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

[AbbysMom]

MOD NOTE: Just a reminder that this thread is about Slimmy and suggestions on how to find him and give support. We’re getting a bit off-topic here.

 

[di and bob]

Just wanted to put my two cents worth in.....I have found a LOT of lost cats by following where birds are screaming. they have much sharper eyes and really keep track of cats and where they are hiding. Then they send out the alarm. Praying for you to get your boy back,,,,,,,

 

[cmshap]

I have found a LOT of lost cats by following where birds are screaming. they have much sharper eyes and really keep track of cats and where they are hiding. Then they send out the alarm.

That's pretty good advice. And not just birds; squirrels can be helpful, also.

I read a story of a lost dog being found from squirrels loudly scolding at it from the trees. The dog was scared of something and hiding for multiple days, and it was in some squirrels' territory ranges. Squirrels can be highly territorial and vocal in chastising intruders.

We had dogs when I was growing up and lived on a large wooded property. Squirrels were always screaming at our dogs from the trees.

 

[silent meowlook]

So very true Abby.
Any updates??

 

[lucyrima]

 

[Cat McCannon]

I drop by this thread, hoping to hear Slimmy is found and home safe

 

[Meowmee]

I am removing updates for this thread but I will check back to see if you update.. I am hoping that Slimmy is found soon, hugs I have given you all my stories and advice regarding lost kitties I think

 

[slimmy20]

I posted a story on the first page of this thread about a neighbor's cat returning after 6 months of being lost outside. I did not mention in that post that the cat I described was a former member of a feral colony, turned indoor cat. So I think she definitely had survival skills left over, despite living in indoor comfort for years before she got outside again.

She was a very affectionate cat for a former feral, so she definitely was predisposed for indoor life, and found her preferred place once adopted. But she must have resorted to her survival instincts from her early years. This all happened in Wisconsin, in the transition period between fall and winter. So when she finally returned after 6 months, she had survived a full WI winter.

6 months of the harsh outdoors after getting used to the comfy indoor life.. so even indoor ex-feral cats can retain their survival instincts.. that's really good to hear! sometimes i think maybe slimmy didn't fare so well the first couple days he was lost ): maybe i am over-wishing for and over-estimating his feral side.. because like the cat in your story, he really did enjoy the indoor life. the one thing he would always do that reminded me of his feral past was 'meow' like a feral. i didn't know this at the time and had to google it.. but apparently feral cats aren't very good at meowing? his meows were always silent and raspy lol. someone called it a 'feral accent.' hopefully the feral accent wasnt the only feral quality he retained!

 

[slimmy20]

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!

thank you very much for your unwavering faith and optimism sometimes i see coyotes on my trailcams and the night vision just makes them look so terrifying. i much prefer the wile e coyote imagery! just a bunch of rural critters doing their rural critters things. i'm also glad to have found this forum. i think i mentioned this before but the first couple nights i lost slimmy i lurked these forums for hours. its nice reading stories from others who have gone through the same thing, whether they ended up finding their kitties or not. thanks for your encouragement and what you do!

 

[slimmy20]

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.

definitely i think there are many cat owners out there that might just not be very aware and new to cat-caring. i'm definitely in that camp. i regret thinking it was a good idea to take slimmy to the park on a leash. for some reason i thought i was doing him a favor because he seemed so bored inside the house ): wish i could take that back. ive only ever had two cats, slimmy included. my old cat wasn't even very cat-like.. i think he was raised by dogs. very friendly, would sit by his food bowl, very loud, hated other cats, loved dogs, enjoyed the park. i stupidly thought slimmy would be similar, biggest mistake ever! i didn't even understand what a feral cat was. now i'm glad to be hearing from people who have experience with multiple cats of all types.. ferals, housecats, etc. didn't realize how people out there DO look after stray/lost/feral cats and how much work it really goes into doing that. losing slimmy has felt like a crash course in cats that i should've taken way before even thinking about adopting one.

i'm glad you reunited that kitty with its owner.. even if the lady didn't think that was a good idea. if she was wrong then it'd be so heartbreaking and sad for an owner not to get their cat back based on someone else's comment.. and if the kitty had a tag with a number and seemed tame.. then maybe abuse wasn't likely. i think you did the right thing and i'd be over the moon if someone called me telling me they had slimmy!

 

[slimmy20]

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.

some raccoons get so big and chunky it terrifies me on behalf of outdoor critters that have to live with them. glad your giorgio knows he's the boss lol. one time i accidentally trapped a very large raccoon and when i released him i swear he was cussing me out in raccoon. then this one time, i placed a trail camera by a feral cat feeding station.. and apparently a raccoon would come out right after the feeders left, and eat ALL the cat food left out while the kitties just hid underneath a truck.
and thank you so much that makes a lot of sense because there are times when i could've sworn something ate the bait i left out, but the camera caught nothing. its really good to know that cats will just disappear for a while and it's not that their necessarily completely gone. i hope he was the little cat you're looking for!

 

[slimmy20]

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.

its no worries! your story gives me so much hope because i did lose slimmy away from home.. and there IS a big hill right where i lost him. how far away was the field? like about how many blocks away? and how many months passed till you found him?
am very happy your family was able to be reunited with your cat! i dont have much patience but your story definitely helps instill some of that in me! thank you

 

[slimmy20]

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

so happy for the little orange kitty! just having ONE person out there looking out and caring makes a world of a difference. the difference between dying out there ignored, or living safe in a home full of love.
to add to your story about kitties hiding in plain sight.. i spent this past week trapping a cat and getting him neutered.. when i released him and watched him go into a bush.. i looked up to see the face of a lil cat staring back at me. i'd never seen him before and i'd never seen a cat inside that bush. they really do seem to be expert hiders!

 

[slimmy20]

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.

i wonder if those lost cats all belonged to the same person. i also can't imagine people not freaking out if their cat hasn't come home. i've heard that outdoor cats and cats in general are very routine-oriented.. so if a cat goes missing, wouldn't that just send out eerie alarm bells? either way those cats and their owners are really lucky there are cat allies out there helping out! maybe some people just hear "cats are good survivors" and run with it.. thinking they're totally fine out there on their own

 

[cmshap]

6 months of the harsh outdoors after getting used to the comfy indoor life.. so even indoor ex-feral cats can retain their survival instincts.. that's really good to hear!

Yeah, but it's also possible that the cat I mentioned was cared for by another human during part of those 6 months. Like I said, it was during a Wisconsin winter. She might have found shelter in a barn or somewhere (this was in a rural area).

"Survival instincts" can include cozying up to other humans for food/shelter. Let's hope Slimmy got so lucky.

I don't know much about ferals but I have seen people talk about many of them having "human rotations," like they will stay near some humans for a while, and then go back to other humans that helped them in the past.

 

[slimmy20]

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"

you're a dog napper!! just kidding. you're a dog ally! that story just makes me think it was all meant to happen that way. a 16 year old spunky nyc kid is embedded with a love for helping animals, an obviously neglected dog finds a happy home, a heartbroken lady finds some much needed joy and her late poodle can rest in peace knowing her owner will be ok. please do it again

 

[slimmy20]

Yeah, but it's also possible that the cat I mentioned was cared for by another human during part of those 6 months. Like I said, it was during a Wisconsin winter. She might have found shelter in a barn or somewhere (this was in a rural area).

"Survival instincts" can include cozying up to other humans for food/shelter. Let's hope Slimmy got so lucky.

I don't know much about ferals but I have seen people talk about many of them having "human rotations," like they will stay near some humans for a while, and then go back to other humans that helped them in the past.

based on all the stories of people here caring for random kitties.. im more and more inclined to believe so. it would also be really heartbreaking and worrisome to see a domesticated animal out in the snowy wilderness.. cat person or not!

so this past week i've been pretty caught up trying to get this very aggressive feral kitty neutered.. and while i was at it i decided to buy a tile.. which is sort of like a GPS tracker. i asked the clinic if they'd put the collar on him and they said ok! i released him yesterday and i've been watching where he goes. maybe he could lead me to where slimmy and other neutered cats might go? so far it seems like they do have human rotations! he travels much further than i thought, even though he's neutered now, and makes pit stops at different houses i KNOW have outdoor cats and will leave food out. hopefully it leads to more info on feral cat activity and where the heck slimmy went.

 

[slimmy20]

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!

makes me really sad when kittens get precedence over all other cats ): they ARE adorable and cute.. but so are the very sweet older cats that have developed personalities! i hope susie atleast got to live a happy life in long term foster. that is really, really sad that her owners gave her up like that. maybe they didn't want to confront the reality of losing her and this was their way of grieving? my dad doesnt have a good grip on his emotions so i can see him doing something like that out of avoiding grief. but that's still completely unfair to susie.

 

[slimmy20]

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.

wow. that's sounds like something out of a movie. thank you for doing that. i always thought euthanasia wasn't really as big of a thing as people made it seem.. but ever since i started my search for my boy, i've been running into people exposing euthanasia-driven shelters and hearing about how sometimes they'll push for euthanasia out of a desire to profit from selling the bodies to processing plants?! i dont know how true this is but i am following certain shelters on facebook now and its astonishing to see daily updates on 10-20 cats getting euthanized every day. even ones freshly rescued. its really heartbreaking but also good to know there are people out there doing what they can to prevent this.

 

[slimmy20]

MOD NOTE: Just a reminder that this thread is about Slimmy and suggestions on how to find him and give support. We’re getting a bit off-topic here.

oh sorry! i do think i've been de-railing a bit. it's nice to hear stories about people helping cats
makes me feel much more comforted but i do realize there are appropriate threads for those. sorry!