Winston - MIA 8 weeks
Discussion
So Winston, one of our cats went out on a saturday just over 8 weeks ago and has not been seen since.
Both myself and my OH have been so upset by his disappearance. Today i think its time to acknowledge he isnt coming back.
The most upsetting thing is that we dont know if he is alive or not, my sister is a VN and has had all local vets keeping an eye out for him (he is chipped). The council scan any cats that get run over, the chip company are aware of his missing status, we have put leaflets up locally and posted notes through postboxes.
Its like he has disappeared off the face of the earth.
He was always going in and out but was very regimented about coming home late evening. Not an old cat, 4 years old last birthday.
One of the problems we have faced is the fact that we live in a large school premises and there are so many buildings he could have got into. I spent a couple of days scouring our outbuildings and grounds. We are also surrounded by parkland and the thought that he might have been hit by a car and then crawled away to die somewhere quiet absolutely kills me.
Every time the catflap makes a noise, i still check to see if he has come home. My only hope is that someone has him (has happened to another cat locally - a foreign family decided they wanted a cat so stole my neighbours british blue, they got rumbled when they took him to a local vet). If he is with someone else, i hope he is having a good life.
Not really sure why i have posted a thread, noone on PH can bring him back but thought i would write something. We still have 3 more rescue cats to keep us busy but none of them are winston. A cat with true character.
Both myself and my OH have been so upset by his disappearance. Today i think its time to acknowledge he isnt coming back.
The most upsetting thing is that we dont know if he is alive or not, my sister is a VN and has had all local vets keeping an eye out for him (he is chipped). The council scan any cats that get run over, the chip company are aware of his missing status, we have put leaflets up locally and posted notes through postboxes.
Its like he has disappeared off the face of the earth.
He was always going in and out but was very regimented about coming home late evening. Not an old cat, 4 years old last birthday.
One of the problems we have faced is the fact that we live in a large school premises and there are so many buildings he could have got into. I spent a couple of days scouring our outbuildings and grounds. We are also surrounded by parkland and the thought that he might have been hit by a car and then crawled away to die somewhere quiet absolutely kills me.
Every time the catflap makes a noise, i still check to see if he has come home. My only hope is that someone has him (has happened to another cat locally - a foreign family decided they wanted a cat so stole my neighbours british blue, they got rumbled when they took him to a local vet). If he is with someone else, i hope he is having a good life.
Not really sure why i have posted a thread, noone on PH can bring him back but thought i would write something. We still have 3 more rescue cats to keep us busy but none of them are winston. A cat with true character.
Try going & calling round the school buildings late at night, as the sound carries further then and you may hear him, but 8 weeks is a long time to be locked in 
Fingers crossed he has been cat-napped
Keep your hopes up, cats have been missing for years & come home again. One of mine was gone for 6 months but was found (and promptly ran off again!) - I'd moved out!
Fingers crossed he has been cat-napped
Keep your hopes up, cats have been missing for years & come home again. One of mine was gone for 6 months but was found (and promptly ran off again!) - I'd moved out!
I do hope he turns up. He'll probably walk in one day, bold as brass, demanding his dinner.
Bob, our rescue Savannah, has been missing for two weeks now. We'd only had him 8 days when he escaped out of a window. We found him near the house but couldn't catch him. He buggered off into the woods near the house and I haven't seen him since.
Unfortunately, with his background, he doesn't know who we are, he doesn't even know who HE is, and couldn't find his way home if he tried, having never been outside in his poor short life and I just hope to all the saints that he's surviving okay out there. We've acres and acres of woodland nearby, and no busy roads to speak of. We think we know where was hanging out, and have put a cat trap out, but all we've successfully caught so far is slugs.
Everyone on the farm is keeping a lookout, but I think he's gone further afield and we may never see him again. He won't come home when it gets cold, cos he doesn't know where "home" is.
Heartbroken.
Bob, our rescue Savannah, has been missing for two weeks now. We'd only had him 8 days when he escaped out of a window. We found him near the house but couldn't catch him. He buggered off into the woods near the house and I haven't seen him since.
Unfortunately, with his background, he doesn't know who we are, he doesn't even know who HE is, and couldn't find his way home if he tried, having never been outside in his poor short life and I just hope to all the saints that he's surviving okay out there. We've acres and acres of woodland nearby, and no busy roads to speak of. We think we know where was hanging out, and have put a cat trap out, but all we've successfully caught so far is slugs.
Everyone on the farm is keeping a lookout, but I think he's gone further afield and we may never see him again. He won't come home when it gets cold, cos he doesn't know where "home" is.
Heartbroken.
My sister has said that a few of her clients have had cats turn up months later so hopefully bob will show some interest in exploring your house garden.
Winston never went far - and our site is pretty big (150ish acres) so he really could be anywhere. You hear stories of cats getting collars caught etc and its horrible to think about.
I see bob is a savannah - keep an eye out for local stories of big cat sightings, savannahs are easily mistaken for escaped exotics, especially as he gets bigger.
Winston never went far - and our site is pretty big (150ish acres) so he really could be anywhere. You hear stories of cats getting collars caught etc and its horrible to think about.
I see bob is a savannah - keep an eye out for local stories of big cat sightings, savannahs are easily mistaken for escaped exotics, especially as he gets bigger.
Thanks, both
I'm trying not to get my hopes up any more. We'll have to remove the cat trap sometime soon, obviously we're checking it at least 3 times a day but it's always in the 99% certainty it's empty.
We've a good 600 acres of woods, plus another 1500 of farmland. He'd have to go a good mile to reach the main road and hopefully there's enough wildlife to mean he'd stay on the farm. He is chipped. No collar though, so we don't have that dark dread to worry about too. Cos we'd had him such a short time, and he had a terrible start, he wouldn't come if we called him, preferring to hide, become invisible and therefore no threat to anyone or anything.
He's about 2 years old and came from a cat-hoarder: 60+ cats in a small terraced house, never been outside, no real human contact, no idea about being a "pet" vs a litter trained feral which is what we really got. We were prepared to put in the weeks, months, even years of bringing him round, but seems he had other ideas.
All I really need to know is that he's okay, and if someone sees him now and again I can live with that I suppose.
I'm trying not to get my hopes up any more. We'll have to remove the cat trap sometime soon, obviously we're checking it at least 3 times a day but it's always in the 99% certainty it's empty.
We've a good 600 acres of woods, plus another 1500 of farmland. He'd have to go a good mile to reach the main road and hopefully there's enough wildlife to mean he'd stay on the farm. He is chipped. No collar though, so we don't have that dark dread to worry about too. Cos we'd had him such a short time, and he had a terrible start, he wouldn't come if we called him, preferring to hide, become invisible and therefore no threat to anyone or anything.
He's about 2 years old and came from a cat-hoarder: 60+ cats in a small terraced house, never been outside, no real human contact, no idea about being a "pet" vs a litter trained feral which is what we really got. We were prepared to put in the weeks, months, even years of bringing him round, but seems he had other ideas.
All I really need to know is that he's okay, and if someone sees him now and again I can live with that I suppose.
pidsy said:
My sister has said that a few of her clients have had cats turn up months later so hopefully bob will show some interest in exploring your house garden.
Our Bengal, Link, went missing for a month but eventually turned up further up the road at another cat-owner's house. She dropped him at a local vet who scanned the chip and got in touch.8 weeks is along time but they do come back sometimes.
Hope Winston (& Bob) do turn up well.
To both posters, don't give up all hope yet, even a cat who hasn't been 'settled' may return back to the area when they realise that meowing for a bowl of food is a lot easier than catching your own. Our neighbours cat had only been with them for 10 days when she escaped, all hope was lost but after a few months a very similar cat started to appear in another neighbours garden, so a quick food trap and a trip to the vets later and she was back home, and never ventured to far from the garden.
We also lost our Spyker at 6 months old (day before his castration was due!) We did the posters, the vets, the council, traspassing round farm buildings with a bag of treats and sod all. I had nightmares of him ill, injured, starving etc. After 11 weeks, we had given up hope and hoped that he had found a new family that loved him as much as we did. Til I came home from work one day and he was sat on the bin waiting for us and shouting about his bowls not being down on the floor, bold as brass as if nothing had happened. He was completely unimpressed about the cuddles he got. Sadly he's with us anymore, but in a strange way, that can confirm my worst fears, as someone took him to the local vets, who read his chip and got our details and called us to give us the bad news, so no news can be good news.
We also lost our Spyker at 6 months old (day before his castration was due!) We did the posters, the vets, the council, traspassing round farm buildings with a bag of treats and sod all. I had nightmares of him ill, injured, starving etc. After 11 weeks, we had given up hope and hoped that he had found a new family that loved him as much as we did. Til I came home from work one day and he was sat on the bin waiting for us and shouting about his bowls not being down on the floor, bold as brass as if nothing had happened. He was completely unimpressed about the cuddles he got. Sadly he's with us anymore, but in a strange way, that can confirm my worst fears, as someone took him to the local vets, who read his chip and got our details and called us to give us the bad news, so no news can be good news.
OP, I'm really sorry to hear about Winston. The most one of ours has disappeared for is a few days and that was awful enough.
I really agree with mrsxllifts that no news is good news, and until you hear any news it's always worth keeping hope, as hard as that can be. You hear all of these incredible stories about cats going missing for years then being reunited with their owners. Is Winston microchipped?
Really and truly hope he turns up safe and sound soon.
I really agree with mrsxllifts that no news is good news, and until you hear any news it's always worth keeping hope, as hard as that can be. You hear all of these incredible stories about cats going missing for years then being reunited with their owners. Is Winston microchipped?
Really and truly hope he turns up safe and sound soon.
ked off for nine months, once.9 months? Thats great the she came back. We are still hopeful that he might make an appearance - if domeone does have him, they might let him "escape" thinking he will go back to theirs.
As for loc8tor - my boss has his cat on that system, the basic one looks useful but only has a 300m range and is a bit rudimentary. The gps system looks fantastic with tracking on ipad but its about £150 - 4 cats works out loads.
May well fit the remaining 3 with the base system though.
As for loc8tor - my boss has his cat on that system, the basic one looks useful but only has a 300m range and is a bit rudimentary. The gps system looks fantastic with tracking on ipad but its about £150 - 4 cats works out loads.
May well fit the remaining 3 with the base system though.
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