My cat is in the woods and now its raining. what do I do?

Question

My cat was accidently let out 3 days ago and has been in the woods ever since. I know he is there because he responds to me calling but won't come up. He even came up on the porch last night to use this homemade litter box but I was asleep for 3 hours and of course its during this time frame. I went and got a cat trap today and got some dead fish and some tuna but with my luck it starts raining a couple hours later so now I'm so scared. I'm afraid he will be sick and this makes me so sad and I don't know what to do. He has never been out before this past saturday. Help! What do I need? I miss him, I can not go to work or anything.

Answer 1

I am sorry to hear about your cat fiasco...he should come home...but the rain won't cause that.  He clearly knows his house- so just be patient and try leaving the food out.  You may need to go to the woods and try to locate and grab him.  He may be scared and hiding under a bush.  My cat Nico got out once and I searched hi and low- and I ended up finding her under a bush...she never responded to me or anything- but we made eye contact and she let me grab and bath her.

When you get your kitten home- take him to the vet to check him out.

Answer 2

Rather obvious isn't it. Go get it. Get off the computer, and go get it. Problem solved.

Answer 3

Try not to stress yourself out too much - cats are a very tough, and it's true that they do have '9 lives', they can survive pretty much anything.

If it's raining now, he's probably found some shelter somewhere, cats hate the rain and will find the oddest places to seek refuge. When the rain stops, try the food idea again, cats usually always respond to food, especially when they're hungry. Keep calling him, and put food on your porch or just inside your house. If your cat eats cat biscuits, maybe rattle the packet outside, as this is a loud sound. Or make any other noise that your cat would recognise as "dinner time".

When he does appear, don't move too quick, or try to pounce on him, because you'll never catch him. You don't want to scare him off. Just try and call him inside and tempt him with food. As soo as he's inside, close any way of him escaping. If he's wet and cold, dry him off and keep him warm. Also check him for any injuries or ticks or anything else that could have attached itself to his fur while he was out in the woods.

To make sure this happen again, is there any way you can somehow block off the way into the woods? Cats are very adventurous, and will spend hours exploring their territory. This might not be safe for him, or other wildlife in the woods. He could be attacked by another animal, or  could attack another wild animal himself.

A good thing to do would be to definately microchip him and give him a collar with a bell and tag. That way, when he's approching, say, a bird, the bell noise will scare off the bird, and you'll be able to hear where he is.Just make sure the collar isn't too tight and can't get caught on anything. An elastic one is probably best. Don't worry if he reacts badly to it at first, he will become used to it.

Also, he sound slike a kitten maybe? When introducing a kitten to the outdoors, it's best to do it very slowly, as kitten will want to explore everything, usually becoming stuck in places, or running off and not being able to find their way back.

The best thing to have done before letting him out would have been to carry him around your garden a few times, just getting him used to the outside. Then let him out but stay outside with him and watch him. If he goes near a place you don't want him to go, a loud noise, shooing him away, or somethimes even spraying in font of him with a water pistol, will make him run away from that area. Then he will soon lean the message that he's not supposed to go there.

I hope all this helps!

I have two lovely cats of my own, so I am so sorry to hear one of their kitty cousins is missing :(

Answer 4

i don't think your cat likes you.  You should get a dog.  They aren't arrogant like cats are.  

Answer 5

Put the trap on the back deck by the litter box the cat has been using.

Cover the trap with something that will keep it dry.

Put the tuna in the trap.

Then make sure the cat can't see you watching.

I know it's scary, but your cat is having fun being outside where he knows he's not allowed.  He doesn't understand all the risks to being out there.  He won't come to you because that would mean going back inside.  Even turn out any lights that might make him think you could come out again soon.  Make it look like that back door is closed for the night.

Then, there's nothing you can do but wait.  And if you hear the trap close, then lift the tarp away carefully - there's a chance you might catch another cat or animal and you don't want to get scratched.

Hang in there!

Answer 6

go into the woods and find him...  

Answer 7

if your cat is male hes obviously doing his male duties and is servising other cats otherwise hes just cheeky and will come back on his terms, i reccomend you get him neutered and get him microchiped,dont know what else to tell you best of luck.xx

Answer 8

Your cat is probably hiding somewhere from the rain.  He probably won't come out as long as it is raining, but when it stops he may be anxious to come back into the nice warm, dry house.  Even if he does get wet, its not likely to make him sick - he'll dry.  

Answer 9

just make sure you put something outside for cover so then if he needs to take shelter he can go into it. So then he can be dry. If you try to you can cover the cat trap.

Answer 10

your cat will be fine i promise my nanas did that it wonders off for about 4 days because it had a girlfriend/boyfriend dont worry your cat will be back give it a couple of days it would of found some shelter in there any way