What's the longest your outdoor cat has gone out without been seen?

[pstokely]

I have a 2YR old neutered male (mother was a feral cat) that hasn't been seen for over 24hrs, he's been staying out longer since the weather warmed up. He does have a collar and tags on.

[NightWatcher]

1. Ours stays gone for two days in nice weather

We just put a bowl of food out back for when he gets hungry and returns

[pstokely]

2. If I did that, he'd probably just eat and go off again

I think he just eats whatever he kills outside anyway

[NightWatcher]

3. Anything ours eats (lizards esp.) he pukes right back up

He likes to think he is bad ass, but he eventually ends up on the sofa, napping the day away

[realisticphish]

4. my parents' cats

when they were younger, could be gone a week at a time. But they were (are) good mousers. Now, though, they're old, and are happy to have a warm house to retreat to at night.

For my cat, he is only allowed outside in the fenced-in back patio, in a harness. I live in the middle of the city, and there are way too many ferals around, not to mention traffic, etc

[mnhtnbb]

5. Our Mousie (who was neutered) used to disappear for 24-36 hours

at a time--usually after we'd been out of town. It was almost as though he was saying, "see? how do you like it when I disappear?" He always turned back up and we had him for 14 years before
he got sick, stopped eating and we had to put him to sleep.

[tango-tee]

6. My very first cat, when I was a teenager, was gone for weeks at a time.

We were worried sick at first, only to find out that he had a second home right down the street. He had jumped through that family's bathroom window and eaten their cat's food. They felt sorry for the poor, neglected animal (!!!) and decided to take care of him.

[Tabasco_Dave]

7. 6 months

I wish he could have told me his story. Never give up miracles can happen.

[Kaleva]

8. For many months

Had this big tomcat that would take off for many months at a time. He'd come back for awhile, act like nothing happened and then disappear again. Finally, he just never came back.

[seabeyond]

9. months... she sits on neighbors roof and taunts my dog at 2:00 a.m.

then my dog goes crazy waking up the neighborhood.

[Orrex]

10. Is "not long enough" an acceptable answer?

:evilgrin:

[TZ]

13. I can't beleive you didn't get flamed for your

"I hate my cat" thread the other day....Most of the cat lovers must have you on ignore...:P

[Orrex]

15. Believe me, if they knew my cat, they'd be totally on my side.

[GCP]

11. Son's cat went for 2 weeks once

They do it just to tease us!

[mike_c]

12. weeks....

I mean that literally. I don't usually worry too much though, because I live in a very cat friendly neighborhood so a couple of mine have gotten into the habit of living with neighbors for long periods of time, then coming home for a few weeks, then disappearing again. They've been doing it long enough now that it's only slightly annoying, not "OMG where are the cats?" Damned furballs. Sometimes they show up after several weeks absence looking better than they did when they left, and it's obvious they're getting pretty good treatment somewhere.

I should also say that we have LOTS of cats here-- currently nine-- and several are absolute stay-at-home types, I mean a couple of them hardly leave the bed-- so we never have to go far to play with a kitty. Makes the missing ones somewhat less worrisome.

[mycatfred]

14. My cat Fred the first

went missing for months. Turns out he got hit by a car, but came home to say goodbye. He died the next day.

And my mouser Chance goes missing for days, but always comes home.

One time Banjo went missing off of an RV. We found her in a ditch, like, three states later. It was a miracle.

[Critters2]

16. My Leon was once gone for 3.5 months. Four days after I adopted Shamu,

thinking Leon was gone for good, he wandered in the back door.

[pstokely]

17. He just showed up at the front door after being gone for nearly 48 hours

A new record for him

[Scout]

18. so is that YOUR cat driving my dogs crazy in their house? stalking my bird

feeders, and burying it's crap in my flower beds?

[pstokely]

22. not unless he's been to Ann Arbor while he was gone

nt

[kimi]

19. Cody, my semi-feral, was gone for 4 days once

I'd gone to the shelter, checked there, even the DOA books. Dreading the whole time.

He showed up 2 days later. Don't know what happened, but I get freaky if he's gone for more than 2 days. I'm just weird that way.

[graywarrior]

20. A week

We found out he had another home in addition to ours.

[femmocrat]

21. Two weeks with a lot of snow on the ground.

It was a beautiful sight to see him bounding over the snow, coming home. He was a black cat. He was also a great hunter. :)

[MiddleFingerMom]

23. Mine would sometimes slip out the door...

.
...as I was coming in or going out. Maybe half-a-dozen times or so
in the 8 years that I had the joy of her company.
.
Usually just for a couple of hours. Didn't matter. I would worry the
whole time. Once, I had to go to work before I got her back inside
and I was absolutely worthless all day. She was a total indoor cat,
never knew any kind of threat, and she was the sweetest, most
gentle cat I ever had, but also naive and relatively defenseless.
This is the Arizona desert. There are things out there that can
kick MY ass.
.
After a couple of hours, she would generally show up and GRADUALLY
come closer and closer when I shook her bag of dry food.
.
I would give her a quick, not-too-harsh "Bad kitty!" She would
give me a quick and sharp MEW. I used to think she was saying,
"But I didn't DO nothing". Kali told me she was saying, "Fuck you."
.
I listened closely the next time and DARN if Kali wasn't right.
.
THAT said, she was STILL the sweetest cat I ever had.
.
I miss NoName (no-nah-m'HAY) very much.
.

[Kali]

25. I want people to share the mental image I have of this.

"I would worry the whole time" is a bit of an understatement. Freak out would probably be a BIT more accurate.

OK, now picture a kind of big guy with long hair in a ponytail, beard - sort of a hippie biker cross, somebody that can instill fear with just a look (at least in certain psychotic supposedly bad-ass lawyer/judge/musician/former associates).

Now picture him running around a rural RV resort out in the desert, bent over with a wrinkled half empty bag of cat food, shaking the bag and begging this cat to come home...

and of course the cat stays JUST out of reach - maybe even playfully lies down and rolls around on the ground, inviting a tummy rub, but just when he approaches she jumps up and runs off a few yards to some bush or under a vehicle, maybe even with an encouraging "meow" tossed over her shoulder...this goes on for literally HOURS.

Finally in utter dejection (or because he has to pee) MFM goes back inside and just then the cat runs to the door and meows "hey fucker, let me IN NOOOWWW"



:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MiddleFingerMom]

26. I'm pretty sure...

.
...she has video of that.
.

[kimi]

30. Awww!

Yeah, I can picture that.

Thanks for the rest of the story, Kali! :)

[csziggy]

24. Eight days - and that was the first time he was an outdoor cat

He had been a laboratory cat and was smuggled out when he was eliminated from the testing pool and slated to be eliminated, period. He had never seen sunshine, grass, fresh air, anything natural, since he had been born in the lab.

I had planned on keeping him as an indoor cat but he took off one day shortly after I got him. I was sure he was gone forever, but just over a week after he disappeared, he returned, a little thinner and very dirty, but pleased with himself. For the rest of his very long life, he was an indoor/outdoor cat that kept his own routine.

[Flaxbee]

27. When I'm home, the longest has been 24 hours

But if I'm visiting family and my husband is home, at our old place, he let Ivan roam for almost 4-5 days in a row. But that was the neighborhood where Ivan had been born; I don't think DH would let Ivan stay out that long here (I hope!)

Ivan is harder to get in during the springtime, most certainly.

[LostInAnomie]

28. Going on 20 years.

[SoDesuKa]

29. Cats Go Where the Food is Better

Cats work the neighborhood to find out who'll feed them. Sometimes more than one family thinks they "own" a given cat, who'll have two names and two identities. We found out that Sally actually had one official owner and possibly several other un-official owners.

Sniff worked the neighborhood and was taken in by a family who thought he was a stray. They took him to the vet and had him fixed. Then one day he was waiting at our door. I let him in and he went up the stairs. That's when I noticed that his testicles were missing.

[kimi]

31. So has the kitty come back yet?

Just wondering.

[BethCA66]

32. It's been about two years now. n/t