My friend's cat has gone missing on my watch. Options?

October 7, 2015 1:37 PM

I'm cat sitting in Chicago for a couple friends of mine who are on vacation. One of the three cats slunk out a gap in a window that I had left open to exhaust some of the kitty litter smell. I don't know anyone else here and I'm concerned about leaving the apartment because I don't want to be gone if the cat comes back. More specifics after the jump.

Potentially relevant details:

-This is a very indoor cat. My friends moved to this apartment about a month ago and I'd bet the cat has never been outside here.

-The window leads to an alleyway and is about 8 feet above ground level. I left the window open because the apartment had been closed up for a couple of days and the smell of the litter was overpowering. I did not notice the screen was open. I have since closed the screen to prevent the other two cats from escaping.

-The cat went missing sometime between 9 AM and 1PM, when I first noticed he wasn't around. He is very skittish, and it's hard to imagine him roaming very far considering there are busy streets within a few blocks in every direction.

-My friends are in Europe until the 11th. I really, really don't want to burden them with the information that their cat has gone missing. This trip is important to them, and they love this cat. Knowing that he's missing would really taint their experience. That said, they know the cat better than anyone and could maybe offer clues on how best to find the poor boy.

-So far I have tried: 1. Walking in concentric circles around the vicinity of the apartment, looking under cars and other potential cat-hiding spaces. 2. Asking neighbors and neighboring business if they've seen anything. 3. Leaving the most odorous available wet cat food on the windowsill he escaped from.

So what should I do? Should I call my friends and potentially ruin their trip? Should I keep walking the streets until I find him? I feel like walking the hood looking for him runs the risk of not being there when he shows back up at the window looking for food. Leaving the window open invites the other cats to escape unless I quarantine them, which is especially difficult given the layout of this apartment. Do cats tend to remember where home is and return? Or do I need to get out there and find him? If so, should I leave the window open? Should I call local shelters? Vets? Craigslist?

I'm in the Logan Square area of Chicago if anyone happens to have location specific advice. I must find this cat.

posted by easydoesit to Pets & Animals (48 answers total)

Do you know that the cat is actually outside? Nine times out of ten, an indoor cat is just hiding really well in the apartment.
posted by chaiminda at 1:40 PM on October 7, 2015 [19 favorites]

What Chaiminda said. Read previous threads on missing cats. They are sneaky buggers.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 1:42 PM on October 7, 2015

Response by poster: I meant to say in the question that yes, I have exhausted all possibilities that the cat is still inside the apartment.
posted by easydoesit at 1:44 PM on October 7, 2015

Look everywhere inside. If you're not a cat person and need a list of things to look in to spark your imagination:

- Under beds
- Behind furniture
- On top of cabinets
- In linen closets
- Behind curtains
- In shelves, behind books or other things slid to the front of them
- In the tub behind a shower curtain
- If there are multiple rooms, make sure he's not trapped in one of them.

My own cat likes to lay flat in a spot on top of the cabinets where the molding is about six inches higher than the top of the cabinets. She's impossible to see unless she looks up. She spends hours there.
posted by mph at 1:44 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

How large was the window gap?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:46 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Inside the couch is another popular option.

A lot of cats would have trouble jumping up to an 8-foot window so I wouldn't plan on the cat trying to get in that way. Looking under cars and shrubbery is smart. In general if an indoor cat gets out they will cower under the nearest cover until a human comes to rescue them.
posted by chaiminda at 1:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]

Please take a moment read other posts on the green about missing cats. This is super common and in most cases the cats really just very well hidden in the apartment. I'm not sure, but still inside seems more likely that taking an 8 foot jump out a window for a cat that is used living indoors.
posted by metahawk at 1:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]

Even indoor cats do have a good idea of where they live, as long as he wasn't panicked upon escape and ran away too quickly to notice. My mischievous boy got out once and I didn't notice for ages, until I saw him casually hanging out on the front porch railing.

Cats also don't go very far, in general, even ones that spend most of their lives outdoors. They have small territories. There's a good chance that even if the cat IS outside, he is close by. I would enlist a friend to stay in the apartment while you go outside and keep looking. Put food on the ground underneath the window, in addition to on the sill, and sit nearby. And put up flyers, if you haven't already.
posted by something something at 1:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

A young, healthy cat can easily make an 8ft jump down, but it's unlikely that they could make it up to that height. You're going to need to look for him. Take a heavy blanket to use to catch him and carry his wiggly, freaked out self home. Get a friend to sit in the apartment while you do some searching. Call all of the local animal shelters. When you call ask if you can borrow a humane trap and put that under the window (you may have to deal with other critters.)

Also, you can't really vent litter smells effectively. The VIP litter smeller is the cat and they have a much stronger sense of smell than you do. Just change the litter - otherwise you're going to be dealing with cats avoiding the box.
posted by 26.2 at 2:05 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

You might also want to put one of his (uncleaned) litterboxes outside and keep an eye on that, he may recognize that scent more easily than any of the local scenery.
posted by dilettante at 2:14 PM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]

I agree that the cat is not likely to be able to jump back up to the window so I would consider putting the cat food by a door (ideally one where you will hear it). Our downstairs neighbors' cat has gotten out a few times and has ended up sitting outside their door meowing.
posted by enn at 2:15 PM on October 7, 2015

- A ladder the cat can climb up to the window sill, wet food by the window.


- Can of tuna opened, walk around calling the cat's name softly.

Best of luck :))


If the cat has only lived there a month and is skittish by nature, this really isn't your fault. The cat may even have undone the screen to get out, and this might have happened even with his owners home. It's OK.

Cats are resilient. It may take a few days, but I'm betting he'll come back (if he even jumped down, which frankly, is doubtful.... He's in the apartment. I pretty much guarantee it :)))
posted by jbenben at 2:24 PM on October 7, 2015

A closed door between the cat and the home it wants to be in is very bad for getting that cat to come home. Can you prop the exterior building door closest to the window where you think the cat escaped and then hide in the vestibule? It may not come in if it can see you, but it will definitely come into the building if the door is open. Wait until the cat has come all the way, then close the door. Then either pick the cat up or wait for it to tome to the apartment door.
posted by crush-onastick at 2:26 PM on October 7, 2015

Put the other cats in the bathroom so you can open the window. Shake a box of dry food or run the can opener by the window while calling it's name- try to sound like your friend while doing this. Throw some food down below the window, and at the window, keep checking and add later.
Make a quick flyer with picture (check her albums of FB for one!) and your cell # and get it printed at the closest place NOW. Go back out and circle the building, mewing and calling their name, while shaking the box of food. Leave some food near the front door too.
posted by TenaciousB at 2:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also- was there no other route but down? No other sills or fire escape to jump on? Look at the possibilities- through a cats eyes.
Often if you make a sweet mewing noise a distressed cat will reply. Might work better when traffic is quiet.
Get those flyers out and up ASAP.
posted by TenaciousB at 2:33 PM on October 7, 2015

Best answer: I know how you feel. We were watching my in-laws' cat over the holidays this year, and the cat took off from our apartment in a completely unknown area. My advice is to put up lots and lots of posters. Do you have a staple gun? You'll want to get one.

Here's my advice for posters. You need good photos and some large, descriptive text. For photos, you may have to get in touch with the owners. Write a description above the pictures with the most immediately recognizable characteristics, such as "Lost Tabby," and below more details like "Brown with white paws." Then you can write a small description section that includes anything you know such as age, sex, size, eye colour, collar or no, etc - whatever you think can help identify him.

write your phone number nice and big, and your email if you want. Have tear-away slips with your number and the cat's name on them.

Also write when and where last seen. "Last seen: October 7 at Logan square near (street) and (street) between 9 am and 1pm ."

I'll send you a memail with a template, actually, if that will help out.

If you want to really attract people to your posters, you can add a brightly coloured back ground. Bristol board is too expensive, so instead I got some bright sheets of regular office paper. To start, print on 50 of those sheets the header "Lost Cat." For the bottom, Do 50 sheets with a footer with "Reward." You can staple these to the back of the other posters you make up, and they will be highly visible for everyone, even cars will notice.

We got many calls due to our posters, many were not fruitful, but people wanted to help. We probably had about 100 posted in the radius that where we figured she could be. Then, after she had been lost 5 days in the freezing cold, we got the call we were hoping for. She was found in the neighborhood, sitting right underneath one of her posters.

Other advice I have would be to shake treats, and call his name as you walk around. We didn't attract her by this method (which would have been nice, all the hours we spent doing it), but we got to talk to lot of people by doing so, and they in a sense joined our search. This was valuable since so many people are out and about, walking their dogs or what have you many times a day, so it's nice to feel that those people will l keep an eye out.

Good Luck!
posted by to recite so charmingly at 2:41 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

You should definitely call vets and shelters in the area. They will be happy to be on the lookout for a missing pet.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:44 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'd also set up an open cardboard box - lined with something warm- in the alley way below. Positioned so you can see if it is occupied.
With some smelly food.
posted by TenaciousB at 2:45 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

Darn, I guess I can't send an attachment via Memail. I'd love to send you a template to save you some time, so you could potentially poster before dark... do you have a throwaway email I can use?
posted by to recite so charmingly at 2:46 PM on October 7, 2015

This happened to me when I was feeding a friend's cats while she was on a work trip. Hers are indoor/outdoor cats (this is the UK, don't judge) but she'd only just moved into a new place (literally two days earlier) and hadn't had a cat flap fitted yet so they hadn't been out. As it was summer she'd left a small upper window open thinking the cats couldn't get through it. They both did, jumping onto the porch roof to get to the ground.

I had to sit round there for a whole day and half the next day with a large window open. One cat, a black one, is very skittish and I was worried about her. The other one, not so much, I thought she'd find her way back. At one point when I was leaving to go home I saw the skittish cat, grabbed her, took her inside and shut her in the bedroom. The other cat came home by herself, jumping up onto the porch roof and through the open window.

Once both cats were home I shut all the windows, told my friend what had happened and went home. When she got back she discovered that the black cat I'd 'rescued' wasn't even hers! The skittish cat had hidden outside but came out when her owner came home and called her. (Meanwhile someone else in the street thought their black cat was missing ...)

Anyway ... the cat needs a way to get back into the apartment, so closing the screen is a bad idea. Can you isolate the other cats in another room so they can't get out?

Walk around the neighbourhood with a tin of tuna and a towel to make it easier to catch him. A scared cat probably won't go far.
posted by essexjan at 2:47 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

Call the local animal rescue leagues. It is perfectly possible that someone might find the cat acting lost withing the first day and taken it in. After that call the animal rescue organizations in your area every single day to double check the missing feline hasn't been brought in.

Think like a cat. Get down low and look and listen. If you were a cat what would frighten you - moving cars? Stranger people? What would look like a safe place to hide, or to explore.

If you are bold enough, ring a few doorbells and ask whoever answers to keep an eye and an ear out, and give them a slip of paper with your contact information.
posted by Jane the Brown at 2:48 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

Don't underestimate the power of shaking a box of dry cat food or opening cans of wet food (tuna works fine too). Their little ears are remarkably atuned to those sounds. Mine can hear one of those pull top cans open from a different storey and at the oposite end of the house from the stairs.

If you can, sit quietly on the front steps and shake dry food and open wet food. Hopefully you won't attract too many other cats.

Cats tend to hide close by their homes but in a way that makes them utterly invisible to anyone seeking them. You're probably being watched. Agree with Jane the Brown to think like a cat.

But I also agree that kitty may well be in the house. There are tonnes of threads where the seeker is emphatic that the cat escaped and mefites convinced the cat is still inside and it turns out it's somewhere completely ridiculous inside. If you can isolate the other cats and then leave out food, hopefully you'll get some sign that kitty is inside.
posted by kitten magic at 3:10 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh and check with your immediate neighbours. If they had a window open kitty might have jumped from your window sill to theirs and is now snoozing in their apartment without them realising. My neighbour's cat once jumped onto my balcony (logical - it was sunnier) and she couldn't coax him back. It was a wide gap, I wouldn't expect a cat to jump it.
posted by kitten magic at 3:13 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think there's a good chance if the cat is hiding out in the neighborhood, you'll probably be most likely to catch it in the evening/at night. It will be hungrier then, and it also may be more inclined to venture out of wherever it's hiding. (If it's outside, in all likelihood, it's hiding out in some small enclosed space somewhere.) If you haven't found the kitty then, once it's dark, I would heat up some wet food, get a can of treats that's very shakeable, and go around the neighborhood calling out for the kitty. Definitely bring some sort of towel or pillow case so you can grab the cat if you find it.

I would put out a cardboard box (with the opening on the side, not the top) outside the apartment, with some food in it. If you sprinkle some of the litter from the cat's litter box around the cardboard box, I think that should help keep other cats from hiding out there. (Or at least so I've heard. I would maybe put in the alley by that window and try to keep an eye on it.)

I would definitely put in a call to animal shelters and local vets. Is the cat microchipped?

Also, I would consider putting out some sort of box or stool underneath the window and leaving the window open (leaving the other cats locked somewhere else, of course), so that the kitty has a way to get back inside. It probably won't be able to jump up those eight feet, so that's why it will need something to jump on. Again, sprinkling used litter around that area may help keep other cats away.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:20 PM on October 7, 2015

Put out smelly items of clothing along with the food, at all entrances. If this is a new area to him, it will help if he can smell something of his owners to let him know he is in the right area.
posted by Vaike at 3:24 PM on October 7, 2015

nthing patrol at dawn/dusk - this is when you're most likely to see cats wandering around. Our indoor, highly skittish cat got out last month and we were astonished to find out how many cats were in our neighbourhood when we went out at dawn. Have a bag of treats or a tin of tuna ready.

Indoor cats tend not to roam far - ours turned up after four full weeks (!!!) just one street over. Local shelters may also be able to lend you feral cat traps, which are large cages with a pressure plate at one end - you put food on a little shelf and the cat trips the pressure plate, locking it in. The downside of these is that you have to commit to checking them regularly while they're left out - we caught a neighbourhood cat in ours at 3 a.m., and I don't think he'd have been at all happy if I'd not been on hand to let him out straight away.

Don't lose hope! Cats are really good at staying alive. Put posters everywhere - ours was returned to us by a local family who had seen our posters, and I remember thinking it was overkill when we did their street. Be prepared to get lots of red herrings, but remember it only takes one actual sighting to get the cat back. Good luck!
posted by spielzebub at 3:29 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I found this link with great tips- and links to tips from a pet detective!

http://louise0711.hubpages.com/hub/lost-cat

Go out tonight when it's quiet with some small cans of food and treats to shake.
Look again tomorrow to see if there are open doors during the day they may have scooted into, and hand out flyers.

I would wait a day or so before letting my friends know. But then again, I'd be the idiot that changes my plane ticket.
posted by TenaciousB at 5:52 PM on October 7, 2015

If the windowsill is 8 feet off the ground then the cat may not feel comfortable jumping back up on it. Try putting the food on the ground outside the windowsill and waiting nearby. If you have any cat rescue groups nearby they may have Havahart (live animal) traps you can borrow. Try looking through Alley Cat Allies' Feral Friends Network. There are lots of instructions online on how to catch a cat with one of these. You could also buy a trap yourself--you can often find them at hardware stores or if you have Prime you could order through Amazon and pay for cheapish overnight delivery.
posted by Anonymous at 9:04 PM on October 7, 2015

I'm so sorry, but when you responded "I have exhausted all possibilities that the cat is still inside the apartment" I thought, not possible. Unless you actually saw the cat slip out the window, he's probably still inside the house, hiding from you. My advice - before you beat yourself up any further for losing the cat - is to secure the other two kitties in a bedroom with a litter box, food, and water, then set out some yummy cat food and another litter box in the main living area and leave for the night (with the window securely shut). In the morning, if the cat food is untouched and the litter box is unused, then that just means the missing kitty was already hiding in the bedroom where you stashed the other two cats.
posted by kbar1 at 9:10 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

Another tip from a friend: find the vacuum cleaner in the house. Hope it hasn't been cleaned out. Take all of the lint, dirt, cat hair etc., and spread it around outside. Take a good-sized cardboard box, put the cat's litter box in there, and sprinkle the vacuum dust nearby and leading up to the box. My friend got her cat back this way!
posted by barnone at 9:40 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

^ But first vacuum the house, because if the cat is hiding anywhere then vacuuming near its hiding place with scare it out.
posted by Anonymous at 10:58 PM on October 7, 2015

I was house sitting one time and the cat ran up the chimney and hid there. At the very top.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:40 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was house sitting one time and the cat ran up the chimney and hid there. At the very top.

This reminded me how helpful flashlights are- because their eyes glow too.
No update?
posted by TenaciousB at 1:19 AM on October 8, 2015

I haven't read every answer word-for-word, so I don't know if there have been many responses to your question about notifying your friends. I think that's a tough question, especially considering that it may be a false alarm, given that the cat might actually still be in the house. (I agree with the posters who have pointed out that cats can find unbelievable hiding places indoors.)

I also realize that there might be no one clear answer. BUT, if I were your friend, and you were cat-sitting for me, I would absolutely want to know. So my advice (for what it's worth) is to not wait too long to contact your friends and let them know what's going on.
posted by merejane at 12:18 PM on October 8, 2015

Response by poster: Still no cat. Thank you everyone for you input so far. I have heeded much of the advice.

At this point, I can all but confirm that the cat is not in the apartment. If he is, he is not eating , drinking, pooping or peeing. I have contacted the local shelters, posted flyers, talked to neighbors, and looked under just about every dumpster or car in the neighborhood. I'm keeping food outside the back door, and have placed a trash can under the window so he can jump back in that way if he wants.

I still have not contacted his owners. They are in Europe on sort of a post-engagement "honeymoon". They both work incredibly hard and lead pretty stressful lives, and this is their first time overseas. I really hate to interrupt their trip with this, but it seems really dishonest keeping it from them. I feel terrible.

I will post another update later.
posted by easydoesit at 12:35 PM on October 8, 2015

Sad update. I think it is time to maybe reach out to friends best friends there? Perhaps they could help and advise you as to when it would be good to break it to them.
I am afraid I would want to know myself, but a second opinion on that and some help with the search tonight might be helpful.

Pet detective?
posted by TenaciousB at 1:25 PM on October 8, 2015

I would want to know, and I'd be angry if you didn't tell me, and suspicious that it was at least as self-protective as it was considerate. Maybe I'd know something that worked in a similar situation, or this cat's never-fail favorite treat, or something else that might help if only you asked me soon enough. Please give them every chance of helping to get their cat back! I have my fingers crossed for you!
posted by daisyace at 2:07 PM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just went back to read your original post. I see that you wrote "they love this cat. Knowing that he's missing would really taint their experience." I think that what you are saying is that the fact that they love this cat is a reason not to tell them now, as it would ruin their vacation.

But in my view, the fact that they love this cat is all the more reason to let them know. I think it's their right to know about this, especially given how they feel about this cat. Yes, it would be a shame if they had to cut their trip short, and I am sure it will be distressing news, but it is what it is. I think it's their call what to do in this very difficult situation.

Meanwhile, here's hoping you turn around to see the cat sitting there looking up at you! (It has happened to me, with my own cats, after I have searched every last inch of the apartment with no success.)
posted by merejane at 3:18 PM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]

At this point the reason I might contact them is in case they had any kind of info on hiding places or especially good bait for kitty. Also for photos for the lost kitty poster.
posted by oneear at 8:52 PM on October 8, 2015

Sorry to be somewhat repetitive, but -- another reason to contact the owners ASAP is to give them the opportunity to tell you about some hiding place in the apartment that you do not know about. I understand that you have looked high and low, but -- in one apartment that I used to live in, there was one place that honestly, no one could **possibly** have known about unless they saw our cat go in there.
posted by merejane at 9:53 AM on October 9, 2015

Response by poster: The owners now know. They know not because I told them, but because the landlord of the building saw my flyer and sent out an email to all the tenants, including them. With appreciation for all of the advice to the contrary, I still wish they didn't know. Their trip is ruined and there is nothing they have offered in the way of help.

The more important update is that I laid eyes on the cat last night. It was a glorious moment and I thought the problem was solved. No. He found maybe the most impressive cat hiding place on the block. A small, cave-tunnel-hole thing on the opposite side of the building, underneath a staircase. It's big enough for a small cat, but a human getting down there is out of the question. I spent a few hours trying to coax him out with food, string, litter, catnip, and gentle cooing. I almost got my hands on him but he retreating back in the hole and wouldn't come back within arms length for the rest of the night. An extremely helpful woman from a local shelter was kind enough to bring me a live trap that we put some of his food in and left near the opening of the hole. I came back to check on him every hour or so overnight. I could see him set back in the hole a little ways every time I went out, but he never set foot in the cage. The last time I saw him in the hole was around dawn this morning. He hasn't shown his face since and the food and the cage remain untouched. I've taken to walking the streets again, and hung up more flyers in the area where he was. My resurgent optimism is again starting to wane.

Thank you everybody for your guidance and support. I will report back when I find this cat.
posted by easydoesit at 12:25 PM on October 9, 2015 [4 favorites]

Please don't beat yourself up about this. It's just something that happened, cats do shit like this all the time.

The most important thing is that you know he's alive, and he's found a place to hide where he feels safe. He will come out when he's ready. All this is new and very scary to him, but he has the instinct to hide, and he hasn't gone far.

Give him time and be patient. Is the hole somewhere you could sit and wait for him, with an open can of tuna? Take a book, sit by the hole, don't search for him, just let him know you're there and then ignore him, make kitty-cooing noises every now and then and see if he'll come out. If he shows his face, don't whatever you do make a grab for him, just gently and slowly stretch your hand out for him to sniff, then withdraw it, let him come to you.

As far as the owners are concerned, let them know he is in the building in his own little hidey-hole. If they are experienced cat owners, they've probably experienced a disappearing cat at some time in the past.

Keep us posted!
posted by essexjan at 12:38 PM on October 9, 2015 [6 favorites]

If he is in the building- the super should be helping you out- especially to make sure he stays in the building!
posted by TenaciousB at 3:24 PM on October 9, 2015

Also- is this cat very close to one of the other cats? Can you bring one of those down in a carrier to meow to him? It maybe difficult for you to lure him out without his owner's voice - maybe you could get a recording of it?
posted by TenaciousB at 3:40 PM on October 9, 2015

Since the owners know the cat is missing, they'll surely feel better once they know you've laid eyes on him and he's staying close to the building.

Try different kinds of food -- cats are picky, even in extreme situations.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 4:24 PM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: He's back! Some neigbors on the other side of the building spotted him late last night and texted me. Good call on extreme flyering, everyone, and thanks specifically to recite charmingly for providing template. The willingness of you all and RL strangers to help has brought this cat home and just warmed the shit out of my cynical heart. I still might not be a cat person, but I am definitely now a cat person person.
posted by easydoesit at 12:37 PM on October 10, 2015 [37 favorites]

Yay!
posted by essexjan at 3:45 PM on October 10, 2015

Yay- I needed a happy ending!
posted by TenaciousB at 3:48 PM on October 10, 2015