Should I Still Be Hoping My Missing Cat Will Come Home?

[luvnickles]

so happy to hear about the happy endings!!!

Keeping the faith for George, Patches and Kuzon....

Had a couple of crank calls recently.  Kids in breathy disguised voices asking me to leave "$500 behind the CVS dumpster or you'll never see Kuzon again!"...not really funny but I had to chuckle a little.  I have SOOOOO many posters up, I suppose I have to expect a few of those.  Still, it would be nice to have ONE legitimate call.  But it has been dead for the past few weeks.   So new posters going up.  Neon this time.  Oh my,  I'm sure people are rolling their eyes as if to say "give up already!!!" 

But of course those of you who have lost cats know you can't ever give up.

I've now taken to watching the feral colony I feed for new faces.  There is one new one two nights ago.  Hoping to match him with a worried family. 

Kuzon and George where oh where are you????? 

Also looking for news on Patches? 

 

[shadowsrescue]

 
so happy to hear about the happy endings!!!

Keeping the faith for George, Patches and Kuzon....

Had a couple of crank calls recently.  Kids in breathy disguised voices asking me to leave "$500 behind the CVS dumpster or you'll never see Kuzon again!"...not really funny but I had to chuckle a little.  I have SOOOOO many posters up, I suppose I have to expect a few of those.  Still, it would be nice to have ONE legitimate call.  But it has been dead for the past few weeks.   So new posters going up.  Neon this time.  Oh my,  I'm sure people are rolling their eyes as if to say "give up already!!!" 

But of course those of you who have lost cats know you can't ever give up.

I've now taken to watching the feral colony I feed for new faces.  There is one new one two nights ago.  Hoping to match him with a worried family. 

Kuzon and George where oh where are you????? 

Also looking for news on Patches? 

I keep hoping each and every day to hear good news about George and Kuzon.  It just breaks my heart as I know exactly how you are both feeling.

Patches has now been coming most days 2x a day.  He is waiting for me at 6:30am each morning and comes at night between 7 and 9 pm.  He is still eating 2 cans a day.  It has been hard for me to get out and visit with him as it has been so very very cold.  I am so glad he is eating well.  I did notice he has one eye that is weepy.  Yet 2 winters ago, he had a URI outbreak and was a mess.  He recovered without intervention just fine. 

I did have a bit of a scare this morning.  When Patches was here the past 2 years, he would come inside my sliding door.  He only ventured a few feet from the door except once or twice.  This morning it was 11 degrees and he acted quite odd.  When I opened the door to set out his food, he tried to run in the house.  I was unprepared for this.  My dog and one of my indoor cats were right there.  After a few minutes, he refused to eat and was sitting right at the door.  My DH took our cat and dog and put them away.  I opened the door and Patches ran inside.  Yet he didn't stay close by where I had his food, he started to wander.  I wasn't comfortable with this and called him back.  He came and started to eat.  I gently pet him and I could hear him purring.  Then out of the blue, he reared back and hissed the most awful guttural hiss.  He sounded so congested.  He also really scared me.  I thought he might attack me.  I think he was beyond freaked out.  I shooed him outside and he ate his food.  He stuck around for awhile and then left.  I was really spooked.  I am worried about him.  He is just so very very different than the Patches I knew last year.  I guess it is to be expected after being gone and on his own for 8 months.  I think I will just step back and concentrate on just feeding him and not trying to interact with him too much.  It is doubtful I will get much of a chance as another polar vortex with fridgid temps is headed my way.  It is snowing hard tonight so I doubt I will see him.  I did set up a separate shelter with a heat pad for him.  I do not think he is ready to join my other 2 ferals yet.  I also do not think they are ready for him.  I am just so happy he is alive and back, but also so sad that he is so different.  Never ever did he scare me or hiss at me.  I called him my Gentle Giant.  I cannot imagine what he has been through.

I pray each and every night for the safe return of George and Kuzon.  They must be out there somewhere.

Just a quick update.  After I wrote the above last night, Patches did show up in the snow.  Very typical of Patches since in the past rain/snow never bothered him.  He was soaked, but hungry.  He ate and ate and then just left.  This morning I figured he would be here so when I took food out for the other two, I set some out for Patches too.  He showed up a short while later.  He was acting odd again.  He seemed to be having a hard time eating.  It's wet food so it's soft.  He doesn't act as though he is in pain.  He just can't seem to get the food out of the bowl.  It seems he mashes it down with his tongue.  I had to go out a few times and mix it up for him.  His eyes are almost bulging.  I don't know if it's from fear or not.  He often just stares and stares.  When I went out to mix the food, he just sat there and tried to eat while I was mixing.  He then jumps back and acted as though he might hiss or come at me.  I told him he was safe and quickly went back inside.  Mentally I think he is really off.  He seems so nervous, but also starving.  He is eating at least 2 cans of wet food each day.  It just breaks my heart to see my sweet boy so different.  When he left after eating, he headed out into the yard.  Stellar, one of my ferals was out under a pine tree watching the birds.  Patches headed right for Stellar.  I yelled to Patches and he kept creeping towards Stellar.  Stellar was trapped.  I had to clap my hands loudly for Patches to leave.  He was never ever a fighter.  Even before he was neutered.  Stellar is such a sweet loving soul and would never provoke a fight.  It's all very hard to deal with.

 

[luvnickles]

ShadowsRescue,

This is all very disturbing.  my heart goes out to you and to your precious boy.   I know nothing about veterinary medicine but it doesn't sound like fear - Patches sounds ill - I do so hope I am not offending you by saying so.....  I don't know what advice I would give - short of trapping him and taking him to a vet.  Do you think that would cause him more trauma?  I am concerned about him coming into contact with your other cats and you too.  Please be careful that he doesn't bite or scratch you, just in case.... And keep us posted. 

Thinking and praying for patches! 

 

 

[shadowsrescue]

 
ShadowsRescue,

This is all very disturbing.  my heart goes out to you and to your precious boy.   I know nothing about veterinary medicine but it doesn't sound like fear - Patches sounds ill - I do so hope I am not offending you by saying so.....  I don't know what advice I would give - short of trapping him and taking him to a vet.  Do you think that would cause him more trauma?  I am concerned about him coming into contact with your other cats and you too.  Please be careful that he doesn't bite or scratch you, just in case.... And keep us posted. 

Thinking and praying for patches! 

 

Last night Patches was very affectionate.  He wanted to rub up against me and wanted me to pet and brush him.  I do think he is mentally "off" .  He is really wanting to come inside the house.  I will not let him inside again until he settles down.  He was very happy to see me this morning and followed me all over the deck as I set out food.  He did go after Stellar this morning and that concerns me somewhat.  Yet, Patches has never been a fighter.  It was just chasing him. 

I doubt I would ever be able to trap Patches again.  It took me so long to trap him last year and when I did he took off for 8 months.  My instinct is to allow him to get comfortable with my home again and see if he settles.  I may try giving him to flower essences or composure to help calm him down a bit.  Yet, he usually detects anything foreign in his food and refuses to eat it.  When he first came to me in 2011 he was very skittish and chased Shadow.  Every time he came to eat, I would have to sit outside and keep an eye on him.  After a few weeks, he was comfortable and relaxed and he left Shadow alone.  So far he has left Shadow alone, but Shadow is a scardey cat and stays far away. 

Thanks for the concern.  It is more upsetting to me as my precious boy is just not the same.  I may need to contact my animal communicator and see if she can shed any light on his condition.  In the past she had told me that he was starving and mentally not with it due to lack of nutrition.  He has had been through some traumatic events.  I need to find out what those were.  I don't understand why he is so feral like in most of his behavior, yet comes right up to me and wants me to pet and brush him.  Very odd after being away for 8 months.  If only he could talk!!

 

[luvnickles]

ShadowsRescue - SOOO relieved he seemed better today.  Sounds like you have good instincts about him.  Spring isn't too far away.  If you both can hang on until then, maybe things will settle down.

Norachan - any update on George?  Have you been back out to the new site?  For what it's worth I played a little meditation game last weekend.  I asked about George, Kuzon and Patches - would they come home?  I got positive signs to all 3.  I asked about some other missing cats I know and the signs weren't positive there.  Maybe, just maybe, Patches is turning a corner and if so, my meditation was correct.  And if it was right about Patches, it will be right about George and Kuzon.  We have to believe so anyway.... 

 

[Norachan]

It does sound as if Patches is sick, doesn't it? I'm glad to hear he is being more affectionate and coming to eat more regularly. Don't you have a spare room you could let him come into until he calms down a bit? It sounds like he almost wants you to take him in, but then he is too scared to commit all the way to being a house cat. I don't know if this will work for you, but I have some Japanese sandalwood incense that I burn.  The cats seem to really like it. I use it with Spike and Mia, my two spayed female cats who hate being indoors. If the weather is really bad and I have to keep them in over night I light a stick in the room they are in and it seems to calm them down a lot.

Still no sign of George, I haven't had chance to go back to that sight for a few days. I'm trying to trap a big feral tom at the moment. I've spayed and neutered 19 cats so far but this one is too smart for me. He is sitting at the entrance of the trap right now, eyeing the bait. He's been there for 20 minutes. I think he knows what I'm up to

 

[luvnickles]

Still no sign of George, I haven't had chance to go back to that sight for a few days. I'm trying to trap a big feral tom at the moment. I've spayed and neutered 19 cats so far but this one is too smart for me. He is sitting at the entrance of the trap right now, eyeing the bait. He's been there for 20 minutes. I think he knows what I'm up to

I've been there!  holding your breath, willing them in, not wanting to make a sound so you don't scare them off!  Did you get him?

I found this by the way...loads of happy ending stories...months and years later!!    http://ask.metafilter.com/182170/Hope-and-prayers-needed-for-lost-cat

 

[Norachan]

Trap sprung. Bait gone. No cat.

He does it EVERY time!

If it weren't for the fact that I've caught so many of the younger, more gullible cats I'd think there was something wrong with this trap.

We call this guy Houdini.

Thanks for all the stories, it cheered me up.

 

[shadowsrescue]

 
Trap sprung. Bait gone. No cat.

He does it EVERY time!

If it weren't for the fact that I've caught so many of the younger, more gullible cats I'd think there was something wrong with this trap.

We call this guy Houdini.

Thanks for all the stories, it cheered me up.

Oh No.  They are just so very very smart.  It's like they know to step over or reach their heads across the trigger plate.  I hope you catch him soon!!

 
It does sound as if Patches is sick, doesn't it? I'm glad to hear he is being more affectionate and coming to eat more regularly. Don't you have a spare room you could let him come into until he calms down a bit? It sounds like he almost wants you to take him in, but then he is too scared to commit all the way to being a house cat. I don't know if this will work for you, but I have some Japanese sandalwood incense that I burn.  The cats seem to really like it. I use it with Spike and Mia, my two spayed female cats who hate being indoors. If the weather is really bad and I have to keep them in over night I light a stick in the room they are in and it seems to calm them down a lot.

Still no sign of George, I haven't had chance to go back to that sight for a few days. I'm trying to trap a big feral tom at the moment. I've spayed and neutered 19 cats so far but this one is too smart for me. He is sitting at the entrance of the trap right now, eyeing the bait. He's been there for 20 minutes. I think he knows what I'm up to

No Patches cannot come inside right now.  One of the cats he hated that was hanging around last winter is now living in my house.  It has been a very slow process.  He has my only spare room.  I do believe Patches would absolutely freak out if I made him stay inside.  Right now I think he is trying to figure things out.  He came after 11pm last night and I was already in bed.  My DH was up and was watching out for him.  DH took some food out and Patches wanted him to pet him.  DH did pet Patches on occasion, but I was shocked.  I woke up and saw DH out with Patches.  I stayed up for awhile and went out to see him.  He was affectionate.  Once he finished eating, DH went out to retrieve the food bowl.  Patches rubbed up against him.  He bent over to pet him and this looming behavior spooked Patches and he hissed and swatted then ran away.  He came again this morning in the frigid temps and snow.  He ate and then left.  Not sure he will make it back tonight as it will be bitter cold and windy.  I am trying to take things slowly with him.  I may call my animal communicator as my deer sweet dog is having some health problems. 

 

[roxie]

Norachan, that cat sounds like the mouse that got into my house! I have seven cats and it managed to avoid everyone of them. It would go between the stove and fridge. I have two of those sticky pads underneath the stove, just in case a mouse sneaks in. Neither one of the sticky pads caught him. Two of my cats sat in front of the stove for days. The mouse started getting in the stove eyes, so I pulled them out and let Jasmine sit on the counter and watch for it. She caught it once, but let it get away. I put a small glue trap in one stove eye, two mouse traps in two of the other stove eyes. I baited them with peanut butter. That mouse ate all the peanut butter and didn't even trip the trap! Jasmine finally caught it again, but I had to take it from her. I didn't want her losing it again. It's amazing how some animals seem to know how to avoid getting caught. Maybe the tomcat was studying the trap, trying to figure out a way to get the bait. Sounds like he figured it out!
ShadowsRescue, please don't be offended, but it does sound like Patches may be sick. Does he still sound congested? Could he have an upper respiratory infection? I know when my cats are sick they can get mean. It would be good if you had some antibiotics. Most vets won't let you get them without seeing the cat. I hope he gets his moods leveled out. Can cats have split personalities? If he were human, that's what I would think the problem was. Nice one minute, hissing the next. I hope your dog is feeling better.
LuvNickles, still praying for Kuzons safe return.
Norachan, keep the faith. There's a lot of hopes, prayers and good vibes being sent out for you and George. I meant to ask you this before, do you have coyotes there? We have a big pack that's been around here for the last few weeks. I've been making all the cats stay in at night. Plus it's in the teens, which is cold for us!

 

[alisa brown]

I had a cat return after 5 months-went the entire winter - where I don't know but I was mopping the floor in April. It was raining really hard and I heard a noise on the porch. I looked out the window and didn't see anything so I opened the door because sometimes, my neighbors dog will visit. 

There was a soaking wet, cat looking at me, for an instant I didn't know who it was and then I said Stumpy? He meowed at me and I scooped him up, he was thin and matted, I started to cry asking him where he had been for 5 months, I couldn't believe it.

Yo

DSCF1687.JPG

• alisa brown
• Jan 22, 2014

u just never know, to this day I wish I knew where he had been.

 

[shadowsrescue]

ShadowsRescue, please don't be offended, but it does sound like Patches may be sick. Does he still sound congested? Could he have an upper respiratory infection? I know when my cats are sick they can get mean. It would be good if you had some antibiotics. Most vets won't let you get them without seeing the cat. I hope he gets his moods leveled out. Can cats have split personalities? If he were human, that's what I would think the problem was. Nice one minute, hissing the next. I hope your dog is feeling better.

Last night it was bitter cold so Patches didn't come.  He did show up at 5 am this morning.  I had left out some dry food so he ate a bit and then waited in an insulated feral villa house until I got up a bit after 6 am.  He ate a bit then and then came back around 8am.  This is the very first time I have seen him in day light!!!  He looked much better during the day.  I got out the binoculars to get a really good look at him.  His eye was not runny at all.  It was -2 degrees with wind chill of -13 so it was very very cold.  After eating, he sat on the deck for a bit and then left heading out to the back yard.  Stellar of course was under one of the pine trees.  I was a bit worried, but hoped my talks with Patches had gotten through to him!!  He just walked right past Stellar!!!  I was so proud of him.  I assume all of the food is doing wonders for him.  I put an outdoor electric cat heat pad in the feral villa and then moved another rubbermaid shelter with a heat pad where I had been feeding him.  Maybe he will go in them.  We are to have this awful cold weather for another 10 days. 

Thank you for your concern and I am not offended at all.  I do have some antibiotics on hand and would definitely use them if needed.  In the late winter of 2012 Patches did have a horrible UTI.  Both eyes were a mess and green mucous out of his nose.  I couldn't get him to a vet, but I did get some medicine.  He got better quickly. 

I am hoping each and every day to hear good news of George and Kuzon.  I say prayers for them each night.

 

[luvnickles]

I am so glad every time I come to the site and see good updates about Patches.  I am praying that your weather improves - it must be absolutely miserable for the ferals. They are so lucky to have you looking after them with your shelters and heating pads.  Thank you, from all the animal lovers, for being such a good caretaker.

Thank you too and to Roxie as well, for the continued prayers for Kuzon.  Today is a hard day.  3 months exactly since the last time I saw my precious boy.  I am doing all I can to find him and not having any luck starts to weigh heavily and doubt creeps in....He MUST be dead, why else isn't he coming home.  He MUST have been taken and will never get away, why else isn't he coming home. 

And then there is a story like Alisa Brown's - and I know I can't give up hope.  One fine day Kuzon will stroll into the back yard and ask to be let in as if nothing has happened!!  I pray for that day to come for both George and Kuzon.

 

[alisa brown]

The only thing we can figure is Stumpy got into a work van, people were having a lot of work done out here around the time he disappeared and he finally found his way home. My neighbor had a cat get stuck in someones shed for two weeks when they put the lawn mower back and shut the door on him. I know the not knowing where your cat is stinks, but keep the faith and hang signs and ask around. Some cats even have two homes and the other people may be keeping him indoors and he cannot get back home.

 

[shadowsrescue]

 
I am so glad every time I come to the site and see good updates about Patches.  I am praying that your weather improves - it must be absolutely miserable for the ferals. They are so lucky to have you looking after them with your shelters and heating pads.  Thank you, from all the animal lovers, for being such a good caretaker.

Thank you too and to Roxie as well, for the continued prayers for Kuzon.  Today is a hard day.  3 months exactly since the last time I saw my precious boy.  I am doing all I can to find him and not having any luck starts to weigh heavily and doubt creeps in....He MUST be dead, why else isn't he coming home.  He MUST have been taken and will never get away, why else isn't he coming home. 

And then there is a story like Alisa Brown's - and I know I can't give up hope.  One fine day Kuzon will stroll into the back yard and ask to be let in as if nothing has happened!!  I pray for that day to come for both George and Kuzon.

Oh LuvNickles I am so sorry that today is so rough.  I know the type of pain you feel.   I know Kuzon must be out there some where or someone has taken him inside.  Is he a friendly cat that would happily go go inside with someone other than you?  I also forget if he is micro chipped?  Keep up the hope and keep calling to him.  Also ask him to come to you in your dreams.  Patches used to come to me in my dreams all the time.  Yet, I had to ask for him to do so.  Have you gone door to door with fliers?  I did it 3x with Patches.  I did get a few responses.  We have a site here in Ohio called Pet FBI.  You can post lost and found pets in your county.  Do you have anything like that where you live?  I know you have done absolutely everything to find him.  I am just throwing out thoughts that have come to me.

Blessings to you all.  My heart just aches for LuvNickles and Norachan.

 

[luvnickles]

Thanks ShadowsRescue, for the kind thoughts.  Kuzon is not a friendly cat.  He is an extraordinarily good hunter but given he has been gone 3 months, he may have become friendly for survival's sake...it is hard to hunt for dinner day in and day out.  He is not chipped....i just never got around to it.  A mistake i will never make again.  If he is being cared for somewhere close, they must be blind to all the posters i have up.  I just printed out handout size leaflets and will do a house to house this weekend, but I did do one when he first went missing.  It was fascinating actually.  I figured out his range by the neighbors who used to see him regularly and then the ones who had never seen him before.  He prowled a pretty wide area!  He's up on Craigslist and I regularly check the humane society.  I've hooked up with the owners of two other lost cats and we are printing out a large 24 x 36 inch poster that we are planning on pasting to an A frame realtors open house type sign so we can put it at busy intersections and move it around town as we feel we've saturated the area.  I keep hoping my feral feeding station will show him on the trail cam.  The problem is it is set up at a creek across from me...across a very busy street.  But it is the only place close where ferals live and so I have to leave the camera there for a while, just in case.

I have only dreamed of Kuzon twice.  which is odd since i think about him constantly.  I do talk to him during the day but I will light a candle tonight and ask him to come to me in my dreams to let me know he is ok and to please come home.  I always worried...maybe it was a premonition,  that he would go missing someday.  It always bothered me.  The last picture that I took of him - the one in my avatar - I felt that I would need it for a missing poster.  Crazy, right???  and then 5 months later...it was! Most of the time there is a calm patience about me.  I just KNOW I will see him again.  I worry though - when I have my weak moments, like today, that I am just kidding myself.  It is so hard to always be strong!!

 

[shadowsrescue]

Every night when I went to bed, I would ask Patches for a sign that he was still alive.  I would often go weeks and weeks and nothing.  Then out of the blue, he would reconnect with me.  I could feel in my heart that he was still alive and out there some where.  I also have to come to the understanding that most likely he will leave again when the weather warms up.  I know he appreciates my love, food and shelter, but he is a wanderer and has never wanted to be an owned cat.  They say a cat has 9 lives, but I hate to think how many lives Patches has already burned through.

I was looking through some old pictures I had of Patches.  He first came to me in Dec 2010, but didn't make it a habit to come regularly until June of 2011.  He stayed until April of 2012.  The pictures I have of him from the winter of 2012 are the Patches I remember.  He was bold, strong and his eyes were often vacant as though someone had really hurt him.  His eyes never "smiled" or softened, but he loved to be pet, brushed and get belly rubs.  He left the end of April 2012 and was gone until September 2012.  When he returned he did so very sporadically.  He would come for a week then leave for a week.  The expression on his face had greatly changed.  He had softened.  His eyes were child like.  He used to meow, but last year he was silent.  I never ever knew when or if he would come.  Now this year he looks different again.  His eyes are full of fear and instead of being soft and sparkly they are large and bulging.  His body feels solid now, but I can't help but feel so sad for him.  It has been 0 or below each morning with wind chills of -17 this morning.  He came last night around 9:30 and then again this morning around 8 am.  He eats and eats and then leaves.  I know many don't understand why I don't try and bring him inside.  Patches is not ready and may never be ready to live inside.  He is not a cat that would adapt well to being a house cat.  I also have 2 cats inside and one is still adjusting to living inside.  I have no space for Patches to be separate.  If I truly felt, he was wanting to live with me inside my house I would some how find a way.  I guess it is all very hard to express in writing.  He is a feral cat and one that loves living outside on his own.  As sad as it makes me, I know that this is how it must be.  He knows I am here for him and continually comes to me in times of need.  I will always be here for him.

Lots of prayers for George and Kuzon.  I hope wherever they are it's not nearly has cold as it is here.

 

[luvnickles]

ShadowsRescue - you know better than any of us what Patches needs and will accept and I am sure you are doing what is best for him.  Whether or not he ever comes back to stay, I am sure he feels your compassion and love.  You are doing everything you can for him, but in the end, he is his own "person" and is in charge of his own destiny and as much as we would all like to intervene to make him safe, he needs to be an independent cat.  We have to respect that.

Cats are so different from dogs in that way.  There is something still so wild in even the most domesticated feline.  It makes them mysterious and awesome.

I understand your weather is going to last for a while longer...Ours out here is just the opposite.  72 degrees every day.  It does get cold by our standards, at night...close to or at freezing but not below and absolutely no rain which apparently is harder on animals than cold temps.  California is experiencing the worst drought in a hundred years and it will be hard on all our wildlife this summer.  But at least Kuzon has an advantage if he is still outside.  Plenty of places to shelter at night and balmy temps during the day.  I am hoping, when the days get longer, someone may spot him out and about.   People are still coming and going to work in the dark and that may be one reason why i am not getting any hits on my posters.

Hoping to hear some positive news for George.  Norachan - you are creeping closer to the year mark.  that must be hard, but not a reason to despair.  Plenty of cats make it back to their owners after being gone longer than that.  Hang in there!!!

 

[Norachan]

Norachan, that cat sounds like the mouse that got into my house! I have seven cats and it managed to avoid everyone of them. It would go between the stove and fridge. I have two of those sticky pads underneath the stove, just in case a mouse sneaks in. Neither one of the sticky pads caught him. Two of my cats sat in front of the stove for days. The mouse started getting in the stove eyes, so I pulled them out and let Jasmine sit on the counter and watch for it. She caught it once, but let it get away. I put a small glue trap in one stove eye, two mouse traps in two of the other stove eyes. I baited them with peanut butter. That mouse ate all the peanut butter and didn't even trip the trap! Jasmine finally caught it again, but I had to take it from her. I didn't want her losing it again. It's amazing how some animals seem to know how to avoid getting caught. Maybe the tomcat was studying the trap, trying to figure out a way to get the bait. Sounds like he figured it out!

 

[Norachan]

u just never know, to this day I wish I knew where he had been.

You're so lucky Alisa. It's great that Stumpy found his way back home to you. Give him a hug for me. He's a sweet looking boy.