Our cat's gone missing.

[sonknuck23]

We have this cat, it's a cute furry little black & white cat named Moonlight. Ever since I moved into my girlfriends place with her and her mom, it's been pretty funny seeing how close they are with their cats. We have 2 over-all, Moonlight, and a cute tabby-looking cat (that is very adorable and looks like a rug) named Lynxie. (like Links-eee.) Moonlight is like, my girlfriends moms cat, and Lynxie is my girlfriends (although my girlfriend got both of them, they just pretend one belongs to one and the other to the other.) They also refer to them as "brothers" because Lynxie likes to pick on Moonlight a lot. Anyway, they're both super cute.

The main issue, is Moonlight loves the out-doors, but my girlfriends mom doesn't like having out-door cats, and prefers to keep them inside. Moonlight is always hanging around the back screen when the door is open and just looking outside, and is always trying to escape out the front when people come in / leave. To this day, I wonder why we never put a barrier up, but then I realized that maybe it's because it would look un-attractive or something, I'm not sure.

It's not really my home.

Last night, we all left, and all returned, and remember seeing the cat (Moonlight) running up the stairs, as usual. My girlfriends mom and her boyfriend stayed at her boyfriends last night, so it was just my girlfriend and I. This morning, I'm awoken in like, a total frenzy by my girlfriend yelling "I can't find Moonlight!!" over and over. I'm confused, but I get up, look everywhere, and sure enough, I see nothing. The moment we start worrying, it starts raining SUPER hard, and thundering. My girlfriend starts crying and freaking out. . . so we get ready and leave, and look through peoples yards, around the block, and even ask some people, and nothing.

We called my girlfriends mom, and she was devastated. She was crying, yelling, pretty much getting mad at us. I don't really have a reason to be mad for her yelling, she pretty much loves this cat. Anyway, I'm pretty much spending my day looking for the cat, and I narrowed it down to the fact that my girlfriends mom isn't gonna' get too mad at my girlfriend because they're family, but me, she'll definitely yell at me.


Basically, I miss the cat, My girlfriend misses the cat, and her mom is pretty much gonna' kill us both.

Today has to be one of the worst days ever. On top of it all, I'm sick. Yeah.


Anyway, just wanted to rant, that's all.

 

[Law]

it's a little late now but:

you should have slowly introduced them to the outdoor area. it isn't right to keep a cat locked up all day.

If you find it, try letting it run around in the back yard every now and again, make sure there are no holes in the fence or anything and that it can't jump on the fence or get out. If the cat hasn't been outside in that area and it hasn't found its way back, it's probably lost. If you live near a main road with a lot of traffic the car sounds could have frightened it and made it run to an even more unfamiliar area.

And install a cat flap if you don't have one, the cat is less likely to get lost if it knows its way around, and will always come back for food.

 

[sonknuck23]

Yeah, these are things I'm aware of though. When I lived with my mom as a kid, we always had cats and let them roam about, and my dad still does. But this is my girlfriends mom. No matter what I say, she'll just disagree with me since I'm just her daughters boyfriend. Anyway, We actually set some food in the back and front outside hoping it'll come back eventually. Their cat ran away once, but it came back only after a month apparently (I wasn't in the picture when this happened) and it was all sick and skinny and etc, so they're super worried it'll happen again.


Thanks for the advice though, real nice of you.

 

[nico445]

when whe moved we stayed at our grandma for a short while ,, the cat wasn't allowed to get out and like after 2 weeks he managed to get away. he just came back after a few hours of exploring.
our new cats are big explorers and are always walking outside, don't know you situation if you live in a busy place or at a busy road our cat's dont have much risks here but i would understand it if your near a very busy road they aren't allowed to get out. if the cat enjoys it at your home he surely will come back

 

[sonknuck23]

I'm sure it'll come back, too. But they're worried 'cause he's old and etc.

So they're pretty scared. .

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

The cat's probably exploring the area one garden at a time. Once it no longer scents you(r place), it will return.

Or it'll just return when it doesn't find any nice food and misses being spoiled constantly.

That's what my cats do, at least. Whenever I bring a cat to France (one that hasn't been there before), I let them run free the moment we arrive, most of the times it'll be gone for a couple of hours and then return, loudly meowing to get some attention (and most importantly food).

 

[Veho]

I hope you find your cat.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It'll come back. Cats are clever, they always know the way home.

 

[sonknuck23]

Well I've had cats in the past and that's proven to be true. But until they come back, I don't know how to keep my girlfriend and her mom in a good mood until then.

and also, I'm not looking forward to being yelled at by someone elses mom.

 

[JohnLoco]

Is there any animal help shelter or such that could help you with your search? I had 20cats or so through my last 10years and everyone that ran away has also found their way home.

One cat especially got real angry that i took care of misstreated cats, he didnt feel he got enough attention and left and never came back. Since i had this cats for many years i decided to get someone else to take care of the newly taken misstreated cats. He didnt come home.

After days of driving and calling and searching, nothing happend. Days became weeks and i kinda lost hope. But then exactly 4weeks after the day he left, i walked (as usual) to the cat-trap i had layed in the woods nearby. And he was there beside the trap, sniffing on the old carpet he liked (which i had put in the trap, so he didnt get caught he just liked the smell), i took him home and he liked the attention and has been with me 1year since then.

The cat-trap was borrowed from the animal shelter by the way.

Long story short;
They always come back, you just need to have patience and believe it's their choice to come home if they want to.

 

[CrazyPuzzler]

I got a cat too, also black and white -just like a cute lil cow- and mine ran away too once, we foud him again in our neighbourhood, but with another method than just shouting his name, we walked all over town hitting his food bowl thing with a spoon, he recognised the sound as 'Lunch time and came ranning out of the bushes
like his tail was on fire, so thats how we got him back.

so the question is: have you tried finding him by making familiar sounds?

since it worked for our cat several times, it might work for yours too.

anyway, good luck with finding your GFs cat.

 

[sonknuck23]

Yeah, this cat ran away before and came back after about a month, so I your point (JohnLoco) makes sense. Although, we don't have any traps or anything. Lets just hope he comes back. . .


CrazyPuzzler: We've tried that. We even put his favorite food outside in the front and back porch.

 

[sprogurt]

I don't know how to keep my girlfriend and her mom in a good mood until then.

Just make a load of posters and stick them up. Call around the local animal shelters, inform people about the cat. If they see that you're doing everything you can
(even if it isn't your fault) then it's gonna make them feel more optimistic and chances are, someone has found the cat.