my cat ran away!!

Question
hi my cat is 10 months old and has been outside once, got pregnant and just had a litter of kittens..well shes in heat again, and she ran away and has been gone for 3 days...shes only been outside once..im so worried, i havent slept since shes been gone, iev left my door open, foodoutside and nothing!iev looked everywhere in my neighborhood...its killing me shes my baby..how long do u think it will take her to come home...i cant do this, its killing my emotions..i need advice soon!!!..
thnx chels

Answer
Hi Chelsea!

Calm down! I know it's horrible to be missing a cat but stressing isn't going to help you think clearly.

Put up fliers on telephone poles in the neighborhood. Cats usually do not go farther than a 1/4 mile. Someone may have found her and have her in their home.

Call the local Animal Control (city or County). Better yet, go down there and look through their found animals cages. They should also have a book on animals that they have picked up injured or dead (I hope to gosh that didn't happen, but with having animals you take that chance). You can also fill out a lost animal report. Veterinarians who get emergency unknown animals brought to them also check with them. Check every 3 days, because they don't keep some animals very long.

Do the same thing with your local SPCA.

Put a lost ad in the paper.

Put a flyer up in the window of the nearest grocery store or store where a lot of neighborhood people go.

Someone may have seen the cat or seen what happened to it. The more people who know you lost one, the more chance you have to find her.

If she has been injured, sometimes they hide for a few days.

When you look for her a good time to do it is late at night when it is quiet and you can hear her if she meows, and she can hear you calling her. Also check up trees. She may have been chased by a dog up a tree and is afraid to come down.

I'm including a link to read (copy the whole link and paste in your address bar) about finding lost cats:

http://cuhumane.org/adoptions/lost/lostcat.html

I hope very much that she comes home on her own. And I don't need to tell you to get her fixed SOON. Also get her collar trained and tape your address and phone number on it. It's the indoor cats that get out that are mostly the ones that get lost.


Carol