One of the other consequences of our broken water main is that our cat, Midnight, fled the house during the ruckus, and he has not returned. This is a very lazy, timid cat who has been declawed (not by us—we do not approve of such barbarity), so he’s not exactly going to thrive out there. And it’s raining. Midnight always freaked out at getting wet or being exposed to weather. If any Morris people should spot him, let Skatje know. He does have a collar with a tag and his name, address, and phone number.
PZ,
My (ex) wife accidentally let my cat escape one day (this is not why we’re divorced!). My cat is a total scaredy-cat, but can never resist the call of the wild. Just once she’s out there, she’s utterly useless as a predator. She better suited to be lunch for some lower carnivore.
That being said, she was gone for 4 days. I found her hiding in a neighbors cluttered garage, scared shitless and starving.
I thought that might be useful. Good luck.
This is very sad. Your cat Midnight looks exactly like my (female) cat Bella. Of course being an apartment dweller it’s easier keeping Bella inside (she’s actually afraid of the outdoors).
Aww — poor kitty! Alan’s right, though — you’ll probably find him taking shelter pretty close by. Cats don’t run far away like dogs tend to do. When my mom’s (now late) Siamese got out of the house, I found him hiding under the next-door neighbor’s house.
Oops, sorry — Alex, not Alan. That’s what I get for typing with our new kitten in my lap.
Can your cat still shoot laser beams out of his eyes, as in the second photo? Because that might make him easier to locate.
I hope Midnight shows up soon. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Put his litterbox on the back porch or equivalent. He’ll recognize his own smell that way, at not inconsiderable range. Has worked for us a couple times over the years with different cats.
And of course, you’re walking around the neighborhood calling his name and all that.
My fingers are crossed, metaphorically speaking.
The few times my cat’s gotten out, she’s ended up hiding under the bushes either in our yard or the next yard over. By then she was so scared that she didn’t come out, even when we were right next to her calling. The only way we found her was to be very quiet and listen for her little pitiful soft wails. Good luck finding her – I’m sure she’ll show up.
I meant “him”, of course.
Cool looking cat.
But I just knew it must be one of those japanese robot
toy cats; with eyes that glow in the dark as well.
AAA batteries, Or double (AA)?
Hope cat comes back.
As the song goes:
“The cat came back the ever next day,
Yes, the cat came back and wouldn’t stay away.
Meow, kitty, meow so pretty, meow went the kitty
as the cat came back.”
or something like that…
Oh, PZ & Co., I hope your kitlet comes home soon. It’s horribly hard to sleep when the fluffball who’s supposed to be warming your toes is nowhere to be found. Come home, you rotten stinky Midnight-cat!
Also, put small cans o’cat food outside (unless you have a skunk problem).
Best thoughts and prayers for your friend’s safe return. L
ast (Only, most all the rest of our cats have been scared of the outdoors) time we had this happen, the cat in question was gone for several days and we figured she’d been run over as we were close to a fast, busy street. Jim was working in the back yard just about when we were grieving that she was not coming home when he saw her two yards over, making her way toward our house. When she saw him, she went from a walk to a run and ended up standing on his head in gratitude that she’d found her people. She also came home with a rakish small notch out of one hear, that gave her a kind of piratey calico grace.
Again, best wishes.
Poor kitty. But sometimes they disappear for a few days, especially when there is still weird stuff going on. If you don’t have too much of a wildlife issue, leave cat food out, too.
Cats who freak out at weather are usually hiding somewhere when they get caught outside in weather. (Alternate explanation: caught in a garage of someone who is away for the long weekend.)
Well, that totally sucks. Hope Midnight shows up soon.
I’d be going nuts if one of my cats was on the loose. Fortunately, my family are as cat-nuts as I am, so I’d have at least three other people who’d be over with me combing the neighbourhood.
A friend had a cat, The Schnoo, who was an outdoor cat. He went missing one day. My friend was beside herself worrying after a couple of days, as he never stayed away. She made me check the humane society every couple of days because she was too tender-hearted to be able to see all the stray cats that were likely to be euthanized, like it did me any good (I made a point of taking out and holding and petting some of the ones least likely to be adopted figuring it might be one of the last times they got some affection). I also had the duty of scouring the neighbourhood with her calling out ‘Schoooooo!’ (he would come when called) and being stared at by folk as if I was crazy (think large, hairy bearded guy in T-shirt and shorts). Finally, she got a call that Schoo had been found. He’d got himself sealed into the floor of a nearby house that was undergoing renovations just before the workmen went on three weeks vacation. When the workmen got back, one of them heard mewing and after removing a few floorboards found The Schnoo, thinner, hungry and thirsty but healthy. On another occasion, The Schoo got himself locked in a neighbour’s garage when they went on vacation. Same routine. This time, I found him when I heard him mewing in response to my calls. Don’t know why he waited two weeks to respond, because I’d been down that street many times. Didn’t seem to do him any harm, though, as he lived to about 19 years old.
I sure hope Midnight turns up hale and healthy before three weeks.
I hope Midnight will come back soon. Our cat disappeared once when it was outside. We searched the neighborhood for a week. It had gotten under the house and trapped there when a access screen which had fallen off was put back. Despite people being in the yard and house, it never made enough noise to be noticed until 7 or 8 days had passed. I have no idea what it did for water. It (originally an outdoor cat then indoors after 5 or 6 years) made it to 16.
Aw, he looks just like Kitty, also a fairly sessile old soul. Good luck finding him, and be persistant. I ended up with this cat because she was living on my roof and not going home at night. I tried everything to find out where she came from since she was obviously someone’s pet judging from the way she acted around humans and she was also spayed. I got one call from a guy who had gotten my number from the county animal control office but he was looking for a declawed male and she is a female with claws. It was sad talking to him, he really missed his cat and I’m sure that someone probably felt that way about Sarah since she really is a wonderful cat. File lost cat reports with local offices, call the local shelters and vet’s offices, and put some signs up if you don’t find him soon.
We have 1200 acres of open space and wooded area behind our home. We walked for hours each day for 5 days, shouting Sidney’s name (he was fixed) walking in the direction of our home each time. On the 5th day he returned, much lighter in weight, disheveled and very tired. He undoubtedly walked off and got lost. I have little doubt that he heard our voices and follwed us as we called each day.
He’s never left again despite going out occasionally and it been 8 years.
Try what we tried. Cats are attached to place, not people. He’s looking for his place if he’s not hiding nearby.(Yes, Sid had a collar and name tag when he left, but it was gone when he returned.)
Actually, I am sorry about the cat.
My vet says that when a cat runs away, the odds are that its hiding within a block of home.
Try some flyers in the area.
Hope you find her soon. Be sure to let us know when you do, yeah?
I agree with the suggestions here, and join with Mark in begging you to let us know when you find the beautiful one. I’ve been lucky so far, none of our cats have ever gotten away, all have lived long and healthy lives with us — the only two who died did so after 18 and 20 years.
I, of course, cannot pray for your cat, but since, if there were to be a God, he’d care more for cats than humans, I’ve asked Kittenz, Sprout, Rumbles, and Captain Puddles to do whatever praying they can.
Mike: (I made a point of taking out and holding and petting some of the ones least likely to be adopted figuring it might be one of the last times they got some affection)
In my experience, working at and visiting shelters, the animals get a lot of affection.
We’d hug and pet and talk baby talk to them while euthanizing them, too. Shitty, and still too necessary, job. Better to have folks who like the animals doing it.
I keep hoping to stop by to see if a PZ update has been posted telling us the kitty has returned home.
My cat busted out of my apartment a couple of summers ago. A neighbor cat came to visit and she broke the sliding screen door off its track and she was off! I had fallen asleep on the couch at the time, and woke to this horrible racket at about 2AM. I was up the rest of the night looking for her, shining lights in the neighbor’s yards (I can’t believe no one called the cops on me), and she finally came in of her own accord about 6:30 with a stick tangled in her fur and a “what’s your problem” attitude.
Let us know when your kitty returns!
Whoops–just saw the new thread of Midnight’s return! Yay!