Usually, a missing cat will return within 24 hours. It can take longer if something has happened to prevent the cat from going home, such as injury, becoming trapped in a structure, being picked up by a concerned individual or a shelter, etc.
Fortunately, you can find some answers right here. Read on to find out more. In the vast majority of cases, a cat will simply return the next day. Most of them remember where they live when the first pangs of hunger set in. If your cat is taking longer than a day to come home, there could be a problem.
If your cat is an unspayed female, she may have become pregnant and taken herself off to have her kittens. Sometimes cats get stuck on roofs or in trees, etc. If your cat looked as though she was lost, she may have been taken in by a neighbour or a passer-by.
Of course, she should also wear a collar with your details attached. Even so, collars can be lost, especially the breakaway collars I recommend for safety. Cats sometimes get lost after climbing inside a vehicle that drives away. A less pleasant possibility is that your cat has been displaced deliberately. This can happen if you have a dispute with a neighbour or other acquaintance.
They may remove the cat to a shelter or simply take her to another location and let her go. This is obnoxious, of course, but it does occur. The worst possibility is that your cat has suffered a serious injury or has lost her life.
I hate to mention the possibility but it does need to be considered. You could also share information on pages set up specifically for this purpose:. You could ask your previous neighbours to look out for your cat and let the new people living in your old house know that your cat may be on their way back.
Ask people not to feed your cat, but to notify you immediately if they are seen. If your cat is easy to handle, you could ask one of your previous neighbours to pick them up and secure them somewhere safe before you get there. Arrange for you and a friend or family member to meet them. If it is your cat, then make sure you get in touch with all the different places you listed them as lost and inform them that they have been found.
Some well-meaning people may get in touch about cats that are not yours but try not to get disheartened. When you get your cat home, give them a little of their favourite food and a quick check to see if there are any obvious signs of injury. If they seem fine, give them a chance to settle and readjust, and enjoy having them back! Download the advice on this page as a handy advice sheet and to use as a reminder:. Advice sheet. If Battersea is one of your local rescue centres you can report it to us and we will do our very best to ensure a happy reunion.
Skip to main content. How to care for your pets if you're ill or have to self-isolate due to coronavirus Lost and found dog advice Lost and found cat advice Dog advice Cat advice Puppy Advice. What to do if my cat goes missing While it's normal for your cat to return a little later than usual from time to time, if your cat has been missing for 12 hours or overnight, especially if this is very unusual for them, there are six things you should do.
Step One First, try not to panic. Step Two If your cat has been missing overnight and is not home the following morning, check the house from top to bottom. Step Three Once you have established that your cat is not nearby, you should start notifying the appropriate people and organisations.
As far as we can tell, cats have a homing instinct, which means that they can perceive direction using something beyond the five ordinary senses of taste, smell, sight, touch and hearing. Dolphins, geese and other migratory birds use visual cues; homing pigeons find their way by using low frequency sound waves; salmon imprint upon magnetic fields and also use scent cues; and wildebeest follow the smell of rain.
But what about cat senses? Animal behaviorists know that while both cats and dogs bond to humans, cats also bond strongly to home locations, marking their territory by urine spraying or bunting scent glands that are located under their chin.
Herrick found that the mother cat successfully returned to her kittens seven times after being separated by distances that varied from 1 to 4 miles. A second experiment was conducted In , when German researchers tested cats by placing them in a large maze that had many openings. More often than not, they found that cats used the exit that was closest to their home location. So we know that cats can find their way home, but the question remains: Why? All we have at this point are theories, which range from magnetic geolocation Beadle, to olfactory cues cat smells.
But while we know that cats can often find their way home, until more studies are done, the answer of how remains a mystery.
0コメント