[amol4184]

Originally Posted by rkv_2401

Unless dogs can climb up the walls, too...

Dogs won't scale the walls like cats do (spider like) but they do jump high walls and perch on the top. They just aren't confident walking on them and is actually quite funny to see them wobble just like humans unlike cats.

HOWEVER, as its mentioned above by Thad, dogs have herd mentality and will attack a single cat in groups of 5-6. They then corner poor cat in a location where there is nowhere to go. The wall might be too tall for them to jump but they persist on the ground barking incessantly and *some* cats take a bad decision in that moment to jump somewhere else and falling instead to a tragic end. You can often see cats sitting on a tree branch just waiting out herd of dogs on ground to lose their patience.

This was and is still a regular occurrence in our standalone home and we had to shoo away dogs numerous times. Sad to say we weren't always successful.

It also must be noted, many dogs find cats unattainable. On their own they will leave cats alone, but when in a group if there is even a single bad apple/leader then all of them will join the hunt regardless of their interest.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

The articles about cats being solitary animals, and male cats having no role to play in protecting the kittens might not be true. Perhaps different cat colonies have different dynamics. Either that, or it was just a coincidence that the male cat was there at that time, and it thought the dog was attacking him.

Cats are very individual animals, like people, so behaviour will vary from cat to cat, but "articles" like to generalise, and are often wrong.

Our first batch of Indian kittens was often visited by the father. He was a real wild bruiser, as tough as nails. I never dared to touch him! As can be the way with tom cats, as he fought for his top-cat position each day, he began to loose more often, get more badly injured, until he faded away. He was a real softie with the family, but did not interact with us people at all.

My tom cat, having won over the love of his life, had no interest whatsoever in the resultant family. I have known mother cats with no more than minimal skills or interest. I have also known amazing mothers, attentive and protective, along with graded schooling and instruction about the outside world.

My tom and his remaining daughter know that they are family. I have seen them fight together against an intruder. They exchange an occasional friendly sniff, but are not much affectionate beyond that.

[prajosh]

Enzo came in our life on Sharad Purnima of 2022. He was 53 days old then.


Now he is almost 2 years and been on numerous adventures with us. Biggest one was raodtrip from Pune to Himachal in April 2023. Below is the pic from that trip.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

Few days back, a stray cat started roaming around my house. It was small (maybe 6-10 months old).

I was so wrong. Lilly was not 6-10 months old, it is a fully grown Cat (I think). It introduced it's litter to me today. What a pleasant surprise.



It was 06:45 AM, I was still sleeping, my wife shouted to come down ASAP and she has made a "I told you so" face.

Oh boy, what a site. Such cute little kittens. They were hiding in a hilarious way, Lilly was demanding for milk as usual. My heart exploded with joy after seeing these kittens.







Now it is clear that we need to feed her more solids, we being vegetarians can't get her meat. Went online and bought some cat food on Amazon.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

I was so wrong. Lilly was not 6-10 months old, it is a fully grown Cat (I think). It introduced it's litter to me today. What a pleasant surprise.

If I remember correctly, a cat can get pregnant at six months, so you may not be so far out on your original assessment. She can be a mother and still have some growing to do.

Sweet family. Glad you are taking care of them.

I have an "intruder" cat that has been around here for some time. It is very brazen, and makes itself totally at home. It goes (it doesn't run ha ha) away from me because it knows that I do not welcome it. Having got some distance away, it sits and shouts at me!

It is a young tom cat. Having failed to chat up my female youngster, it is now fighting with her. It fights with her father. I really do not have any vacancy for another cat, and they do not accept him. But he shows no sign of giving up.

[amol4184]

A tragedy has stuck us.

One of our cats ran out of harness into a thick shrubbery/wooded area with thorny black berry bushes. We were out in the park with both our cats and one of them, the shy one which I posted earlier was spooked for some reason. He then wriggled his way out of the harness and scared as he is already ran into the rather thick woods - so thick that I couldn't go in after him and he vanished right in front of our eyes.

This happened around 5pm yesterday on July 4th with firework happening till late evening. We haven't slept, hardly eaten anything and just stationing at the park where he ran away. We kept his favorite food as bait near where he vanished, we called out his name with some interval, we took his favorite toys that make sound but to no avail. I can't think straight and completely at the end of our wits.

My hands are trembling as I type this. I wish no one go through this, the pain is unbearable. Our other cat is bored and confused, not eating much. He keeps looking for his brother bewildered and tries to lure him out of somewhere its just heart breaking.

Thought of updating this community as I have had immense help from here before on every topic imaginable.

Please please help with any tips/tricks that you might know?

[true_sedan]

Our semi-pet cat "Cali". We named her so because we thought it was a calico cat at first. Later realised it's a tortoise shell cat. She came wandering into our house asking for food and must've been 4 months old at that time.

First time on whiskas. I must say she loved every bite of it. But we have wanted down whiskas to once a day because it is quite addictive and makes the car hungry often. Fully masked curd rice satiates her better than tailor made cat food.


Go away hoooman. I'm eating look:


Now I'm going to charge you for this photo looks:


Cali and Cali junior:

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by amol4184

A tragedy has stuck us.

One of our cats ran out of harness into a thick shrubbery/wooded area with thorny black berry bushes. We were out in the park with both our cats and one of them, the shy one which I posted earlier was spooked for some reason. He then wriggled his way out of the harness and scared as he is already ran into the rather thick woods - so thick that I couldn't go in after him and he vanished right in front of our eyes.

This happened around 5pm yesterday on July 4th with firework happening till late evening. We haven't slept, hardly eaten anything and just stationing at the park where he ran away. We kept his favorite food as bait near where he vanished, we called out his name with some interval, we took his favorite toys that make sound but to no avail. I can't think straight and completely at the end of our wits.

My hands are trembling as I type this. I wish no one go through this, the pain is unbearable. Our other cat is bored and confused, not eating much. He keeps looking for his brother bewildered and tries to lure him out of somewhere its just heart breaking.

Thought of updating this community as I have had immense help from here before on every topic imaginable.

Please please help with any tips/tricks that you might know?

Cats are territorial, so they don’t go beyond their known area. Look for hiding places that s/he will hide away. Dark spots where no human will be around. You will have to do a bit of looking around along with the hopeful attempts of the cat coming back. Spread the word around with pics shared (guess you already would have done it); ask them to call you if they see the cat.

And take it easy on yourself. This happens more frequently that you would think it does. We have “lost” our cats across Bangalore and Chennai more that we would like to; but every time they have come back or found in the vicinity. The maximum it has taken is 2 days; minimum being a few hours. One of our neighbours cat came back on its own about 3-4 days after it ran out of the house.

[DogNDamsel12]

Originally Posted by amol4184

A tragedy has stuck us.

One of our cats ran out of harness into a thick shrubbery/wooded area with thorny black berry bushes. We were out in the park with both our cats and one of them, the shy one which I posted earlier was spooked for some reason. He then wriggled his way out of the harness and scared as he is already ran into the rather thick woods - so thick that I couldn't go in after him and he vanished right in front of our eyes.

This happened around 5pm yesterday on July 4th with firework happening till late evening. We haven't slept, hardly eaten anything and just stationing at the park where he ran away. We kept his favorite food as bait near where he vanished, we called out his name with some interval, we took his favorite toys that make sound but to no avail. I can't think straight and completely at the end of our wits.

My hands are trembling as I type this. I wish no one go through this, the pain is unbearable. Our other cat is bored and confused, not eating much. He keeps looking for his brother bewildered and tries to lure him out of somewhere its just heart breaking.

Thought of updating this community as I have had immense help from here before on every topic imaginable.

Please please help with any tips/tricks that you might know?

I would trust a cat to come back several times more than that of a dog. As a cat owner I am sure you know this much more than me that they find their way home and have a sharper territorial instinct. I can imagine how hard this must be for you and the family. Unless something worse has happened like being attacked by another animal or sometimes when they really are terminally ill they often tend to do it away from the family or them getting stuck somewhere - they should not lose their way, and they are exceptionally good with squeezing in through small spaces. I sincerely hope and pray that you little one comes back home safely. May be they are hiding from the fireworks for a while and sleeping somewhere. They nap for hours. Don't lose heart!

[dailydriver]

10 Downing Street has had a Chief Mouser since long, reports Financial Express.

A bit removed from the traditional concept of pet, yet nothing but a stellar example of the concept in a broader sense, Larry is ready to welcome and work with his sixth master in just more than a decade.



Here's more on the topic.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

And take it easy on yourself. This happens more frequently that you would think it does. We have “lost” our cats across Bangalore and Chennai more that we would like to; but every time they have come back or found in the vicinity. The maximum it has taken is 2 days; minimum being a few hours. One of our neighbours cat came back on its own about 3-4 days after it ran out of the house.

Originally Posted by DogNDamsel12

I would trust a cat to come back several times more than that of a dog. As a cat owner I am sure you know this much more than me that they find their way home and have a sharper territorial instinct. I can imagine how hard this must be for you and the family. Don't lose heart!

Many thanks for this! As of 8th July he is still lost, that's 4 days now. In the meanwhile we did a few things to find him.

1. He has a chip so informed the chip company the cat is lost. If someone scans his chip, it has all our contact details. We are hoping some good Samaritan finds him and takes to shelter/vet.
2. Camped outside where he bolted into the woods for hours, hoping that he will eventually come out but he has not.
3. Went out at dusk and dawn when cats are most active. E.g. at 3.30-4.30 AM and took his favorite toy that makes a sound when shaken.
4. Set out two different traps with food as bait. He likes Tuna and chicken recipes so kept those as baits. Didn't catch him but a possum got caught twice in one of the traps. I believe that possum has a nest there.
5. Went out at night with flashlights and shined the light in all nooks and crannies hoping to reflect his eyes.
6. Printed small fliers and distributed them to neighbors and local businesses nearby.
7. Printed large neon posters and stapled them at 2 intersections near to where he got lost with my contact details and his photos.
8. Posted to many, many FB lost pets groups as well as on NextDoor app. Continuously checking all those apps for updates and if anyone found him. Also checking all the shelters pages, local police department's animal control page and few other lost pets related databases.
9. Employed a drone based search and rescue operation that uses DJI Matrice thermal drone for thermal and IR imaging. They combed the area for 2 hours but thermal did not return anything that looked like a cat. They then attached a downwards facing flashlight and flew low over the treetops in case the cat climbed on a tree and got lost - no luck either.
The only good thing that came out of thermal imaging was no other predators like coyote or bear were spotted. The thermal works pretty deep and can spot an animal on the ground level but it is not foolproof if the woods are thick, with dense shrubbery at the bottom. The area where our cat got lost is extremely dense with thorny shrubs at the ground level and dense woods on top.
The SAR guys confirmed the same that he is most likely still there even though he wasn't spotted in thermals. I have kept both the traps in same location still.
10. One more thing that we did was to take our other cat (Roman) in the carrier to the place where he (Chico) got lost in the hopes that Roman will meow and draw Chico out - but to our surprise, Roman absolutely did not make a sound. He was stressed so much, for one hour he sat motionless in the carrier without making a single sound. We took him home feeling sorry for him. Now, as soon as we go into storage room where the carrier is kept, Roman is scared and hides under the sofa.

Losing heart everyday and feel like we have reached the end of our wits. Just hoping he didn't travel too far out to never find the scent trail back home. Everyday we are making multiple trips to the park on foot so that we leave a scent trail to our home. The traps are also covered with our used clothes as that was a tip given by many professional cat trappers.

We continue to go to the park and keep looking for any sightings multiple times a day and night.
Next plan is to get a small rescue operation team that has trained dogs that smell/track cats. Right now its 35 degree C in Seattle and the extreme heat cripples the dogs. They are also incredibly busy and sank deep in hundred of cases recently, not sure if I will be able to get them to find Chico.

Past few days have been terrible. His brother has lost playfulness and keeps searching for Chico. He he bewildered and bored. We look at him and feel so bad . Bonded animals when separated lose their shine and persona just like humans.

Just 6-7 months since we got these two and look how they become part of your heart, your life.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Many thanks for this! As of 8th July he is still lost, that's 4 days now. In the meanwhile we did a few things to find him.

Don't want to spam but I have a semi-good news!

I had also set-up trail/hunting cameras with IR vision and one of the 3 cameras finally caught sighting of my boy Chico.

Unfortunately, he walks right past the trap even though there is food inside. It looks like he is not trusting the trap or has instinct built in his DNA not to go in such devices.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Don't want to spam but I have a semi-good news!

I had also set-up trail/hunting cameras with IR vision and one of the 3 cameras finally caught sighting of my boy Chico.

Unfortunately, he walks right past the trap even though there is food inside. It looks like he is not trusting the trap or has instinct built in his DNA not to go in such devices.

This is excellent news. And this aligns with the experience we had with one of our cat when he ran away due to an open door left by our maid.

Like your boy, he was the shy one and paranoid about everything. But we finally caught him in our apartment parking area after we set up a camera on the second day (on suspicion that he might be around) and caught him moving around at night and at times even playing around at night. But he left the food we kept untouched.

Basically, my point is your Chico has skills on which can possibly survive in his outside life too. At least for a while. He’s probably hiding away in some dark unreachable corner during the day and uses the night to come out and explore/forage for food, etc.

[Thad E Ginathom]

One of my young cats escaped from a vet surgery. I have lost touch with everyone I knew in that street, but she was known to be around for quite a while, but evaded capture and would not meet me. I sent there at all odd hours hoping to be lucky before giving up.

[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Many thanks for this! As of 8th July he is still lost, that's 4 days now. In the meanwhile we did a few things to find him.

What an exhilarating tale and the amount of efforts you have put. So glad that the cat has been spotted (mentioned in your following post).

Putting up a drone search and an SAR using sniffer dogs. Blows my mind.
Hope you are united soon enough. Would be a blessing to Roman too. Eagerly waiting for your next post.