Ok, but you do not need to cry over it. This article will be a cure to your, ‘my cat ran away and won’t come back.’ Losing a beloved pet could no doubt, be a heart-breaking moment. You must keep thinking about it over and over again. Try to pull yourself together and think about it with a clear mind. Once you find the reason for its running away like maybe being ignored by you, you could sort the means to get it back too.
Let us commence step by step and try to help you in the best way to get your feline back.
Something about your ran away cat
One thing you need to make sure of is that to know if your cat ran away on purpose or is lost.
In both of these scenarios, the same strategies could be applied but the reasons might be different though.
And also, if it ran away intentionally, it would be difficult to get it back, however, is not impossible.
Steps to take if your cat ran away and won’t come back
So, what can be done if your cat is lost and you want it back, but for some reason, you cannot get it back.
Here are some ways that might help you to sort out your trouble:
1. Stay Calm-Do not worry:
First of all, you need to do is, pull yourself together and no need to worry. You need a clear mind and think about where your cat might be gone and ways to get it back.
It might take your struggle so; you must mentally and physically prepare for it.
Just remember that most of the pet felines do not leave and go far away. They are thought to remain within an estimated five house radius.
They are actually hiding and laying low because they know they are lost. And you need to go and get them.
But in order to do that, you need to come back to your senses despite staying in bed and crying and regretting it all day.
Now, buckle up and go look for your beloved pet.
2. Search at your place and the neighborhood:
It might be a possibility that your cat has run away and does not want to be found. Cats are well-known for hiding in places that are not easy to look for.
When you know that your cat is missing, you need to conduct a thorough search at your place, indoors, in the garden, yards, area around the porch, and the garage.
If searching in the evenings, use the flashlights. Also, tag along some of the reeking but tastier treats in order to lure your feline friend.
It is somewhat handy that you should go from door to door and inquire from the neighbors and acquaintances on the streets that if they had seen your pet.
While looking for them, keep calling their names for some time so that your voice might become a point of reference and help your feline find its way back.
3. Leave a missing report for the lost cat:
You should carry out the search and also do not waste any time. Make sure that you must leave a missing report for your feline.
You ought to inform your vet and other local veterinary centers, the Animal Control Centers, the animal rescue groups, and the animal shelters. But be careful when getting a cat back from shelters, it may be possible that your cat might develop FIP during its stay in shelters.
Leave the photo of your cat with them and also your contact information so that if they find or have any clue, they could notify you.
Local rescue groups often go for some other methods like laying down a trap. Hence, you can also take their suggestion on putting down the trap for your cat.
This would be a little help though.
Apart from the shelters, use the online and social networking platforms. It has the widest search results.
The most sharing your post of the lost cat gets viral, there are the most chances you would find your feline.
Just do not leave any stone unturned. Try harder and harder for the sake of your cat.
4. The missing cat posters:
Making a lost cat poster for your indoor cat is not lame at all. So, do make one!
You do not make it fancy. Just make sure that the important parts like ‘the missing cat’ are large and visible enough to even read from a distance.
The poster should have an enlarged photo of your cat that might show its features clearly. Also, add some common description details of your cat on the poster.
This information can include, the name of your pet, the color, the color of the collars, any identifying marks if any, and also your contact with some reward if you can offer.
The photo should be a colored one so that there is no ambiguity in the recognition of your cat.
Now, when you are done with the poster, paste it everywhere that could be seen easily and spread over a larger area.
Also, ask for help from your family and friends to distribute and circulate the flyovers all around the neighborhood and the nearest areas.
Indoor pets do not go far away and can not live on the streets for a long time.
They would be hiding in the vicinity or trying to tag along with some other neighbor of yours. The more you look for them, the more is the chance you will get them.
5. Keeping your head in the search of looking for the lost feline:
Just do not sit idle and wait for your beloved pet to come back itself. This is not the time to waste.
Think about where your cat can go? Being an indoor cat, it would not be familiar with many places. Go look for it everywhere that it knows or has been there.
There might be many spots that it would like to hide that you would be also aware of, the bushes or the rooftop.
Maybe your feline is tagging along with some other cats or dogs. Keep looking around for it with other pets in your area.
Also, one probability is that your cat might have jumped into the courier truck or any delivery car that came to your place. Ask them too.
It is sad to mention but look for any animal accidents around your neighborhood. Maybe your cat got into one and it needs you now.
Stop by the roadsides and paths to ensure that your cat is not there in a bad shape waiting for you to show up.
Quick tips and tricks to lure your cat back home
You can follow these quick tips and tricks which could help in getting your beloved feline back just in case:
1. Keep the garage or back door open:
This is a simple trick. Keeping in view the nature of the cats, it is better to keep the garage and back doors open.
Cats usually like to sneak in with alternative pathways. Hence, we cannot miss any chance that they would go back.
It is a possibility that they might use these ways to get back home. It is better to keep them open because we cannot make them run away upon reaching closed doors.
Be positive that you might find them sitting, meowing, and scratching on your doorstep.
2. Appealing Scents:
Have something that might appeal to your cat’s sense of smell, all over your place, under the tree, in your neighborhood, and around your house.
You can do that by putting blankets or toys that have their specific smell in the vicinity of your house.
They have a particular smell that only belongs to your feline, and they would definitely assess it.
This would help your beloved cat to come back to your place as they would get familiar with their aroma and fall for it.
A pet cat would no leave for long, hence, it will definitely find its way back and these are a few hints you are leaving for it.
3. Use food as a source to get them back:
Another trick that could work in your case is that use food as an alternative to lure them back.
For that purpose, you need to use food products that have a proper smell, and which could also amuse your feline.
Some examples are tuna, sardines, or other kinds of stinky food whose smell would act as bait for your cat.
Also, keep reheating the food overtime to make the aroma still stronger because you do not know when the pet of yours would come and feel it.
4. Run away cat might attract towards your voice:
Pet felines are attracted to everything their owner has to offer that includes affection as well as your voice and smell.
When going out to look out for your cat, shout its name in your normal voice, but not crying or pleading.
Maybe the cat would not recognize if there is a change in your voice. Act normal and call out its name normally.
Feline would know it at once and follow it until it gets to you.
When going out to find your beloved cat, the smell of yours acts as a plus point.
So, do not lose hope and call out its name as you do at your home. If the cat would be present in the surrounding area, it will surely respond.
5. Stay Awake-Stay Alert:
Most of the research from the cat owners, whose cats were lost, report that their cats returned in the late night or early mornings.
Hence, you need to stay alert all the time at night too that you might hear any paws scratching or meowing at your door.
Another thing you can use is a baby sensor, that might give a signal when your cat comes up meowing at your place.
This might be helpful too though.
Suggestions to avoid running of your cat:
Well, it is better to not let your cat go in the first place than to look for ‘my cat ran away and won’t come back.’
Following are some suggestions that you should keep in mind to prevent the loss of your feline.
1. Use of collars and microchips for your cats:
The first thing that all pet owners must do that use the collars or microchips as identification tags for their felines.
In any case, if the cat gets missing, they are easy to locate and get back.
Collars are one of the simplest ways to ensure your cat’s safety. The collar has the cat’s basic information as well as your contact information so that it could be recognized by anyone.
As for the microchips, they are a permanent ID for pets till the end of their lives. It is about a size of a rice grain and is injected under the skin of a cat between the blades of the shoulder.
That microchip has all information about the pet and your personal contacts too that can be scanned and emit a lower frequency signal.
This helps in the identification of the pet that is under investigation.
2. Make your cat’s life full of excitements:
Cats are anxious by nature. They like to have complexities around them. They hate a boring life.
One reason they might run is that they are just fed up with the monotonous routine.
So, they have decided to go out to see the world by themselves just to soothe their curiousness.
It is better to take the responsibility yourself of lightening up your feline’s life than to let them make their move.
Offer them fun activities, complex but interesting toys, a routine that includes a walk to see the world outside, and anything which would make them happy.
3. Treat them with Good Facilities:
Better facilities are one of the important things that you can present to your feline. Cats do have a thing of life that is full of luxuries.
The finest food and drinks, the toys, their furry blankets, and the nicest spots for them to sit and relax are very essential.
They do look for these amenities without any doubt.
Be sure to furnish them with the things they like to have or else, they have no option to leave you and find a healthier place than yours.
4. Affection and Attention for your cat:
Cats are the creatures that crave your affection and attention. They yearn for your love only for themselves by nature.
They would even get frustrated and irritated if they are not getting the kind of care, they want from you. Your ignorance might make them go away.
Your feline wants you to make them feel special and they would do anything to get it from you as they would even lick your earlobe without any hesitance just to drive your attention towards them.
And hence, if you fail to fulfill their emotional desires, they will have no other option to first bite and use its claws on you and finally leave you.
Conclusion
You would have got the answer to, ‘my cat ran away and won’t come back.’
Just stay calm, take a deep breath, grab your flashlights and some treats, and now go out and look for it.
Being a pet, it would not have gone far away. Try to look for it at all the places where it can hide.
Try to go and look out for it in the night because there is this thing that your cat might be afraid to come out in the day.
Call out its name many times which may act like a firefly that guides your cat to find its way back.
This would be difficult but not impossible, eventually, you will find your beloved feline.