dead body double. I can’t believe we never got caught. She saved a few that way.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Sometimes you have to do the “wrong” thing for the right reason.
When I first was working in vet medicine the vet I worked for would fo convenience euthanasias. People moving and can’t take their young cat…..just euthanize. Me and a girl I worked with, she would sneak them out the back door and take home and adopt out, I would take wet towels and put them in plastic bags in the freezer as a dead body double. I can’t believe we never got caught. She saved a few that way.

thanks to you for saving some cats that way

This reminded me of the rescue I used to volunteer at, we often had the vets contacting us saying "owner wants to euthanase this cat - can you take him/her"

One in particular I still remember is a 14 year old black cat, caled Susie, owner got a new kitten, Susie decided she did NOT!!!!!!!!!! want to live with a kitten, tried forcing the kitten out (from what we got told by the vets, who had that information from the owners)

Owners decided to choose the kitten over Susie, took her to the vets saying "euthanase her" when they had had her for 14 years - since kittenhood - when her only crime was not wanting to live with a kitten, she was still healthy, mild kidney issues but needed nothing doing at that point, although the stress of getting brought into rescue caused her to need to go onto a special diet to help her kidneys, from what I remember the owners hadn't tried to introduce them properly they just got the new kitten and put him/her in front of Susie and expected her to welcome the newcomer with open paws ?????????

The rescue I volunteered for took her in (Susie) and had to place her as a long term foster, nobody would adopt her due to her age.

Another one I remember is a black and white boy called Robert - 3 years old, he was fine with adult cats, someone had dumped him somewhere and he found his way onto a farm, the farmer was threatening to poison him unless he was removed, even though he was pulling his weight killing rats on the farm, to survive, the rescue took him in and found out he literally hated kittens, he would hiss at them and go for them if they went anywhere near him, although he seemed to be fine with adult cats - as long as he wasn't expected to get on with a bouncy one!

 

[tiggerwillow]

I hope the cat who went missing returns home

 

[Kwik]

I hope the cat who went missing returns home

I come everyday waiting to hear Slimmy is found-let us continue to Hope and Pray

 

[thefiresidecat]

Sometimes you have to do the “wrong” thing for the right reason.
When I first was working in vet medicine the vet I worked for would fo convenience euthanasias. People moving and can’t take their young cat…..just euthanize. Me and a girl I worked with, she would sneak them out the back door and take home and adopt out, I would take wet towels and put them in plastic bags in the freezer as a dead body double. I can’t believe we never got caught. She saved a few that way.

what an irresponsible vet good for you and y our friend

 

[Meowmee]

Sometimes you have to do the “wrong” thing for the right reason.
When I first was working in vet medicine the vet I worked for would fo convenience euthanasias. People moving and can’t take their young cat…..just euthanize. Me and a girl I worked with, she would sneak them out the back door and take home and adopt out, I would take wet towels and put them in plastic bags in the freezer as a dead body double. I can’t believe we never got caught. She saved a few that way.

I’m trying to understand how that could happen wasn’t a vet there euthanizing them with the injections? How did they survive? Thank you for saving them.

 

[silent meowlook]

This was back in the 1980's. No vet there doing the euthanasia, It was always me or one other girl there that did them. The cat was in the cage waiting to be euthanized. There was a back door. She would take the cat out of the back door in a carrier she always kept in her car parked out there. I would put a wet towel into a trash bag to make something that looked like and after frozen would feel like the cat. then I would put that into the freezer. She would get the cat into the carrier from the back room and then out the door and into her car and cover the carrier up with a jacket. Meanwhile I would be making sure the vet didn't walk into the back by distracting him with a question or something. Then once the cat was secure in the car and she was done, she would come up with an excuse as to why she had to leave early, and I would approve it before anyone had a chance to say no. This only happened a few times, with healthy young to middle aged cats that the owners didn't want because they were moving. I was extremely stressed when it was happening but went along with it because I knew she was right in doing this. This was a period of time when I could not lose the job due to supporting not only myself but my ill boyfriend at the time.

This wouldn't be possible to be done now. But back then there weren't cameras,

 

[Meowmee]

This was back in the 1980's. No vet there doing the euthanasia, It was always me or one other girl there that did them. The cat was in the cage waiting to be euthanized. There was a back door. She would take the cat out of the back door in a carrier she always kept in her car parked out there. I would put a wet towel into a trash bag to make something that looked like and after frozen would feel like the cat. then I would put that into the freezer. She would get the cat into the carrier from the back room and then out the door and into her car and cover the carrier up with a jacket. Meanwhile I would be making sure the vet didn't walk into the back by distracting him with a question or something. Then once the cat was secure in the car and she was done, she would come up with an excuse as to why she had to leave early, and I would approve it before anyone had a chance to say no. This only happened a few times, with healthy young to middle aged cats that the owners didn't want because they were moving. I was extremely stressed when it was happening but went along with it because I knew she was right in doing this. This was a period of time when I could not lose the job due to supporting not only myself but my ill boyfriend at the time.

This wouldn't be possible to be done now. But back then there weren't cameras,

Woah, some slick moves you did there and for the greater good saving those poor cats. Thank you I am amazed they let any one but dvm do the euthanasia etc.