Advice: How do we get our cat back?

[the_rudeboy 12]

I’d be very grateful for a bit of advice or any suggestions about what we can do about one of our cats.

 

I’ll be as brief as possible.

 

We have three cats (two aged 4 and one aged 3) and none of them get on particularly well together, despite the two older ones being brought up together as kittens. One of the older ones tends to get a bit bullied by the other two and about 3-4 weeks ago, she disappeared. It wasn’t a concern at first because she had been known to not show her face sometimes for a couple of days. When it reached a week we started to get concerned, so we put some posters up and posted some leaflets to the nearest 20 houses or so. Although, deep down I had a feeling she would suddenly turn up when least expected. Low and behold, on her 14th day away she turned up. Her collar was missing, but she had lost collars many times before, so it wasn’t of concern (unfortunately, we didn’t have a spare to replace it with). She looked healthy enough (ie. still plenty of meat on her bones) and didn’t look as if she’d being going without food. Not being the greatest hunter, we came to the conclusion that someone must have been feeding her. She was a bit nervous and sheepish with the other two cats around, but had some food and came and sat on my lap as usual and seemed perfectly contented. After about 3 hours she indicated she wanted to go out. We didn’t really want to let her out and ignored her miaowing at first, but it didn’t stop, so felt we hadn’t any option but to let her go about her business. Again, she didn’t return for a couple of days and exactly the same thing happened when she did return (I’d now got a new collar and put this on her before she went out). This was last Thursday and she’s not been back since. We thought if someone saw she had a collar on, they’d realise she wasn’t actually a stray and wouldn’t feed her and things would get back to normal, alas not.

 

We obviously want her back but what can we do to get our cat back?

Should we keep her in, if and when she returns next time?

 

Any ideas?

[Black Widow 10]

If you haven't already, I'd have your cat microchipped.

I'd also consider fitting a cat flap so it can come and go as it pleases?

[flash08 10]

unfortunatley cats that roam will sometimes find a home,where they are happier,this has happened to us in the past,on eof ours decided she didnt want to live with us,and then lo and behold we got adopted by another lol,if you can find the home shes going to i would find out if they,r happy to look after her and basically keep her as she obviously not happy at yrs,either that or yr just going to have to keep her in as she will only find somewhere else to go.A friend of mine has recently been adopted by a cat lol,and having found out where she came from spoke to her original owner and now the cat lives with them,but who knows in future she may well decide to go elsewhere.Cats are very independant animals as you prob know and you will only make her unhappy if you force her to stay somewhere she isnt happy,but you never know she prob will still come and visit now and again x

[the_rudeboy 12]

If you haven't already, I'd have your cat microchipped.

I'd also consider fitting a cat flap so it can come and go as it pleases?

She is chipped.

 

A catpflap is not an option for me, we live across the road from some woods and, with three cats, get a lot of presents delivered on the doorstep, quite often still alive. A catflap would just mean they got delivered inside the house instead.

unfortunatley cats that roam will sometimes find a home,where they are happier,this has happened to us in the past,on eof ours decided she didnt want to live with us,and then lo and behold we got adopted by another lol,if you can find the home shes going to i would find out if they,r happy to look after her and basically keep her as she obviously not happy at yrs,either that or yr just going to have to keep her in as she will only find somewhere else to go.A friend of mine has recently been adopted by a cat lol,and having found out where she came from spoke to her original owner and now the cat lives with them,but who knows in future she may well decide to go elsewhere.Cats are very independant animals as you prob know and you will only make her unhappy if you force her to stay somewhere she isnt happy,but you never know she prob will still come and visit now and again x

I suspect your right about her finding somewhere else where she isn't intimidated by other cats.

[Guest]

From a rather selfish perspective, I'd be very reluctant to give up one of my cats, even if it did seem that one of them had found a more convivial home. I'd try to work on the other cats' bullying behaviour, and integrate the little one back into her home life - easier said than done, I know.

 

You could try adding a very obvious tag to her collar, with her address clearly engraved on it and with a note on the reverse requesting folk not to feed her as she requires a special diet. It's a little white lie, but a hungry cat might want to return home quicker than one with a full stomach. My cats lose their collars too, so I tend to order a few tags at a time.

[the_rudeboy 12]

From a rather selfish perspective, I'd be very reluctant to give up one of my cats, even if it did seem that one of them had found a more convivial home. I'd try to work on the other cats' bullying behaviour, and integrate the little one back into her home life - easier said than done, I know.

 

You could try adding a very obvious tag to her collar, with her address clearly engraved on it and with a note on the reverse requesting folk not to feed her as she requires a special diet. It's a little white lie, but a hungry cat might want to return home quicker than one with a full stomach. My cats lose their collars too, so I tend to order a few tags at a time.

I'm like you, I don't want to give her up. She's easily the most affectionate and used to spend most nights on the sofa with us.

We do tend to feed her seperately so the other two can't nick her food, which she just lets them do, despite being easily the biggest cat. I think she's just very timid and easily spooked.

I think you can get collars that have 'do not feed' written around them, so that might be an idea. I also thought about doing a leaflet drop, asking people not to feed her and telling the same little white lie you'd thought of.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[Harmonymagic 10]

after reading this i dont want to let my cats out incase they do the same, wow iv not heard this happen before (cat findind another home) i must admit theres a cat that comes to our bk door and i feed him has he looks hungry and not looked after has hes always got fresh cuts on him and bleeding... id be upset to loose 1 of mine so id keep them in rather than loose them, when u get that attachment to them u dont realy want to let them go to another home..

[the_rudeboy 12]

after reading this i dont want to let my cats out incase they do the same, wow iv not heard this happen before (cat findind another home) i must admit theres a cat that comes to our bk door and i feed him has he looks hungry and not looked after has hes always got fresh cuts on him and bleeding... id be upset to loose 1 of mine so id keep them in rather than loose them, when u get that attachment to them u dont realy want to let them go to another home..

If a cat is used to going out and about then it would be unfair to try to turn it into a house cat. There's no way we'll stop our other two going out, as it would make their lives miserable. I don't think it's something that happens regularly, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Scozzie 10]

lol - cats will do that.

 

We often had people coming to our place asking for 'their' cat back..... he turned up on our doorstep once when he was about 1 and stayed.

 

Of course, when there were vet bills to pay, he was 'our' cat - and as he was very adventurous, he'd come home with broken bones, vuts, absceses - the LOT!! and people would drop him off at our place.

We even had a report he'd gone feral and was living in the local bushland.

 

He had a different name at every house he called in at, and that was mot of them on the block. he was HUGE! I mean, he had a very large frame, but no fat on him.

 

If she comes and goes, you may want to se if you can see which direction she heads off, and try to get an idea if she's adopted a new family.

 

Be happy she's safe - not quished.