Cat hunting tips?

[widebody911]

My wife's new rescue cat is on the lam; she opened the back door to go investigate some disturbance among the outside cats, and she bolted. Shot right across the yard, up the fence and like that was just gone. She's been out there calling for it, woke up the neighbors to look in their back yard, etc. She's printing up flyers right this minute. The cat is chipped, but my wife hadn't yet got around to filling out the paperwork to get the chip registration updated.

There's a lot of other cats in the neighborhood, and from what we've seen she hates other cats, so I imagine this won't be easy.

What should we do next other than just wait?

[lane912]

wait-
put some food out
wait-

it's a cat-

[vash]

At this point chances are slim. I had a big boy cat push a screen out of a window. This was on day three. He hid under the bed the entire time. We didn't feel like home to him. Nothing would bring him back.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by vash

At this point chances are slim. I had a big boy cat push a screen out of a window. This was on day three. He hid under the bed the entire time. We didn't feel like home to him. Nothing would bring him back.

That's very similar to this one. She hid under the bed for the first week, and only in the past few days would venture out, but as soon as she was spotted by use or one of the other cats, she would hightail it back to safety. I think she was previously an only-cat, and being about 4 years old or so, wasn't in a hurry to adapt to being in a family of cats.

[scottmandue]

Get the paperwork done on the chip ASAP, if she is picked up and taken to a vet or shelter that is the first thing they will check.
Cat food is your friend... the stinkier the better...yes, it will draw out the other cats in the neighborhood, but chances are your cat won't find food and will come back home looking for a meal.
Best of luck!

[vash]

She's probably gone WB. Sorry. She thinks she escaped at this point.

[recycled sixtie]

Kind of reminds me of our lab puppy Molly who always wanted to escape. To heck with that. My wife went back to the breeder and traded her in for Sally who was more sloth like and stayed at home. Just think of it in your case as cat karma. Your cat was meant to be a runaway.
Guy

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by vash

She's probably gone WB. Sorry. She thinks she escaped at this point.

Sounds like she has not bonded yet so unfortunately this may be true.

Sorry, hoping for the best.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Sounds like she has not bonded yet so

I was thinking the same thing, but there's no way I can tell the wife that.

[Tobra]

I have seen a lot of raccoons lately, hopefully the prodigal kitty does not run into a hungry rocky the raccoon. Either way, likely that the cat has moved on.

[wildthing]

Would "it's not you, it's the cat" help?

[widebody911]

Just a quick update...

I took the afternoon off on Thursday to try and look for the cat. Ineffective, but I scored some points for at least trying.

No sign of her on Friday and Saturday. Wife printed and handed out more flyers, made several trips around the 'hood.

Saturday night we decided to leave the back door of the garage propped open a schmidge just in case the cat came by and wanted to at least get indoors, and my wife put tuna out in "strategic" (meaning 'random') places in the yard. I don't know that it did any good, but the rest of the outside cats were grateful for the tasty snack; all of the offerings were gone in about 30 minutes.

Sunday morning at about 5:30 my wife gets up to check the garage to see if the cat is in there. She actually was, but my wife made the tactical error of going in through the house-garage door and not closing off the escape route, and fwoom the cat is gone again. At least we knew she was still a going concern. No sign of the cat for the rest of the day.

Last night we left the garage door open again, but @ 0430 I crept barefoot around through the yard around the back of the house and sealed off the the potential exit. It was for naught, as she wasn't inside this time. The wife gets up and comes out to the garage as I'm looking under the cars for the fugitive cat, and one of the other inside cats escapes from the house into the garage; I think this might drive home the point about paying attention to leaving doors open. FWIW, I already have spring hinges on all of the swinging doors that lead to the outside, specifically for this reason.

A little while later, my wife is sitting at the kitchen table, looks up, and there's the damn cat chowing down on the vittles left behind on the back step. The cat bolts as soon as she goes towards the door. A little while later my needs to go out to the garage, but instead of going through the inside door, she goes around the back of the house, and sure enough the cat is inside. She locks the door and the game is over. The cat is in good shape other than some burrs she picked up in one of the neighbor's yards and being a little hungry from missing a few meals.

I honestly didn't think we'd ever see this cat again. Like I learned with countless ex-girlfriends: if you have to trap them and lock them up to keep them from running away, they probably really don't want to be there.

[Scuba Steve]

Cool!

Did the other inside cat come back or is it now missing? And the new one that came back... is this cat ok around people and the family? Maybe it would be better suited outdoors?

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Scuba Steve

Cool!

Did the other inside cat come back or is it now missing? And the new one that came back... is this cat ok around people and the family? Maybe it would be better suited outdoors?

The other cat was captured within seconds of making her escape. She's a long-haired Persian and wouldn't last 30 minutes in the wilds of Carmichael.

The new cat is a bit on the b!tchy/prissy side. She's OK with people, but a little shy, and then she'll hiss at you for no apparent reason. Judging by all the crap picked in her fur during her 3 day walkabout, she wouldn't make a good outdoor cat.

[stomachmonkey]

Cool.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by widebody911

she wouldn't make a good outdoor cat.

Lol. She thought she would. I really can't fathom why anyone would want to keep a cat indoors when the cat wants to be outdoors.

Let them be.

[recycled sixtie]

She is just not into you....
Guy.

[herr_oberst]

This is not how I expected this story to end!

Great news!

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by widebody911

I think this might drive home the point about paying attention to leaving doors open.

My biggest problem is clue-less house guests.

Anyway, glad you got your puddy tat back!!

[J P Stein]

Just feed the critter out in the garage and leave it there.......give it some space.
She'll figure it out at her pace, not yours.