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I lost my cat....inside the apartment


l2 0 5 5

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I adopted a 5 month old male Saturday evening from the animal rescue league. Cute little fella. The staff at ARL said he's pretty afraid as he was a stray. He was at the site for about a week until my fiance and I adopted him. 

Like an idiot, I took him out of his carrier without fully kitty-proofing the living room.  He was out for about 5 minutes and then vanished.  I searched every nook and cranny in the apartment and cannot find him. I haven't heard a peep from him either.  I left his litter box and food/water in the last room I saw him in. Nothing budged... It's been about 48 hours so far and no word of him. I alerted my neighbors and they will keep an eye out.

The only thing I have to go on is the hole (big enough for him to fit in) in the kitchen that leads inside of a wall.  My soon to be mother in law was helping us look yesterday and she covered up the hole with some sturdy tape. I looked in that area today and the tape is ripped open.  It's ripped open in the direction of exiting the concealed area.  There's also hair attached to the tape that resembles our cat's complexion.  I'm guessing he burst out of there today.  The water, food and litterbox were still not touched but it is located on the opposite side of the apartment where I last saw him (fairly big apartment, 1200 sq ft).  I'm guessing he didn't go down there because it is so far away and he associates that area with people as that's where I let him out.  I have since moved the food, water, and litterbox to the kitchen where his hiding place is.  I also placed flour on the floor where he seemingly came out to see if his paw prints show.

I'm just nervous at this point since he is surely hungry/thirsty.  Also, being a stray, I'm afraid that he won't show the normal characteristics of other cats in need like meowling, etc...

Any other advice?

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You pretty much did what I would have done. He's strong enough right now to bust through sturdy tape, so he's not too weak from thirst or hunger to not be able to help himself. Maybe you could put some sort of cat house near the hole so he has another safe place he can hide in. Maybe some toys or catnip to entice him there? It's obviously gonna take some time and I don't know what to tell you. I know I would be wanting to hover and be worrying every moment, but there's only so much you can do. Good luck! My heart goes out to you and the little guy.

The flour was a good touch I wouldn't have thought of.

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That sucks. Hope it turns out okay. 

If it is any conciliation, in college one of my roommates lost a baby iguana in the fall semester. We kind of forgot about it until sometime after spring break. When we got back to school the damn thing was fully grown and sitting in the middle of the living room. Our best guess was that it was living in one of the chairs and surviving off the food droppings in the various furniture in the living room. We were not very clean back then.   

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I hope you find him. *fingers crossed*

My cat had never been socialized when we adopted him as a kitten (6 months old). Several times a day I would pick him up and pet him until he purred, then let him go. (it wasn't always easy, and he'd try to get away most of the time, even after he started purring) After about a week, he actually came to me. 7 years later he sits on the back of the couch above me, sleeps at the foot of my bed, follows me around the house, and cries if I close the doors to the room I'm in.

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3 hours ago, zelticgar said:

If it is any conciliation, in college one of my roommates lost a baby iguana in the fall semester. We kind of forgot about it until sometime after spring break. When we got back to school the damn thing was fully grown and sitting in the middle of the living room. Our best guess was that it was living in one of the chairs and surviving off the food droppings in the various furniture in the living room. We were not very clean back then.   

This is kind of a terrifying story.

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All good suggestions from everyone and the flour was smart - hope you find him soon. He should be okay with the food and water near his hiding place. I hope you find him soon and he will come to love and trust you! 

3 hours ago, Gertrude said:

This is kind of a terrifying story.

LMAO I'm cracking up at it - feel bad for the iguana for being forgotten but just sitting in the middle of the living room fully grown after all those months after living inside furniture is a triumph, a sinister, hilarious triumph

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My daughter was picked to take the class hamster home from school for a weekend once. We had two cats and a dog then. She let it out of the cage and it promptly disappeared somewhere in her bedroom. She called me in a panic.  I quickly closed the door to keep the cats out and tore her room apart, not finding anything. Then I saw a strange bump on her comforter moving around. He had gotten inside. 

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We had that happen when we adopted our guys.  He got behind a false front that extended the look of a cabinet to cover a small crawl space "over the top".  We eventually figured it out because our other guy was distressed and sat in front of the false front and kicked up a ruckus.  We did pull down the false front to get him out.  

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10 hours ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

Thank you, everyone. The well-wishes give me hope. Fresh food and water are by his hidey-hole. Fingers crossed.

You've received a lot of bad advice. Clearly the only solution is to adopted three more kittens and send them into the hole to retrieve their mate. If this fails, adopt three more kittens per missing kitten. Repeat until the initial kitten is liberated. 

:P

12 hours ago, zelticgar said:

That sucks. Hope it turns out okay. 

If it is any conciliation, in college one of my roommates lost a baby iguana in the fall semester. We kind of forgot about it until sometime after spring break. When we got back to school the damn thing was fully grown and sitting in the middle of the living room. Our best guess was that it was living in one of the chairs and surviving off the food droppings in the various furniture in the living room. We were not very clean back then.   

I had something similar happen with a ball python. The sucker was on the loose for nearly half a year in my parents' house before we found it. 

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2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

You've received a lot of bad advice. Clearly the only solution is to adopted three more kittens and send them into the hole to retrieve their mate. If this fails, adopt three more kittens per missing kitten. Repeat until the initial kitten is liberated. 

:P

I had something similar happen with a ball python. The sucker was on the loose for nearly half a year in my parents' house before we found it. 

:blink:

To both.....

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1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

:blink:

To both.....

Pretty sure it's the plot from an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. 

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I had something similar happen with a ball python. The sucker was on the loose for nearly half a year in my parents' house before we found it. 

My friend's ball python escaped from her tank once and they were searching the house for her all weekend. I went over and she came right out to me. Clearly I am a parseltongue. 

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15 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

Pretty sure it's the plot from an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. 

My friend's ball python escaped from her tank once and they were searching the house for her all weekend. I went over and she came right out to me. Clearly I am a parseltongue. 

A couple of years ago in the province of New Brunswick a guy's python got out (iirc, he ran a pet shop) and crawled into the ventilation system and crawled out in the apartment above and strangled two little boys sleeping in their beds. They were 7 and 8 or thereabouts. Python stories make me nervous.

ETA: They were 5 and 7, on a sleepover with the store owner's son, who was in another bedroom an unharmed. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/snake-kills-2-n-b-boys-after-escaping-store-rcmp-say-1.1340560

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1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

:blink:

To both.....

What? Everyone knows waves of kittens are the best way to locate a missing kitten. It's science.

And the snake story is a harrowing tale about the struggle for freedom.

39 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

My friend's ball python escaped from her tank once and they were searching the house for her all weekend. I went over and she came right out to me. Clearly I am a parseltongue. 

Lol. We looked everywhere (or so we thought), but gave up looking after a week or so. However, my aunt who is a biology professor found it after looking for about 5 minutes when she came over for a dinner party several months later. It was wrapped in coils of a spare refrigerator in the basement.

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5 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

You've received a lot of bad advice. Clearly the only solution is to adopted three more kittens and send them into the hole to retrieve their mate. If this fails, adopt three more kittens per missing kitten. Repeat until the initial kitten is found

Is this a Sunny reference LMAO cats don't abide by the laws of nature you don't know shit about cats

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2 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

:blink:

To both.....

Hey at least he didn't suggest buying a python to get the kitten back. 

P.S.

Yes, I know I am going to hell for that one, and that the internet loves cats.

P.P.S.

Yes, I know the old news story with the video some of you think of. 

 

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52 minutes ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Is this a Sunny reference LMAO cats don't abide by the laws of nature you don't know shit about cats

I have the best cats and the best cat knowledge. Nobody is better at cat knowledge than Tywin. The haters of Tywin know this, but they're afraid to admit it. Sad! 

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No luck today. No prints in the flour and no food, water, or litterbox touched. Feeling pretty helpless at this point. People at work say this is what they do and not to worry about it, but I'm afraid he's stuck and needs food/water. I have yet to hear him meow or make any noise so maybe he's comfortable where he's at.

Ugh...

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