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Another thought - put out some of your old unwashed clothes near your house (or door) - hopefully LM will smell your scent on them and will spend some time there and you both will re-connect. Best of luck in getting her back soon.
OMG! I can't believe this has happened after all that you and Little Moo have already been through. I'm so sorry. I hope the little kitty is home and safely in your arms very soon.
I remember Moo was rescued from a DC Metro station - have you hunted and flyered around there yet? Although the memories couldn't've been pleasant, she may have held onto a homing instinct which told her to go there.
Petfinder.com is a great resource for spreading the word far and wide virtually.
The most important thing, on top of the excellent advice already given, is to remain persistent. My refusal to believe that Weasie was gone from my life got me reunited with her after three weeks once. I kept up the calls to shelters, etc, (also the DPW) and made sure flyers stayed posted all through the neighborhood. What eventually brought her home was my printing another batch of flyers and putting one in every single mailbox for blocks around. Somebody one street over recognized the description as that of a cat that a family some distance away was "fostering," and sure enough!
Another encouraging tale is that of the resident feline at the end of my street, who disappeared one morning and was at large for four days. On the fourth night, one of the humans in the house arrived home from work to find that the missing cat had returned through the "cat door" and was snoozing on the couch like nothing had happened.
Recalling also that Moo was a "'fraidy cat," something tells me that she's quite likely not roamed far but is laying low. It could well be also that she's found her way into someone's cellar unbeknownst to them. So when you're asking around, find out whether folks have been in their basement lately or checked their doors which aren't used as much. Fugitive cats have been known to take refuge between storm and main doors too. AND they're famous for crawling into vehicles from underneath to seek warmth.
So, hang in there with the knowledge that lots and lots of people are pulling for a happy ending to this saga. All I ask is that you keep us posted.
I think the story behind Moo sound interesting, is it in this thread?
I would like to read about it.
I will check in again this afternoon to see if Moo has showed up. Please know that I am thinking of you, and I just know he will show up. I just know it.
Thankyou for your kind words and prayers! And someone in here said the exact same thing my fiancee did to me this morning about taking care of myself.
I worry that we didn't have her long enough for her to know where "home" is, and how to find it again. I worry with it hitting below freezing, that she'll be ok on her own at night! Being a stray, it's not easy to guess how old she is, but if I had to, I would say somewhere between 7-10 months now? Maybe that's shooting a bit high, though. At least 5 months old.
I ended up going to bed around 2 last night...but was back up around 5 to check the back porch. I fell asleep inside at the kitchen door ( was trying to keep an eye out on the plate of food ) cause sure enough... someone got hungry last night! I don't know whether to take it as a positive sign or not. Her box and bottlecaps weren't touched, but the wet catfood is almost completely gone. The water and the dry cat food wasn't touched (but come to think of it, there could be water missing, who knows)
The neighborhood has at least 3 other cats that I see on occasion outside, and quite a few deer and bunnies that come out to play at night. And with our house backing the woods, it's anyone's guess what might have been nibbling at moo's dinner. But I won't get anywhere playing the pessimist. So maybe she's hiding nearby and scared, got hungry enough to eat, but not bold enough to stick around to be let inside. Maybe.
The sun's coming up, but I'm going to try to crawl back into bed for a little bit. I have to wait for the DH (it's shorter than saying fiancee all the time, sheesh, and almost accurate) to get home, before I can go take my walk-throughs at the local shelter here. He had a flat and had to take my truck.
I've been trying to be very careful when I'm calling her outside, to keep the stress/worry/anxiety,etc out of my voice like suggested. It's almost impossible at night (that's when the hysteria kicks in it seems). But I'll make the most of it while I can during the day.
I'm off to re-post in the pets craigslist. I will check out the petfinder.com as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goyguy
I remember Moo was rescued from a DC Metro station - have you hunted and flyered around there yet? Although the memories couldn't've been pleasant, she may have held onto a homing instinct which told her to go there.
- It was almost a 45 minute drive to the metro station that we picked her up in. . . I don't want to think about how long it would take to run there, even at super-paw kitty speed. And that was by way of taking the interstate. Do you think she'd really aim for that far away?
I sincerely doubt it. It wasn't as if the metro station was a loving home for years from which she'd been abruptly taken and to which she was trying to return.
Generally speaking (unless she were a roaming tom, which she's not) cats take off at a rate of knots but don't initially go all that far. They are masters of hiding though.
There's one thing you do need to bear in mind though and this might help you to stay a bit calmer: she's young, yes; but she's a former stray. She's going to be a lot more savvy than a similar kitty that was raised inside a house and had never been out.
Here's something positive you can do: go onto Google Earth or another similar aerial view of where you live. Use your house as the center and get a bird's eye view of what lies in the direction she went. Draw a straight line in the direction she went, but then start your sweeps working out at angles in either direction. With a map/aerial view for reference, this will help ensure that you cover all the ground around you.
We took care of one of my sister's cats a few years ago and her cat got out. Like you, I was worried the cat wouldn't be able to find her way back to my home because she had never been to my home or neighborhood before.
I saw her a few times in the area, but couldn't catch her.
Sister and I sat out front talking one night.. later we went inside. When sister got ready to leave, I opened the door and the cat was sitting outside on the door step! Maybe she followed my sister's voice??
Ours ran out when the neighbor decided to go out of our house via the garage door. Startled the cat and he bolted.
We paid for a front page entry in a local flyer. It worked - people spotted him. The first attempt to get him resulted in lots of human blood and shredded clothing. We left food for the family that called and they feed him. They finally trapped him in their garage. More blood and shredding - but once he was in the house, it was as though he never left. He was fat and happy.
We got our baby back after 3 longs months. Don't give up.
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hhhmm
