One thing kitties never miss is suppertime.
When mine didn’t show for supper—I knew something was wrong. Though he’s finicky and sometimes decides he doesn’t want chicken tonight, he wants salmon. And he will eventually show up and eat whatever chicken the black one didn’t.
But he didn’t show.
Well, I thought, he’s sleeping somewhere. Had the evening game. Signed off early with a headache. And started looking in his usual sleeping spots.
By nine, and no kitty, I was searching bedrooms, office, kitchen cabinets, and beginning to search outside—we’ve been letting the black one sit out in the ferret cage on the concrete, so he can roll and watch the birds and butterflies.
Jane had been to the store about mid-afternoon. We began to fear my rascal had gotten out. He is a housecat, has never set foot on dirt, well, not but once or twice, and has no senses about traffic (we live between two very busy 4-lane streets, buses, trucks, you name it)—and I’m not sure he has any homing instinct at all. If curiosity carried him out of sight of landmarks, he might not find his way home. He is chipped, but the chip registration expired a week ago.
By 10, Jane and I have searched upstairs and basement, called and called (he is not good about coming when he thinks he could be in trouble or that there might be a cat carrier involved or if he’s in a place he’s not sure he should be in or if it’s Tuesday and it’s raining…) And we followed the black one’s searches about the house, which began to convince us he was as confused and upset as we were.
At a certain point we left the front door open to the screen so if he came home he’d find a door, and us, and I made trips out to search the garden.
By about 11:30, after searching the back yard repeatedly, I decided to go out for one more search. Jane decided to make a try too. And I also checked, as I had previously, the aisle between the neighbor’s house and ours, through the gap in the gate. And I saw, just for a moment, a fleeting patch of white, as the rascal passed from neighbor’s house to our front yard. I called to Jane and headed out the gate and around. Jane went some direction or another, maybe through the house. And I spotted him—crouched on the path some thirty feet away, wild-eyed and not inclined to come. Nope. He darted past me, down the space between the houses, under the garden gate and in. Jane and I both followed. Jane opened the back door, and we hoped he’d go that way. Nope. Back to the equipment jungle at the back of the ell, where it’s darkest.
At that point, finally, he seemed to think he was in sort-of a ‘right place’ and might deign to come when called, maybe. If it felt right. I called, didn’t make a grab for him. He came right to my hand—-then decided it could be a ‘guilty place’ after all and dived past me. I nabbed a hind leg and a tail and flattened him so I could get a good grip, at which point he became ‘guilty kitty’ and tucked down as small as he could get. I gathered him up, this time with a good kitty-cuddling escape-proof grip, and hailed Jane that I had the escapee.
We took him inside. Oh, yes, glad to be back. Black one sniffs him over. He spends thirty minutes sitting where he can see us, but where he’s not quite in any ‘territory.’
Then evening snacks. OMG, he’s back. He spent the night where he usually does, sleeping right by me, and wanted to sleep in, this morning. I got him up anyway.
This morning, for breakfast, NEITHER cat seemed interested in sitting by the back door, while we ate on the patio.
So what was he up to? Something, the described behavior suggests.
I think he was out tomcatting around—just prowling the area, having a nap, slinking about as it got dark, and probably realizing it was now suppertime, and there was no gooshy food. Not even kibble.
By the time I got him, I think he was both supperless and scared, and now realizing that the door-dart that got him outside had not been his best and brightest idea. I AM pleased that, when he freaked, he ran sensibly by the one path he’d probably used getting out of the back garden: this indicates there is a map in that kitty brain, and he used it. I know now that if he disappears into the back yard again, that equipment stack is a good place to look.
I did, just now, renew his microchip registration.
Good that he’s back and safe! Years ago, I had a cat that was an indoor-only guy. When he was about 3, I lived in a house with a nice screened front porch, which he enjoyed a lot. Introduced him to outside life gradually, he liked prowling around the bushes and nooks and crannies around the house. Turns out to be a good thing. When I got married, I found out my wife is quite allergic (and for the record, she is the one that encouraged me to get a cat in the first place !!), so Alaric went to live with my Dad on a farm. He lived outside from then on, in the barns, and seemed very happy. Lived well up into his teens.
So maybe a little supervised outdoor time would help? That way at least he could learn how to get back in the house !
Maybe, hopefully, he scared himself enough so he won’t be so quick to try escaping again.
My cat is a mostly indoors-cat, but she has a cat-flap into the garden which she uses when the weather is nice. Though the garden is enclosed and proofed against most cats, I wanted her to know the way home if she ever got out, or escaped out the front door.
I tried putting her in a harness on a lead, and letting her out the door, just to get to know the front garden and the back alley, and the sidewalk around the next few houses, so if she ever gets out she’ll have some idea how to get home. Mostly this involves standing still holding the lead, while the cat sits under a bush and looks; interspersed with short darts to the next bush. It also needs building up slowly: when he got scared and darted back inside I shut the door and took off his harness and praised & petted him. Then wait a few days before trying again.
This worked well with my first cat: eventually I could take him almost the whole street, a bit less than 100 meters. After that I could leave the door open while gardening and he’d join me, but never wander off more than 3 gardens away.
It didn’t work so well with thi lady. She hates the harness, and wouldn’t move at all with it on. Putting the leash on a collar gave a less brick-like result, but as she’s such a scaredy-cat she didn’t want to go outside, or not more than a few meters, for a very long time. In the end I carried her out to the neigbors’ garden and let het run home (all of 5 meters, on her leash); then to the second garden from home; and did the same for our little short back-alley. At that point it was clear she could find her own door if she ever darted out, and saw that as the place to run to for safety; and I let it go. She never wanders more than into the next garden when I’m gardening, and mostly stays inside. I’ve been lucky with both my homebody-cats!
With such heavy traffic you wouldn’t want to get the cats used to going outside and leaving the garden, especially if they’re adventurous – which I guess tomcats are more inclined to be by nature. Once they consider the street as part of their territory, it becomes impossible to keep them in without them trying to escape.
But if they tolerate being put in a harness and learning to walk on a leash you might teach them just their own garden, and maybe the closest neighbors if those don’t mind. If going there is firmly associated with being in a harness it might be less alluring to escape to.
The other tip I read about is more for if you want to let them roam, but teach them to find their way home first: that was to put butter on their soles the first time they go out. That is supposed to make it easy for them to smell which is the way home. I never tried it, and rather expect the cat to sit down and lick off all the butter before he starts exploring…
None of our cats have been amenable to harness training. We probably missed the window of opportunity to accustom any of them to wearing one. Snow, our original old-lady cat, was particularly amusing when we put one on her. After frantic attempts to escape this — thing — she gave up utterly and became a wet towel. You could use her in a protester’s manual for the perfect example of nonresistant resistance by going limp.
Power to the fur-people, baby! 😀
Butter! That’s a new one!
Indeed, we have the heavy traffic, and it comes in spurts, governed by several traffic lights further up. The two streets are one way streets, one uphill, one down, but it’s still a complex, tricky traffic that makes backing out of our drive a bit difficult depending on the hour.
I have, however, ordered a harness for the black one, a very light sort, which may work. I have not yet found a harness a cat cannot get out of, including ones with a full chest coverage: a full body suit with a back clip might work, but getting kitty to move with something impeding his stride is another matter. What I’ve ordered goes the other way, trying to put the connection onto the shoulders, which is at least not choking the cat. If it’s comfy, he might tolerate it.
Definitely make sure the harness can’t tighten around the throat. I speak from experience.
Birdie (seen in my gravatar) happened to get out of the house once, chasing another cat that had wandered into “her” territory. I happened to look out the front door at what Birdie was hissing at, saw the cat in my flowers and opened the front door just enough to attract its attention and hiss at it. That “just enough” was plenty for my fluffy cat to slip through and give chase. Great! Because Birdie will NOT respond to me calling her back, even with the temptation of treats. What to do…Well, there are two doors in the house, she went out the front door, and when I had tried to coax her in, she moved away from me. Okay, prop open the front door, go to the back door, slip outside, come around the house and call “Birdie”, and watch her tear off for the front door, through it, and into the living room. Whew, one either has to work toward the cat’s weaknesses and exploit one’s own strengths, or else let the cat go off until it’s ready to come home. My contract with the shelter expressly states that I cannot allow my cats outside, even for a little while. I have no trouble with this stipulation, as my cats are relatively free of parasites. The odd mosquito that gets into the house might harbor heartworms, but I don’t believe we have those. There are definitely no fleas in the house, either. I have a spray called “Knockout” which is a mix of pyrethins and metheprine (a growth hormone mimicker) and disrupts the cycle of the fleas. Only had them one time, and they didn’t last long.
I am currently in a kitty crisis. I have 2 half bengal boys out that went missing within a week of each other. I am heart sick and suspect the neighbors (who have no kids and no pets and no tolerance). I also have their 3-legged mama, a full bengal, someplace in the neighborhood. We see her once in awhile but she doesn’t come home anymore. I’ve never had a cat go AWOL before. Here’s the thing – I never had a bengal cat before and let my husband talk me into it before reading up on it enough. They are hybrids descended from the Asian Leopard cat. The one we got, the mama, was literally impossible to keep in. And once she was gone for 4 days, having been shot and making it home taking her that long. That’s how she got to be 3 legged. She had also had 2 litters in her first year – one in March and another in July. I hadn’t realized a cat could have another litter while still nursing the first! But my 2 boys are her sons – and they also are impossible to keep in.
The point of this is that prior to the bengal, I always had siamese or mixed siamese as they always have character and are indoor cats. I will never have another cat that is a hybrid and can’t be kept inside. My boys are now missing about 2 weeks and I am constantly depressed about it. In spite of going outside all the time, the 2 boy half-breeds are the sweetest and lovliest cats you can imagine. I miss them everyday. Not so much the mama – after she got shot, she started growling at her babies when she was in the house. I think she didn’t like them anymore – or didn’t like us for letting her have them. Or something. And it was maybe a month after she started growling at them that she went AWOL. But I still see her. No sign at all of the 2 boys – both chipped – but the chips I have aren’t locator ones – if the cat is found, then the chip can be read and the cat returned. I was told that’s the only kind of chip there is.
So at this point, I have 3 cats remaining. A 19-year old half-siamese lady missing her tail, my niece’s cat (who is with us because my niece is also with us) and one only girl half-bengal. She also wants to go out but isn’t as insistent as the boys so when she gets close to the door and rings the bell (which we use for the dog to tell us she has to go out. Cats are smart and figured it out too…) we deposit her for a time in the basement.
I can’t tell you how heartsick I am! We all are. Please try to keep your cats inside no matter what. And I would not suggest the bengal breed or any other hybrid, whether pure or mixed.
They are gone almost 2 weeks now. I ask their sister, Where are your brothers? But never an answer. She’s the only one in the cat tree now as the other 2 are not only inside cats but upstairs cats due to downstairs dog. Kokomo, though, loves the dog. How I miss those boys!
I’m so sorry. I know how much it hurts. Here’s hoping your lads find their way back or at least find a loving person out there.
Our black one is a half bengal, and yes, growling is one of his expressions. He growls at us, he growls at being picked up, and he growls at being put down. Fortunately this doesn’t include the willingness to draw blood—he’ll bite, too, but only demonstrative, and as a kitten we taught him the ‘licky-licky’ command, to turn the bite into a kitty kiss. Which he will still do, silly lad.
They ARE a handful.
I absolutely agree with you—if you live in a place where its safe, it’s one thing; but city hazards, best keep them in and close. Dogs’ natural instinct to come to the group make them easier to manage outdoors, but cats’ instincts to hide are very strong. And Bengals are instinct-driven, no layers of civilization about it. It’s been 5000 years since the Egyptians began domesticating the cat. And about a decade since the Bengal cross became popular. There’s not a whole lot of domestication on one side of that family tree.
So you know the Bengal! Keep him in as much as you can. Darling cat but with a mind of his own. Damn the neighbors. Oh how I miss them! Now the dog is not too sure about the cats. But she loves them anyway. And Kokomo Really loves the dog. Does help me out a bit with the loss of the cats. Though I’ll not get over that…ever. they accept you no matter what. Pure, flawed, or a total as whole. Thank God.
All I can say is I can relate. Squeaky had her adventure earlier this week, and I was concerned by the wild life hazards rather than the street hazards. She’s my wanna-be-hunter, chattering at birds and trying to catch them through the window. But anything that can take out a 12 inch koi is going to do a number on an 8lb cat too. We DO have bobcats in the neighborhood, and packs of raccoons.
Regarding the harness, I’m picturing very dashing piratical gear, there. 😉 Or perhaps complete the look with breeches and sash and voyage rings? 😀 Shu and Sei might look very handsome in Anuurn silk, or Llyene silk. Mahen madras or chambray? Heh.
Goober, the Most Non-Assertive Cat in the Universe, a gentleman cat if ever there was — has, a handful of times, escaped to the Great Back Yard. Now, several years back, I let him and Smokey out with me into the Great Back Yard, always very supervised. The two are smart (most of the time) and zip back into Paradise (the house) if something is amiss (humans, dogs, Loud Noises, and so on). This is good.
But every once in a while, Smokey will try to zip out the front door to have fun (and make a game of annoying the human).
And every once in a while, Goober will get himself outside in the back yard, similarly.
Generally, the moment the door is closed, Smokey gets quite anxious to be back in Paradise, makes much noise and paws the door, frantic for the human, the other cat, and, well, the food bowl! And all the other comforts of being a house cat.
Goober, though, if he gets out, wants to stay out a while, unless he’s worried about some danger outside. His solution? Huddle against the door and cry very softly in protest and not make much noise.
He is the kind who does not come when called. He’s a cat who walks by himself. But loves to be near me.
So he has had a few episodes (hours long) where I thought he was hiding or lost outside, never to return again. His last escapade, he was (thankfully) inside the whole time, hiding from Mr. Assertive. You were looking for me? Oh, silly human, I was napping the whole time. Lovely new spot I found. Don’t tell the other guy!
So…but yes, when you’re worried your kitty might have snuck out and might be permanently lost, not good. I get very anxious for Goober and have gone through, near dark, thinking I might not see him again.
There’s a major road just outside my subdivision, and my house is only one street inside that. So if they got out, they’d be done for if they strayed to the street.
I am fortunate they seem smart enough and happy enough not to have done this. The most they’ve ever done is hop the fence into neighbors’ yards and then returned. I think a few earlier escapes convinced Goober this was not a good idea, and Paradise (the house) was much preferable.
Somehow, that Chanur reference now has me wanting to reread Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. It’s been quite some time since I last reread it, so I wonder what I’ll think after some years.
I have been there, oh, have I been there! Years ago several of ours got out; I couldn’t sleep for two days, went out in the middle of the night looking for them, begging all divine powers to please bring them safely home. Found one in the morning hiding on top of the tire of an old car in the next door yard (house was vacant at the time). I had to pry him off and carry him the long way back around the house, poor guy. One of the others, my best buddy, was gone the rest of the day and I spent most of the day crying, convinced I’d never see him again. But I had propped open the back door and put a bowl of food at the top of the stairs. Late that night I checked the hall and this little, dirty face peeked arounnd the corner of the wall – it was him, thank all the gods, and he lived to be 17. Had it happen with a couple of others, and was able to lure them back with food (one put a gouge in my hand when I grabbed her, I didn’t even care). It’s hard, sometimes, to keep them inside, but I fervently believe cats belong indoors. Too many awful things are outside. So very glad you got your little guy back!
But you found him. That’s all I want. Where are they?
First, I just want to point out that, from everything I’ve read, the chip is still readable and should get your cat back home to you, even if you haven’t paid up. The paid version gets you “extras”, but isn’t really required. But you may want to check your particular chip manufacturer to be sure.
Second, I have had a little escape artist cat, my little Rana-cat that recently passed away (from a long good life, not by escaping!) Keeping her confined was almost impossible… able to squeeze through gaps that were three-fingers wide, able to scale stucco, able to walk on the hangers in the closet, and incredibly flexible. Much like Birdie, she chased a cat out of her territory one day, but unlike her, decided to go walk-about instead of coming back. For a month! Had to finally put out a live trap in order to get her back inside, at which point she settled in like nothing had happened! The other exciting time was when I was in temporary housing, and she went missing. I could hear her, but not find her. Somehow, she had managed to open a drawer in the bathroom cabinet, get inside it, and close the drawer. Which then made getting her back out interesting, since I was so worried that I was going to pinch or trap some part of her when I pulled the drawer out, especially since I didn’t know which one she was in. But she just hopped out with a “what took you so long?” look, and was fine. A lot of our time together was her trying to find a new way out, and me trying to figure out a way to close off the most recent escape route.
Oh, and you can also cross-register chips. There are some free registries that will take anyone’s, so I have my dogs in there as well as their manufacturer one. You do need to make sure that you update information when it changes.
at the risk of offending someone who runs a chip company that charges, can you point to a list of registries? I’ve been using HomeAgain, and while it’s not expensive, $18 per year, the last I checked, if there’s a free registry available that provides the same service and reliable coverage, I’d certainly consider going with them.
On further review, looking at some of the comments on Amazon.com about HomeAgain, it appears that once you register a chip with HomeAgain, that chip remains in the database, whether or not you pay the annual fee. The annual fee is used to send out alerts that the pet is missing if a shelter or a vet calls in the number. You don’t need to pay every year, according to some of the reviews, since the information on the chip gives the scanner the registry information and the registry can contact you as long as your contact information is up to date. I can’t verify that the comments on the Amazon.com page for the HomeAgain kit (you have to take it to your vet to have the chip inserted) are correct, as I’ve not renewed Sydney’s registration with HomeAgain. When I had Sadie, I had her chipped, too. Sophie and Maggie are not chipped, yet, and if I can ever manage to get them to the vet without having to make a side trip to the Emergency Room for myself, I will consider chipping them, too.
I did see some reviews after Googling “free pet microchip registry (sorry, I should have done that FIRST!) that were not favorable toward the free registries. I don’t know if those reviews were commercially driven (someone paid by a competitor to make a negative review) or not. I guess as with anything, Caveat Emptor!
That’s true. HomeAgain is the one we have, and the chips (which are electronically activated by the scanner) require no maintenance and are id-able. What you have to have is YOUR correct addy and phone # in the registry. Since we travel so much with our kitties, it seems like a good idea to have that 500 dollar get them home from anywhere policy, but we’d go after them, for sure, if that were ever the case. THere is a national registry, apparently, and also you can install other numbers yourself. But I also don’t mind supporting them—before such registries existed, you were SOL if your pet went missing.
Naughty kitty spawn!! I bet your heart stopped for a moment there. I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that Sei wasn’t quite so kolohe, but I have been wrong many times. Glad to hear the wanderer has returned home from the hill.
Regarding suppertime, Junior has crossed a major hurdle in that he is eating again and using the litterbox; not very heavily, but when a 15 year old cat goes without for more than a day and a half, one becomes rather concerned. I am inclined to think the aroma of the chicken I had going in the crockpot most of the day was an appetite assist. He and Zorro are still engaged in detente, but at least it’s not nuclear escalation.
Curiously enough, Sei is the one that caught the prowler and saved our snow blower—and though Shu will fight our roomie (Lynn) who came to collect her luggage—and attacked the vet, Sei is the one who will go ballistic with another cat, while another cat with Shu is kind of a curiosity thing.
I did renew the chip registration, which seems reasonable, my cat being the one who will dart out and run. If Shu gets out, he just rolls on the concrete. Sei heads for the bushes.
Mine would get out and end up up a tree,, crying. Once I had a tree guy get her down. The second time, I noticed she was moving from tree to tree, so I didn’t worry, although it took her a couple of days to find her way down. And once she was chased up a tree and got so panicked she couldn’t remember how to climb down. (Not always bright.) She also liked to zip out the door when I was leaving for work, and play chase.
I quite agree that kitties and their people are much healthier and everyone saner when the cats remain indoors. I too several years ago spent an emotionally frantic May day trying to locate our cat, Mousie, who had accidentally hopped out a window we had thrown open without realizing its screen was up. After hours of searching and calling, I couldn’t sit I was so heartsick and decided to clean out the water garden from winter. I eventually found him in bushes by the front door when I was throwing buckets of filthy, leaf-rotted water from the water garden on them… and him. He came crawling put mewing and stinking, having been nearby through all the calling!
CJ, I know the franticness and worry the two of you went through… And what you are still going through now, Vagnzpt. I hope your kitties come home!
I once had to climb over a tumble-down fence while carrying an escaped cat who did NOT want to go back to the house. The same cat got out another time and turned up in my next-door neighbor’s basement. The neighbor was a nice woman who was very active in animal rescue; she found naughty Harry in her back yard and took him in, gave him food, water and a snuggly place in her clean, warm basement to sleep. We assumed Harry had decided he wanted a night or two at a hostel 😀
Wretched creature! I offer profound sympathy for your panic! Once 30 years ago when I was in grad school, mom visited for a week. The cats have always been indoor cats and had never been out. I’m at school one day, come home to a thoroughly distraught mom and only one cat. Poor mom had looked all day. There’s only so many places TO be in a one bedroom apartment. After about an hour for me and after 6 for mom we found her. A baseboard under a kitchen cabinet was apparent broken and she had decided that under the cabinet was the perfect place to sleep. Now we live on a cul-de-sac with National Forest about a block away in 3 directions, no fenced yard and we frequently hear coyotes, so none of the kids go out. I’ve had our snowshoe get out one night when my husband was out of town and I found her after driving in the neighborhood about 3 am (endless calling and cajoling having failed abysmally) – she’s sitting on the sidewalk, I get out, call to her and she acts just like Sei (having the same attitude about not coming and for the same reasons) and evaporated. About 5 am I gave up and tried to get some sleep. Of course, it didn’t work, and as I was crying in bed it started raining. About 15 minutes later she complaining at the door to the garage because she was wet and really didn’t like it and let me in now dammit. Problem solved but I was a total wreck. Then a few years later I had my tom evaporate one day, which was totally out of character because he’s never shown any interest in the outside. After hours of scouring the neighborhood and everywhere imaginable inside a dozen times, I’m a wreck because Fionn is not the brightest bulb. If he was scared he might not respond, and I wasn’t putting much faith in him being able to find home. Bob finally finds him — inside, in our bathroom happily asleep on top of a small storage thingie under the vanity, in a space about 6 inches high he had never used before and you never would notice walking by. This sort of thing can cause one to drink. A lot. Frequently.
Our 15 year old snowshoe Willow, will hiss and or growl at us (or the other two) when she’s annoyed, which can be if you’re petting her or have stopped petting her or just being a brat because we won’t get out of the chair she wants to be in. But she can also be incredibly affectionate and has more personality than any cat I’ve ever known. She will sure chew you out too and the boy (Marley in my avatar pic) goes around in moral terror of her. Thirteen year old Amanda pretty much ignores everybody, although she likes to stare you into petting her. I’ve never been able to decide if she’s just very sweet and very stupid, or the reincarnation of a Buddhist monk.
Oh, yes. I know that heart rending feeling of having one get out. I was having a second phone line installed (back in the day when my work from home computer had to have its own phone line, and the internet went SWKEEETURT TWEEDLY TWEEDLE). The phone guy was in and out, and after he left, I couldn’t find my completely declawed little girl. Looked all over the house, with that stomach flooring feeling that perhaps she had gotten outside. I was near two large very busy streets and a pond. I rattled treats and called and called and scoured the neighborhood for hours, sick at heart. Poor little darling had never been outside since a kitten and was defenseless and unable to climb. As it got dark, I came inside, sat down in the rocker and started crying. Lo and behold, she oozed out from under the footstool! She had been hiding all along in a space 4 inches high, where I’d never thought to look because she couldn’t possibly be under there where there was no room. . .!
My little grey girl kitty will be crossing the Rainbow bridge this month. She is in active renal failure, her BUN and creatinine are climbing, and she’s skeletally thin because she’s peeing protein. She’s going on 11, but she was the only survivor of an abandoned feral litter and was hand raised. She was down to 5 pounds at one point, I got her up to 6.2, but she’s losing weight again. It’s so hard to contemplate losing my baby girl, but it’s getting to the point where it would be inhumane to try to keep her alive any longer. I’ll be down to one then, who is already on a diet, and will be going on a stricter one once he eats up all the hairball formula catfood left over from when everybody ate it because of the long haired half Siamese white one who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last month. The black one is 8, never meets a stranger, and will do fine being boarded while my mom and I travel.