How Pets Become Lost: Doesn't Come Home When Let Out

How Animals Become Lost:

Does Not Come Home When Let Out

A cat that already spends time outside has gained some experience, knowledge and tools about being outside. This type of cat is already comfortable and familiar with being outside and has established a type of territory. Compare this to an indoor only cat who feels the outside is as foreign as a distant planet. It is like dropping them on Mars when an indoor only cat gets out. 

When an indoor/outdoor cat with a consistent schedule suddenly does not come home, then something has happened to interfere and prevent them from coming home. One scenario is that the cat decides to check out something beyond their normal territory, goes to far, becomes lost and can’t immediately find their way back in time to be home by their schedule. Many of these cats can eventually find their way back if they can back track and follow their own scent back home. This may explain why some cats can be sometimes be missing for weeks and then suddenly show up back at home, very hungry, thin and in bad shape. 

Next to automobiles, one of the biggest hazards to an outdoor cat is when the cat has a negative interaction with another animal. A second scenario is when they are chased by another cat or a loose dog or wildlife like a raccoon or coyote. If there is a physical confrontation like a fight, extensive injuries can occur to either party. In addition, one of the animals can be chased out of the area and then they find themselves in a strange area and another animal’s territory. This can cause the cat that was chased into being chased out repetively until he finds a territory where another cat doesn’t live. By this time, the cat is so far from his home and very lost. 

A third scenario that does exist where an outdoor access cat with a regular schedule suddenly does not come home is when the cat has been physically picked up and carried away by a person. This could be a person in a car, or walking or on a bicycle. In the beginning of a track, it is not obvious that this has occurred until the actual path can be seen. This is made obvious by the type of track because when a cat travels, it zig zags and skirts the edges of fences, yards, parks and barriers. When an animal is picked up and either carried or put into a vehicle, then the track is straight and goes through crosswalks and up sidewalks, which a walking animal on the street does not do. 

Sometimes when this happens, the same animal can escape from the person who picked them up. Then the animal is suddenly in a totally new and strange place and having to find food, water and a safe place until they can get back home.

A fourth scenario is that many animals with outdoor access can suddenly find themselves stuck in garages, garden sheds, unused cars, under decks and in vans and tracks used by contractors doing work in the area who leave their doors and windows open. An animal may dart inside or under an object, for example, to escape from rain, a loud noise, a loose animal or another aspect that frightened them enough to force them to take quick cover. What happens following this, which causes them to become stuck, is that a person closes a door to a garage, or a car door not knowing that animal is hiding inside. 

Some animals have been known to jump into different types of working vans and trucks in their neighborhood, like mail and package delivery trucks and contractor trucks and moving vans. Typically, these trucks are left open and unattended for long periods while the person is working and bringing items back and forth. These long periods are ideal for scared animals to jump in and hide and be undetected.