cat going out for the first time!
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dobbiethecat
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cat going out for the first time!
I recently adopted two feral cats one of them is male and 9 months old and one is female and 2.5 years, i have kept them inside for 3 months so that they an get tame and used to their surroundings. over the past few days I began to open the back door to let them go outside, to begin with they showed no interest in leaving and just wanted to stay in but over time the male started to take a few steps out the door but never fully left. Today when I opened the door before feeding them he ran out and has disappeared hes been gone for around 7 hours and I'm starting to get worried. He hasn't been fed yet and ive tried calling him with food, I'm not sure what I can do to find him and get him back home. my other cat hasn't gone out yet but she keeps calling for him (he is her kitten).
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Ruth B
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Re: cat going out for the first time!
Hopefully he is back by now, but if not a couple of tricks that might work to help get him home.
If you have some of your own clothes that need washing hang them on the line unwashed.
If you have some dirty litter left, even if it has been cleaned since he left then empty some out onto the garden. Both of these options are to give him the scent trail to find his way home if he has got lost. Even if the litter doesn't have his scent on it, the scent of your other cat will be familiar to him and will tell him that home is there. Scent is really good for telling a cat which direction to head in to get home, it carries well and their sense of smell is far better than ours.
If he doesn't know the area then he has possible gone into hiding, so go out in the dark with a torch and check under bushes etc to see if you can catch the reflection of his eyes. you are best to wait until it is quiet for this as it will make him feel less scared (if you are in the UK you might have to go out in the early hours as I doubt anywhere is quiet tonight)
Finally if you have a picture of him then put up posters and put leaflets through the neighbours doors asking them to keep an eye out and to check sheds and garages, cats can easily slip in somewhere unseen and get shut in. Also contact any vets in the local area and any of your local charities, if anything happens and he ends up at a vets it will help them contact you quickly, and the charities can help spread the word online so if he does get handed in somewhere they are more likely to get him back to you.
Finally if he is microchipped ring the registry and make sure they have your details, there is nothing worse than finding a cat is chipped only to find that for some reason the registration never got completed. If he isn't chipped then I would suggest getting it done as soon as he returns and getting your other cat done as soon as possible. Microchipped cats have a far higher chance of getting back to their owners than ones that haven't been done. I will also add I am assuming he has been neutered, if not then it isn't uncommon for them to stray as they follow he scent of a female on heat, if he has been neutered recently it is possible he still has hormonal urges and has been distracted and become lost that way.
I hope you get him back soon, one of mine has gone missing a couple of times and waiting not knowing if he will come back or not is horrible.
If you have some of your own clothes that need washing hang them on the line unwashed.
If you have some dirty litter left, even if it has been cleaned since he left then empty some out onto the garden. Both of these options are to give him the scent trail to find his way home if he has got lost. Even if the litter doesn't have his scent on it, the scent of your other cat will be familiar to him and will tell him that home is there. Scent is really good for telling a cat which direction to head in to get home, it carries well and their sense of smell is far better than ours.
If he doesn't know the area then he has possible gone into hiding, so go out in the dark with a torch and check under bushes etc to see if you can catch the reflection of his eyes. you are best to wait until it is quiet for this as it will make him feel less scared (if you are in the UK you might have to go out in the early hours as I doubt anywhere is quiet tonight)
Finally if you have a picture of him then put up posters and put leaflets through the neighbours doors asking them to keep an eye out and to check sheds and garages, cats can easily slip in somewhere unseen and get shut in. Also contact any vets in the local area and any of your local charities, if anything happens and he ends up at a vets it will help them contact you quickly, and the charities can help spread the word online so if he does get handed in somewhere they are more likely to get him back to you.
Finally if he is microchipped ring the registry and make sure they have your details, there is nothing worse than finding a cat is chipped only to find that for some reason the registration never got completed. If he isn't chipped then I would suggest getting it done as soon as he returns and getting your other cat done as soon as possible. Microchipped cats have a far higher chance of getting back to their owners than ones that haven't been done. I will also add I am assuming he has been neutered, if not then it isn't uncommon for them to stray as they follow he scent of a female on heat, if he has been neutered recently it is possible he still has hormonal urges and has been distracted and become lost that way.
I hope you get him back soon, one of mine has gone missing a couple of times and waiting not knowing if he will come back or not is horrible.
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dobbiethecat
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Re: cat going out for the first time!
Unfortunately we still have no sign of him. I have done what you suggested with the litter and clothes so I hope that he is close by, he got neutered three months ago so I'm not sure if he will still be interested in the scents or not but he wasn't brought up the best so he was extremely scared when we got him so he's still wary of other animals or people that are new to him. We have a rather large garden with some piles of wood and long grass that we have for the wildlife so I went out tonight with a torch looking round the garden and calling him with his food which he usually comes running too. I will see what happens tomorrow I left out his blanket for scent too if he doesn't come back by the morning I will contact the vets and check his microchip I have my hopes up he's okay I don't live near a main road so the chances of him being hurt by a car are slim thank you for your advice, I'll keep updated.