How long can an outdoor cat go missing?

It isn’t uncommon for cats to go missing for 24 hours, especially if they like spending a lot of time outdoors. In some cases, cats can even stay away from home for up to 10 days at a time.

Do cats come back after a few days?

Some adventurous cats can also spend a couple of days outside and come back as if nothing happened. They might have been led by prey or have smelled another cat in heat and not have followed their routine.

Will escaped cats come home?

If they have ever escaped before they will run the same direction and go the same place they did before (even if it was years ago). Cats will usually stay within a 3-4 house radius from where they went out as long as they can find a place to hide within that area.

How likely is a cat to return home?

Looking through years of case records of hundreds of missing cats, the number one way cats are found is that they simply come home in about twenty percent of missing cat cases. If your cat is going to come home on his own, looking for him, in the proper way, certainly won’t hurt his chances of coming home.

How far will a cat roam?

According to Dr John Bradshaw of the School of Veterinary Science at Bristol University and author of Cat Sense, most cats roam between 40 and 200 metres (131 and 656 feet) from the home. One exception to this is farm cats who will cover a much larger area.

Do cats find their way home when they are lost?

Even though cats possess a seemingly miraculous homing instinct, that doesn’t mean that all lost cats will find their way home. Even though exclusively indoor cats live longer and are safer from trauma and infectious disease, they may have a reduced homing ability and may become disorientated and frightened if lost outdoors.

What should I do if my cat goes missing?

It’s critical that you immediately search the local shelters for your cat if he disappears. Displaced cats often end up in the shelter weeks, and even months, after they were initially lost. They are taken in by people who find them.

What happens when a cat runs away and goes missing?

Cats sometimes run away and go missing, and sometimes they return home. They can be gone for several days or disappear entirely. For a cat guardian, this is an emotional and upsetting experience. We often trust our cats to return home, but what happens when they don’t?

Where do stray cats go when they don’t return home?

In cases like this, frightened cats will not return home by themselves. They end up at the shelter. People who find a “stray” cat may bring it to the shelter.