Our six month old kitten went missing 2 days ago...

[irrationallypie]

Certainly! Posting on here and hearing your experiences and encouragement has helped me immensely...knowing that you're not alone is so important. I'm so happy to hear that the other person on the Facebook support group was able to find her cat back too!! Three months is quite a long time, but it goes to show that persistence pays off. I'm feeling more optimistic now...I think the next step is getting a trail camera and a cat trap.

 

[irrationallypie]

Today, it's been 4 weeks since he's been missing...it's been difficult, but of course, we're still hoping he's out there!

How far do you think a displaced outdoor-access cat would travel, if at all, in this amount of time? Naturally, I'm worried that the longer it gets, the farther he will travel...it just doesn't feel like he's close by. (Then again, I could be wrong!)

I ordered two trail cameras this week--one came in today! The other's coming on Monday. My parents aren't on board (yet) with getting a humane trap; they believe that if he was close by, he would have come directly to the house. I'll try to figure out if he's even close by and go on from there.

Also, two (that we know of) of our five posters were taken down from our neighborhood...a construction worker saw a guy taking them down. Are there some city regulations that I wasn't aware of, or was this just out of malice???

 

[fionasmom]

It is very hard to predict how far a cat will go, or not. He could be much more local than you think, but hiding most of the time. The trail cams will give you some answers once they are up and running.

As for the posters, there could be city ordinances (which are easy enough to check out) or it could be someone who dislikes cats, animals, or considers posters to mar the look of the neighborhood.

 

[irrationallypie]

That's true! That's what we're intending to do. I put the first trail cam up today; it's pointing toward our back porch (where we put some fresh food)...Once the second one comes, it will most likely be angled toward the trees/wilderness. Keeping our fingers crossed that we see something

Oh, I didn't know about the city ordinances! I did take a look at my city's regulations, and this is the only thing I found that might have to do with it:
"Posting; advertising prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place or allow to be placed any advertising cards or posters or any other like material or any signs or advertising matter suspended by ropes or wires on any such poles within the city limits."

As for the second option, it could be someone specific doing it? One of the posters that were removed had already been taken off once (around two weeks ago), but the person had just left it on the ground instead of taking it with them, so we'd been able to put it back up.

 

[fionasmom]

I wonder if "poles within city limits" mean city related poles like electric or light poles, traffic signals or it it means that nothing can be posted in your city. You might call and ask for clarification or ask if there is a legal way to post the info.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm extremely worried and desperate, and any advice would help.

Two days ago, on November 5 at around 5 am, our little baby Loki went missing. He's a gray six-month-old kitten, lanky for his age but still just a baby He loves going outside (especially with our older cat, who's a seasoned outside-goer) and knows his way around our backyard very well, but he never stays outside for very long before running back home and sleeping the day away...

We live in Mississippi, and our house is surrounded by wildlife and forest. I'm so worried that Loki has had a run-in with a coyote or even a dog, or that he's been run over.

How hopeful can I be for his safe return, especially for a cat who's not even a year old? And does anyone have some kitten-finding tips for me?

I've left his litter box outside, posted flyers around the neighborhood, alerted the local Petco and PetSmart, and told our neighbors... Don't know what else to do, and I'm just devastated. We've gone out multiple times every day and searched the neighborhood and deep into our backyard, but to no avail...It just doesn't seem like him to hide.

Any suggestions would be deeply appreciated.

My cat was abducted and abandoned in a middle of nowhere town last July. Apparently he was trapping and relocating feral cats, including my cat. Someone posted him as found on facebook six weeks after he went missing. I was so relieved! But the woman who owned him had ten acres of property and she would not make the effort to trap him. She started saying things to me like "Why do you want your cat caged?" "Maybe your cat likes it here." I did not have a car and could not make random trips to a middle of nowhere town to search 10 acres for my cat. I had to file a law suit against her. In my State, my cat was considered lost property and it is illegal to keep lost property. I had to ask for an emergency hearing from the Judge because my cat was wandering around her property in rain, snow and cold and she would not contain him (she was feeding him though). The Judge ordered her to contain him and return him to me on December 14, 2020, and I picked him up on December 15, 2020. I was so glad to have him home. I loved him so much and cried and cried and spent every waking hour trying to find him. When I got him home, he was never really the same. Not at all. But I am glad to have him back for sure. Good luck finding your kitty!

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

My cat was abducted and abandoned in a middle of nowhere town last July. Apparently he was trapping and relocating feral cats, including my cat. Someone posted him as found on facebook six weeks after he went missing. I was so relieved! But the woman who owned him had ten acres of property and she would not make the effort to trap him. She started saying things to me like "Why do you want your cat caged?" "Maybe your cat likes it here." I did not have a car and could not make random trips to a middle of nowhere town to search 10 acres for my cat. I had to file a law suit against her. In my State, my cat was considered lost property and it is illegal to keep lost property. I had to ask for an emergency hearing from the Judge because my cat was wandering around her property in rain, snow and cold and she would not contain him (she was feeding him though). The Judge ordered her to contain him and return him to me on December 14, 2020, and I picked him up on December 15, 2020. I was so glad to have him home. I loved him so much and cried and cried and spent every waking hour trying to find him. When I got him home, he was never really the same. Not at all. But I am glad to have him back for sure. Good luck finding your kitty!

Edited to add: My cat was abducted by my neighbor who was trapping and relocating feral cats. My cat was an indoor/outdoor cat with a kitty door.

 

[irrationallypie]

Thank you guys once again for your stories and encouragement! S SweetLittleKitty , I'm so glad you found your kitty back! That was certainly a hard-won battle! Some people are just very, very strange.


Here's an update: two days ago, I got a video of a potential Loki sighting from a very nice lady who lives about 2 miles away. (She says that she's been seeing a gray tabby cat on her front cameras regularly for about two weeks and thinks he's living under the house.) I examined the video very carefully, and the cat is UNCANNILY similar to Loki. Same tail rings, same ring around the neck, same fine line starting from the eyes...I am 99% sure it's our Loki! We went to her house to go check. We tried to lure him out with food and soft cooing, but he stayed just out of arm's reach.

We went back again yesterday to try again. No sign of him, so we decided to make a trip to Academy to buy a humane trap (which I wish we did earlier). We placed Loki's favorite wet food and bedding in it and left it on her front porch. She just texted this morning saying that he did not come by yesterday night. I'm probably just overreacting, but I'm afraid that he's been scared away, either by us or by the cars from a party at their house last night...hopefully, some more news today! It's a process!

 

[irrationallypie]

Unless we just cat-napped a random cat who looks a lot like him, Loki is home after 44 long days!!!

This morning, at around 2am, my parents knocked on my door and put his carrier on the floor, excitement evident on their faces. When I unzipped the carrier, he ran to the windows and tried to escape...honestly a very impressive jump he made! Then he hid under my bed.

It honestly doesn't feel real just yet! I almost feel too lucky to have found him back, and part of me thinks that this cat is not Loki after all and is just a cat who looks very very similar to him. We will take him to the vet on Monday to get him checked up (and scanned for a microchip) and work on rehabilitating him.

I'm also curious to hear how you guys helped your cat to readjust to indoor life! I can't imagine that it would be easy for him to get used to us and trust us again, but I'm hoping to make it as easy of a process for him as possible.

 

[fionasmom]

This is great news! You must be thrilled to have him back. Yes, the work now given his young age when he made his escape is to rehab him into a house cat. I know you said in your first post that you did have indoor/outdoor cats, but Loki does not understand the parameters of his outdoor world and is very lucky to have made it back this time.

Please let us know what the vet says and how Loki progresses as the days pass.

I have only rescued ferals and strays, although I would guess that 90% of the cats I have owned, and all who are in the house right now, were ferals. When I bring one in, the door closes forever. My only outdoor cats are the true ferals who could not come in a house or be rehabbed into adoption.

You can get a lot of advice here about doing that and can post new topics under the other forums. Given that Loki is very active, try to create an indoor life for him with a lot of play and interaction so that the call of the wild is not so appealing.

 

[catsknowme]

Yay! I am so thrilled for you all! I would treat Loki as a newly arrived semi-feral. He needs a cave-type setting (cardboard box with cushion is fine, still enclosed but with holes cut out for access) from which to establish base camp. He needs to reacquaint himself with the sights, sounds & scents of the household. I would put the box in a small quiet room. I am sure that you will get some great advice here!

 

[irrationallypie]

We just took "Loki" to the vet, and it's not him. Rather, this kitty is an unspayed female.

I'm absolutely heartbroken. It feels like we've been set back six weeks, not knowing if he's even alive. We're still going to keep this kitty, provided that we can't find her real family, but it just hurts so much. Loki was only six months old when we lost him, and he would have turned eight months old yesterday. I really don't know if he's still out there. But of course, we won't stop looking for him.

But I will help this kitty get settled in as you all have suggested.

 

[Morpheus1967]

I'm so sorry to hear that. As hard as it may be, please try to keep the faith that Loki will find his way back home to you.

 

[fionasmom]

I am so sorry about this. It is very kind of you to give this kitty a chance....and it explains her behavior when her crate was opened. Keep looking for Loki and don't give up.

 

[irrationallypie]

Thank you both so much...we'll keep trying. I will never give up on him.

I hope you all don't mind me venting, but the pain is just so indescribable. Loki was my heart, my soul, my best friend. He'd wake me up by sucking on my ear, and he had a purr of a motorcycle. He had the biggest heart and so much love to give. Now it feels like I'll never see him again. He was still just a baby (in my eyes) when we last saw him, and I really have no idea how or if he'd be able to survive on his own in the wilderness and in the cold. It's been six weeks now since he went missing, and although I've heard happy stories of cats eventually getting reunited with their owners (many of which you guys have shared with me), it's just so difficult to apply those to Loki.

Realistically, I know that if we hadn't spent this week trying to trap this kitty, we probably wouldn't have been any closer to finding Loki, but it only feels like more distance between us and him. One week further from him. One week more unlikely to see him again. I certainly don't regret finding this cat and potentially giving her a new life, but I've just put so much emotional investment in her being Loki (despite already having doubts in the beginning) that it's difficult to accept it's not him after all.


I don't know what to do now. I've been thinking about getting a search dog...except not only are they very expensive, but it's also been many weeks at this point and I don't know if it would even be a feasible way of getting him back. For now, I'll keep making posters.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Don't forget...Gray was gone for almost a full year. It was 11 months and a couple of weeks. There is still hope.

 

[irrationallypie]

Thank you! I'll keep all of your stories and words of encouragement in mind. It's just so easy to fall into a cycle of grief and not be able to do anything to get out of it except to think and regret and hope.

Is there anything critical I haven't done that I should do at this point? Feeling powerless to help Loki is just terrible, and I can't help but feel like I should be doing something. The main thing I can think of at this moment is making more posters -- we have three up currently, and we'll be going around town tomorrow to put up eleven more.

Also, I'll probably be making a separate thread for this, but Clipper (which is what we've named our female kitty for now) has, for the most part, been restricting herself to the corner of my room with windows. At one point, she ventured to another corner of my room (under my bed), where she stayed for several hours, and at another point, she hid in my closet. She has a thing for corners! At night, she scratches at the windows. Of course, I understand that this process will take time! I'm in no rush. She's only been here for three days, and our house (really, just my room) is a very new and unfamiliar environment for her. I just wonder what we can do to make her trust us more and to make this process a bit more enjoyable for her.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Reach out to shelters, vets and rescues on a REGULAR basis. They are often overworked and understaffed, and things (including animals) can fall through the cracks. Call at least weekly. Keep Loki fresh in their minds. Check to see if any local radio stations have a "Lost and Found" segment. Many do, at least on a weekly basis. It is generally free. These are more common on oldies or country stations, but check ALL of them in your immediate area.

 

[irrationallypie]

That's a good point! People who visit the local PetSmart like to text us sometimes and tell us to check, but otherwise, we've kind of let that fall through. I'll be checking the sites more regularly from now on.

As for the local radio stations, that is certainly not something I'd thought of before! I'll try to look into that today or tomorrow and ask my dad, who's probably more knowledgeable about the radio than I am.

 

[fionasmom]

You are more than welcome to write about your feelings about Loki. With COVID having made life so difficult, you probably have to do most of the work of searching yourself. It would be nice if the shelters were staffed enough to be able to give you updates, but they probably are not. Put your signs up, talk to people. Were you able to use nextdoor.com or any other local social media site?