Hey there guys,
As the title suggests, I've got an odd problem with our cat; she's an outdoor cat but has now taken to ignoring us completely and not coming back inside. At least not when anyone's around.
It's started about two weeks ago; usually, she'd be gone for a day max, and suddenly she left for four days in a row, returned for one night (after my mum carried her inside when she happened upon her in the garage), and has been gone ever since (doing a Houdini in the process because to our knowledge, everything crack was closed shut). Well, sort of. This is were it gets a little odd; she's roaming in the neighbourhood and around the house as well. I was up late at night I think three days ago and happened to see her through the rather big window/door that leads to our garden, strolling over our terrace a mere metre away; I turned the light on, opened the door, and she ran away (naturally to some extent because she doesn't particularly like me). I woke up my mum and sister (whom she both loves) who proceeded to look for her outside; I remained inside. They called for her, walked around, but no sign of her. I then proceeded to use a torch and see where the hell she could've gone myself and found her lying right on our neighbour's lawn, without a care in the bloody world. I returned, informed my mum and sister, who then looked for her but she had buggered off again, not to be seen again since.
The following day, I poured flour at the window she usually uses to enter; two days later, we saw cat paws leading inside and out again.
To make matters worse, we've come to get another cat, who's now where she'd be if she was in the house, i.e. the top floor in my flat. That means I currently can't leave the door open for her to come inside to avoid the other cat from going outside.
A short description of how and where we live: three storey house, entry for the cat is a basement window opening up to the street. We've got two dogs whom the cat knows but not particularly likes and avoids at all costs (one of the two is barking a fair bit), who can move freely between the ground floor and first floor. We live in a village which is surrounded by fields and woods; the field is closest to us but we don't live right next to it.
I'm a little puzzled at how to proceed now. The weather's turned bad recently, which I would've thought may be an incentive for her to come back in, but it's not really been the case, and I haven't seen her ever since. I can't entice her to come back inside, let alone catch her without risking scratches all over if I even got that close; only just got her to tolerate me inside thanks to the great advice I've got on this forum. My mum doesn't have the time and my girlfriend's not around right now, and she doesn't like men very much. It's not like she's gone completely or doesn't know her way back, it's just that she's kind of, I dunno, rejected/given up on us? I'm not really knowledgeable of cats, so I'm fairly stunted at what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)
As the title suggests, I've got an odd problem with our cat; she's an outdoor cat but has now taken to ignoring us completely and not coming back inside. At least not when anyone's around.
It's started about two weeks ago; usually, she'd be gone for a day max, and suddenly she left for four days in a row, returned for one night (after my mum carried her inside when she happened upon her in the garage), and has been gone ever since (doing a Houdini in the process because to our knowledge, everything crack was closed shut). Well, sort of. This is were it gets a little odd; she's roaming in the neighbourhood and around the house as well. I was up late at night I think three days ago and happened to see her through the rather big window/door that leads to our garden, strolling over our terrace a mere metre away; I turned the light on, opened the door, and she ran away (naturally to some extent because she doesn't particularly like me). I woke up my mum and sister (whom she both loves) who proceeded to look for her outside; I remained inside. They called for her, walked around, but no sign of her. I then proceeded to use a torch and see where the hell she could've gone myself and found her lying right on our neighbour's lawn, without a care in the bloody world. I returned, informed my mum and sister, who then looked for her but she had buggered off again, not to be seen again since.
The following day, I poured flour at the window she usually uses to enter; two days later, we saw cat paws leading inside and out again.
To make matters worse, we've come to get another cat, who's now where she'd be if she was in the house, i.e. the top floor in my flat. That means I currently can't leave the door open for her to come inside to avoid the other cat from going outside.
A short description of how and where we live: three storey house, entry for the cat is a basement window opening up to the street. We've got two dogs whom the cat knows but not particularly likes and avoids at all costs (one of the two is barking a fair bit), who can move freely between the ground floor and first floor. We live in a village which is surrounded by fields and woods; the field is closest to us but we don't live right next to it.
I'm a little puzzled at how to proceed now. The weather's turned bad recently, which I would've thought may be an incentive for her to come back in, but it's not really been the case, and I haven't seen her ever since. I can't entice her to come back inside, let alone catch her without risking scratches all over if I even got that close; only just got her to tolerate me inside thanks to the great advice I've got on this forum. My mum doesn't have the time and my girlfriend's not around right now, and she doesn't like men very much. It's not like she's gone completely or doesn't know her way back, it's just that she's kind of, I dunno, rejected/given up on us? I'm not really knowledgeable of cats, so I'm fairly stunted at what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)
