On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:00:48 -0400, "Rhino"
wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone out there has figured out any good ways to track
down missing cats?

Here's my situation. My mother adopted two cats a few weeks ago. We think
they are brothers although we don't know for sure. Their names are Fred and
Barney. They are a year and a half old, male, neutered, and have all of
their claws and shots, except for rabies. They have both been microchipped
but aren't wearing trackers.

This past Thursday, Fred snuck out of the house when my mother stepped
outside for a second. He raced away and was soon lost to sight. My mother
tried to chase him but she is 85 and not able to run as quickly as a fit
young cat!

She had been intending them to be indoor cats so they had never been outside
and didn't know the area. We don't know if they were outdoor cats when with
their previous owner. She was immediately worried that he would be lost and
not able to fnd his way home. However, he put in a brief appearance on her
front porch on Friday but skittered away before she could even open the
door. I don't live in the same city but I drove down on Friday and spent
several hours walking around calling for him. I posted an ad on the local
Kijiji website and made up some posters, then walked around some more
looking for him and calling his name. I was about to go out and put up the
posters when Fred made a second appearance at the basement window. We rushed
out to see if we could coax him back inside but he just ran away again.
Shortly after that, it rained, often quite heavily, until well into
Saturday.We haven't seen him since.

Barney seemed quite disturbed over the whole thing since he and Fred were at
least good friends if not brothers, and made several attacks on my two cats,
which involved him screaming at my cats then launching frontal assaults on
them though they hadn't done anything to him and were going out of their way
to keep their distance. I figured that Barney's anxiety about Fred was
making him hyper-territorial; neither Fred nor Barney had attacked my cats
when they met them a few weeks before.

Since Fred clearly knew his way home and Barney was making my cats
miserable, I decided to go back home on the assumption that Fred would soon
show up. I don't know why he didn't come home but was afraid my presence
and/or the presence of my cats might be the problem. When I had come down to
meet Fred and Barney a few weeks after they arrived, Fred had been very shy
and I'd only seen him briefly twice from across the room. If I took even a
single step toward him, he would immediately run away. Barney had been
considerably more outgoing. So I thought it might be better if I - and my
cats - disappeared. I honestly thought that he would soon be back again
and, finding me and my cats absent, would come back into the house and be
reunited with Barney - and his dinner bowl!

Unfortunately, Fred still hasn't come back home and my Kijiji ad hasn't
brought forward any responses.

My mother promised to call immediately once Fred was back in the house but
hasn't called. I'm not sure if he has made any further appearances at her
house but if he did, he just ran away again.

I'm really worried about him and would be happy to go down again to look for
him but I'm not sure if walking around the neighbourhood calling him would
have a good result. Since he doesn't know me, he might be more frightened
than relieved to hear a stranger calling him. If it just makes him run
further away, I wouldn't be helping by walking around. I could put up the
posters we made and hope that increases the number of eyes looking for him
but, aside from that, I'm not sure if there's anything else I could do that
would be positive.

I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with finding lost cats in
similar circumstances?

I remember seeing a documentary a few years back where a cop whose pet dog
had gone missing. He was a K-9 officer so he used his police dog to track
down the other dog. I thought that was brilliant and wonder if this idea
could be adapted for cats? I've been toying with the idea of taking Barney
out on a leash and seeing if he could find Fred. I've never heard of such a
thing but maybe someone has tried it. (Mind you, I wouldn't want Barney to
develop an irresistible longing to go outside too; he might be the next to
sneak out and maybe not return.)

Does anyone have any ideas they have tried successfully for fnding lost
cats?

Also, does anyone know how cats navigate? I'm wondering if they use smell
and whether the long rainfall we had after the last sighting might have
washed away the clues Fred needed to find his way home? Otherwise, I have to
think he could use the same techniques to find home that he used in his
first two visits back.

Sorry for the long note but I wanted you to have a complete picture of what
had happened.


Walking around calling a lost cat's name is, unfortunately, simply a
complete waste of time. Most cats don't come when they are called when
they are at home. When they are lost outdoors, they simply won't respond
to their name. Trust me on this important point.

Cats do not 'navigate' by smell, like dogs can. They navigate by sight,
much the same way that people do.

Putting Barney on a leash to try to 'track' Fred simply won't work. Cats
are very different creatures than dogs. They behave very differently.

Stop thinking they will act like a dog. They won't. Ever. They are CATS.

Your best bet to recover this cat may be to use a humane live trap. I
recommend the Havahart traps:

http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps

Some rescues and shelters will let you borrow one, or they are available
locally at Fleet Farm and Tractor Supply stores. Some hardware stores
carry them, as well.

It sounds like this cat knows how to get home, but he's just too
skittish to catch. The trap should work.

Have your Mother put his food and water dish outside. The local wildlife
will eat most of the food, so have her put out a lot of food.

Here is the link for making posters for the lost cat that really get
NOTICED:

http://www.missingpetpartnership.org...ry-posters.php