fishes stay at bottom of the pond

Question
hi I am concerned of my fishes not being lively. firstly let me say that I had 10 fishes in the pond which i hadn't seen them since the time they thought it was time for them to go underground to stay warm. I really missed them those wintry days. last month they emerged from the dark side one by one I was overjoyed with so much excitement my wife got jealous of this.
anyway to my sadness I only counted 7 fishes so I cleaned the pond to see if the other 3 was in the pond but couldnt find them.
so I drained the pond but there was no  more I was obviously gutted but not too much as my favorite fishes are alive my Question is this
did the neighbors cat eat my other three fishes
did the fishes eat my 3 fishes
or is it they did a HOUDINI on me (:
why are my 7 fishes are noy lively as before and just staying at the bottom even when I feed them they only eat when food goes to the bottom


Answer
I am sorry about your missing fish. I have lost many fish in the 10 year life of my pond.  How big is your pond?  How deep is it?  Since the fish are hiding, if the water is warming (above 50 degrees F), then they could be hiding due to a predator having visited.  Goldfish will eat dead fish but normally not in the winter but it's possible the missing fish died and were then eaten.  They could also have been taken by predators.  While cats sometimes take fish, most aren't good at it.  Most pond fish are eaten by either herons or raccoons.  Where do you live?  Great blue herons are experts at eating goldfish and koi.  When fish are spooked and some missing, it's often due to herons.  I keep a net over my deep end every day of the year for this reason.  You may want to net your pond.  That would keep out most herons, raccoons, cats, and the more rare fish predators (opossums, hawks, owls, mink, foxes, and so on).  Another possibility is that the goldfish jumped out or are stuck somewhere.  Here are some pages of interest on my web site.  Good luck! Robyn

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pmamm.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/birds.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health4.htm#where