Indoor cats escaping is very common. Finding and recovering the little critters is difficult unless you understand how they adapt to their new found independence.
1) A cat will stay within 2 or 3 hundred yards of it’s home for as long as 6 or 8 months.
2) You home will be the center of the cat’s territory.
3) A cat will switch to nocturnal only ways within only one or two days.
4) You will NEVER see the cat during the daylight hours.
5) Put out food and water near your back door.
6) If you have a video camera to watch the food bowl, use it and put a time tag on the video. (If you don’t have a video camera, then watch through the window for a 2 hour period every night, after midnight or preferrably start watching 90 miutes to 2 hours before sunrise.
7) Your cat will visit the food once every hour or two during the night.
I have shown at least 15 people with lost cats this method and every one of them recovered their kitties. Three years ago, my own daughter’s cat escaped the day she moved into a new home and neighborhood. It took her 3 weeks to recover her cat even though she was able to see the food go mssing every night.
Great post.