Is My Cat Still Alive?

Question
I have this 4 or 5 year old male cat and hes an outdoor cat. We live in the country so its pretty safe for him outside. Theres other people here with other cats to. Anyhow, my cat hasn't been spayed and in the summer he sometimes goes away for like a week, but always comes back. But he's been gone for about 3 weeks now and I was wondering if that means somethings happened to him or could he still come back? Is it normal for him to be gone along time like that? Is there still hope?

Answer
Neissa,

There is always hope, but it is NEVER safe for cats to roam loose outdoors. I grew up in the country too and my parents never allowed our cats to be indoors. We had 3 hit by cars and some "disappear". There are so many things that could have gotten him from coyotes, vicious dogs, poison or cars. My cats live indoors only now, they have a screened in porch to enjoy.

Also, it is highly irresponsible to allow him to roam un-neutered. He has probably produced hundreds if not thousands of kittens by roaming around impregnating tame and feral female cats - hundreds of kittens that don't get homes. If he comes back, neutering him right away will help keep him home as well as being the responsible thing to do, because the reason he roams is he smells females in heat from miles away.

In fact it's possible that someone else thought he was stray and took him to the shelter or they are keeping him. Have you checked all your local shelters for him? Have you spoken to all neighbors?

I have known cats to be missing for up to 8 months and be found unharmed, but it takes some effort - they are often really lost at that point and don't just come home. He may have moved in to someone's barn or shed.

Here are tips on finding your lost cat:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/lostfound.html