Lost Cat in New Neighborhood

June 21, 2009 5:06 PM

If an outdoor-access cat moves to a new neighborhood, what are the chances that she would get lost and not be able to find her way back after about half a dozen or so forays into it?

I have lived in this location for 6+ weeks, but most of that time she has been inside, although she was an outdoor access cat in my old place (thru a slit in the window screen.) I just got a new kitty door in my new apartment. I decided to just got to bed at about 3AM last night because she really seemed to want to roam and I couldn't get her.

I'm not totally sure she had the concept of coming into the new kitty door-- she has never had one before. I probably would not have heard her if she came to the regular door while I was sleeping, but the kitty door was definitely open and accessible.

I did spend some time teaching her how to go in and out of it yesterday.

Do you think she will be able to figure out how to get back to my apartment? She has in the past, but the most she was gone was about 3-4+ hours.

I'm very anxious about this. She's been gone almost 14 hours, although in the old place she occasionally was gone a day or 2 or so. I'm worried that she tried to get in the regular door, but since I was asleep and couldn't hear her, maybe she freaked.

She doesn't wear a collar or ID tag.

Some of my neighbors think that coyotes could have gotten her, but I just think that she's too smart and quick for that.

posted by SociologistTina to pets & animals (30 answers total)

If she was inside for 6 weeks, chances are she'll come back fine. 14 hours isn't unusual for her, just unusual for that location. I wouldn't worry yet.

Coyotes are a possibility, and no cat is automatically too fast or smart for them - especially if they're not used to them - but again, I'd not worry yet.
posted by Brockles at 5:17 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

The lack of ID tag, however, is none too smart. She has nothing that suggests she isn't a stray, and also nothing for people to find you with to tell you if she HAS got lost. Remedy that as soon as she comes back.
posted by Brockles at 5:17 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, I don't think she'll like getting a collar, but I can get a pet ID.
posted by SociologistTina at 5:36 PM on June 21, 2009

Some of my neighbors think that coyotes could have gotten her, but I just think that she's too smart and quick for that.

So she's smart enough to evade coyotes, who regularly kill cats and dogs without much trouble at all, but you think she might not be smart enough to figure out a kitty door? For the sake of your cat, please rethink all of these assumptions and at the very least, get her a collar.
posted by dhammond at 5:36 PM on June 21, 2009

What I keep worrying about (beside coyotes) is that she will wander further than she can find her way back since she is so very new to the area.
posted by SociologistTina at 5:37 PM on June 21, 2009

She is unlikely to get lost. She might get stuck in or under something. And if you're in a location where there are *coyotes*, I think that they should be your major concern. Your cat is not so much smarter than the average pet cat that she will forever evade them, especially if you moved from somewhere there weren't any coyotes.

If your cat won't wear a collar (one of mine takes his off, the other is too small to wear any cat collars, and dog collars aren't breakaway), buy elastic and name tape (like for inside clothing at camp), and make DIY collars regularly.
posted by jeather at 5:59 PM on June 21, 2009

Thanks for your suggestions. There seems to be some disagreement, even among animal specialists, about whether cats are common prey for coyotes in urban areas. Most animal lovers however, I've noticed, seem convinced that cats beings lost to coyotes in the areas that they roam is a common thing.

What are DIY collars and how do you obtain them?
posted by SociologistTina at 6:05 PM on June 21, 2009

Do It Yourself.
posted by ryanrs at 6:17 PM on June 21, 2009

A DIY collar is a piece of elastic, like one uses in sewing, with a camp name tag sewn to it. Cats seem to be less irritated by it than collars, and they are very inexpensive to produce when they get lost. (My main reason for using them is price, since occasionally the cat who dislikes them will go to all the other cats and take the collars off them.) A microchip is also a good idea.
posted by jeather at 6:19 PM on June 21, 2009

DIY means Do It Yourself, in this case homemade, if the standard collars are too big for your cat. Good luck - I wouldn't worry too much at 14 hours. Years ago I had a cat who loved to go outdoors, but never for more than 12 hours or so, and she would always go out and return at the back door. Once she was gone for over 24 hours and I started getting very worried. She showed up on the front porch acting like nothing unusual had happened. This was in the city with rowhouses (with no direct access from front to back of the house) and she had never been out the front door, but somehow she knew which house was hers.
posted by daikon at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Where do you get the DIY collars? You can just write on them in ink?
posted by SociologistTina at 6:30 PM on June 21, 2009

Anyway, thanks for your help, everyone. I'll let you know if I find her. All input is welcome. I am feeling more optimistic at the moment. It seems more likely than not that she will find her way back. I'll let you know.
posted by SociologistTina at 6:37 PM on June 21, 2009

DIY cat collar:

Buy the elastic that is used in sewing, I think for hemming. Buy camp name labels/name tape-- the sew in kind, not iron-on -- with your pet's name and your phone number/email address on them. Then sew the elastic in a circle about the size of your cat's neck. Sew the name tag onto the elastic. Do not write on them in ink. Enough stuff to make hundreds of these collars costs the same as one collar plus tag.

Other DIY suggestions for cat collars.
posted by jeather at 6:38 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

And at least get a microchip. If she gets picked up and taken to a vet or shelter, they can get in touch with you.
posted by barnone at 7:01 PM on June 21, 2009

My cat is indoor/outdoor, which is a generally unpopular thing in the US. But he comes when I call him, usually gratefully, and doesn't stay out for more than a few hours. Have you tried just going out there and screaming for her?
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:04 PM on June 21, 2009

And yeah, collar with tag and microchip. I belong to the LJ community of my small college town, and people are always posting looking for homes for the collarless, obviously well-loved "strays" they pick up.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:05 PM on June 21, 2009

What's LJ?

My research on the Net has shown that pets are NOT a common food for coyotes, even in urban areas, although not unheard of. I don't know how to do the HTML to link the article.
posted by SociologistTina at 7:16 PM on June 21, 2009

And yes, of course I've gone thru the neighborhood calling for her.
posted by SociologistTina at 7:23 PM on June 21, 2009

LJ = Livejournal

How far are you from your old neighborhood? Any chance she's gone back there from habit?
posted by zadcat at 7:35 PM on June 21, 2009

from www.urbancoyoteresearch.com :


Paul Morey analyzed scat contents at different locations within our study area. He analyzed 1,429 scats and found that diet items varied across space and time, which reflects the flexible food habits of coyotes. The most common food items were small rodents (42 percent), fruit (23 percent), deer (22 percent), and rabbit (18 percent). (Scats often have more than one diet item; therefore, frequencies do not necessarily add up to 100 percent.) Apparently the majority of coyotes in our study area do not, in fact, rely on pets or garbage for their diets.


exact url: http://www.urbancoyoteresearch.com/About_Coyotes.htm
posted by SociologistTina at 7:42 PM on June 21, 2009

I really doubt that she went back to the old neighborhood. She really knows that this is her home now. She would have to travel almost 5 miles across at least one freeway, or go way up into a canyon that she would reach by traveling across 2 major thoroughfares. It seems so unlikely to me when she knows full well that I am right here.
posted by SociologistTina at 7:49 PM on June 21, 2009

OK. Let us know when she comes back.
posted by zadcat at 7:54 PM on June 21, 2009

(Oh yes - are you absolutely sure she isn't in the house, sacked out in a laundry basket or something like that, out of view?)
posted by zadcat at 8:07 PM on June 21, 2009

Cats (with outdoor sensibilities) generally won't go so far away as to get lost. If the cat were always indoor and never raised by its mom to know the ways of the wild, it's possible it would get lost. But even then, they are pretty smart little critters and will figure something out.
posted by gjc at 8:45 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, she's been outdoor part-time most of her life, and that makes sense. That's good to know. She's smart enough not to venture to far.
posted by SociologistTina at 8:50 PM on June 21, 2009

However, for completeness of thread details (without wanting to panic you too much) there seems to be a mismatch in your research and the large amounts of anecdotal evidence being referred to here - Coyotes kill cats and dogs regularly. They don't necessarily eat them, though. But they certainly do kill them. I wonder on the research you found, and whether it produced any correlation between coyotes and domestic animal deaths versus abundance of naturally occurring prey animals.
posted by Brockles at 9:07 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

She came back! She came back! She came back!

Thanks everyone! You were right!
posted by SociologistTina at 10:13 PM on June 21, 2009 [4 favorites]

Yay! Now put that tag on her!!!
posted by OolooKitty at 1:18 AM on June 22, 2009

Always a day late and a dollar short.....

I once took a three day cross-county trip with my cats in the car. Arriving past midnight at our destination, one of the cats leapt out of the car and took off as soon as we pulled into the driveway. Days and days went by with no sign of her. THREE WEEKS later as I opened the front door - TA DA - there she was sitting there on the front step, filthy, dirty dirty filthy dirty kind of dirty. I have no idea where she went or what she was doing for three weeks, but in my experience - yes a cat can find their way to a house they've never actually been to (other than in the driveway for 34 seconds) and in the dark of night.
posted by goml at 12:58 PM on June 22, 2009

Well, now that she is back (YAY)...

I live in the SD area. I've been close to three cats who were lost to coyotes. 2 were my roommates, and were indoor cats only, and slipped out the door while a pet sitter was watching them. Very little of them was discovered, but certainly clear evidence a coyote had gotten them. The third was my cat, who had been an outdoor cat all his life. When we moved to SD, I refused to keep him in, thinking he was too smart to be caught by a coyote. He caught gophers, rabbits, birds. He was brilliant and lovely, and fierce as hell. When he was caught, he was not eaten, but made it back onto the patio, very injured. We had to put him down, as he had no more walking (much less running) in his future. Our neighborhood was urban, but there was a park with a small canyon nearby. All three cats got out and were killed in 6 months' time. My cat lived here for over a year before he was caught, and like I said, he nearly escaped.

It is totally your call on whether your cat is an indoor cat or not, but be cautious. I have moved to a different area near SD now, and while we have an occasional possum, no more coyotes. No canyons near my current house, no hiking trails or open land. It's an older part of the city, and all around are houses. I let my cats out now, but they were indoor cats for their first few years in the coyote area, so they tend to stay close anyway. And every night I call them in.

Very very happy she came back. I hesitated posting before, because I didn't want to panic you. I'm not sure what studies you did on coyotes, or if you did a study on coyotes in this area in particular, but from the plethora of lost cat posters in my old neighborhood (and I've seen many in other areas near canyons and parks), you may want to just be super careful anyway.
posted by routergirl at 8:01 PM on June 23, 2009 [2 favorites]