I’ve had house cats my whole life. As many as four, we now have two…and they’re 13 and 14 years old. All have been declawed, and stay inside . Back in 2012, I left for work at 5 am…there was a window screen laying by my car. Charlie was laying in a second story window, and pushed out the screen. Looked for him for a few minutes, had to get to work. That evening, I heard meowing coming from inside my Lund boat, parked in the carport. He was 40 feet from where he landed when he fell. Still have him, still loves to lay in the windows.

 

...growing up we had 1 cat that got out and left for over a year...one day we came home from school and there he was.
....We had another house cat that got out in the spring and was gone for the whole summer.
I was actually trapping for coon that fall and caught him on a log set(I knew immediately when it happened because I heard him meowing from my bedroom ran out and brought him in..he was totally fine-no broken bones. He escaped the following summer and got hit a mile away.

 

Great news!

I told you cats were grand champions at the hide and seek games. 😀

Dogs, they run. Cats, they hunker down and hide.

 

My wife and I went up to my daughter’s place this morning and you could see where the litter box we put out had been disturbed.

Daughter’s family got home this morning, called for the cat and there he was… had been living / hiding in the garage all week.

Many thanks for all the help on this.

 

Give it time. It took me two weeks to catch Dinko back in 2008.

 

empty trap this morning....no sign of any activity

 

Construction workers spread some sawdust on the floor of the garage prior to leaving last night.

came in to paw prints this morning.

The thought now is that he is in the garage rafters during the day.

Setting the box trap and a fresh litter box in the garage this evening… fingers crossed.

 

Good luck!

 

Have you tried calling it by name, sounds crazy but every night before we go to bed my wife goes outside and calls our cat by name within a few minutes it comes running. If possible have your daughter leave you a voicemail calling the cat. You will have better luck with a familiar voice calling it.

 

Check the trees around the house really well. Have the fire dept number handy.

 

Appreciate all the input.

This is a residential area with at least one lady who feeds feral cats.

Drove by her place yesterday and saw at least a dozen hanging out by her open garage door.

Its not hard to find A CAT in the neighborhood, but very difficult to find THE CAT.

 

Did she feed them wet food cans? I know it sounds dumb but if it’s quiet outside where she lives, go outside and open up a can or two if wet food. That ‘cracking’ noise may bring the cat right in. Or take the dry food bag out and makes some noise with it. If you really want the cat back, I know some some people hire guys with drones and thermal.

 

So I went to their house to set two box traps and found they my daughter had contacted a trapping service.

Found a trap set behind the garage, and didn’t want to mess with the guys set.

We shall see…

 

Live trap, towel on the opposite end, cat food in a cup cable tied to the other end. It is hungry by now.

 

My wife reminded me of this…..make sure it’s still not hiding in the house. We couldn’t find one of our cats a while back. Looked for two days around the outside of the house. The third day, it was sleeping on my bed. It was here the whole time.

She also said to put its litter box outside. Cats like a familiar toilet. See if there’s signs of it using it.

 

go to the s.p.c.a and get a look alike! LOL

 

 

Leave the garage door cracked open. We had a cat that got out years ago due to contractors. For 3-4 days I would get trail cam pics of her around 2 am snooping around the house. Once we left the door open we found her the next day in the garage.

 

That’s a good idea. Cats are masters at the hide and seek game.

 

They normally don’t go far. Often they’ll hunker down near the house, in shrubs or such. They’ll stay put during the daylight hours, maybe venture around at night.

Do you have access to some cage / box traps? Housecats have no problem going in them. Bait it up with canned tuna. Cover the floor of the cage with cardboard. Cats don’t like to walk on the wire. I’ve caught a couple lost housecats in cage traps. You can cover the top and sides if you like.

If you have some trail cams, set them up with some bait. It’ll give you a better picture of what’s happening. Listen when it’s quiet. Call the cat‘s name. Sometimes you’ll hear it responding.

I once had a declawed female slip out and went MIA. Two weeks passed, I figured it was dead. I looked out at my box trap by the garage one night, and I had caught it.

 

I just did this a few weeks ago. Wife was away for a few weeks and the cat that she loves got out. He was by the balcony door early every morning for a couple of days but would not come inside. Knowing the wife would be devastated I set a box trap out. Exactly as you described, cardboard on the bottom and canned tuna on the trip plate. The first night I put the tuna behind the plate but he wouldn't go to it, even though I could see his paw prints on the cardboard by the opening. Got him the next night.