[posting on behalf of a friend] Had this cat a week and since Friday he has been AWOL in my flat. There's no possible way he could have escaped and he hasn't had any food/water as I've been closely monitoring the levels since he went missing. I've asked around and no one else has had a similar situation. Can anyone please advise?? I know he is likely scared and assimilating but it's already been a while and I'm not sure what I can do. Please help!

by Geeta25

33 comments

  3. No help now, but when you find them I’d recommend attaching an AirTag to its collar. You can trigger a beep that should help you locate the cat.

  4. Silence and salmon will get him out. Then just chilling in his vicinity. He’ll be all up in your snuggles before you know it.

  5. When I couldn’t find mine, there was often a good chance they were _in_ the couch

  6. All you can do is check dark, quiet, warm places. You can also try putting out stinky food for it in certain rooms and just sitting in silence.

    Either way it’ll come out on its own if it’s definitely still in the flat. I don’t want to add to the worry but cats are also master escape artists so it’s not impossible that it slipped out of a door or window when you didn’t notice.

  7. Round the back of the kitchen cupboards, maybe there’s a loose kickboard?

  8. Lost mine under the bed once…. she climbed into a open drawer and then slipped over the back of it and under the bed..

  10. If they have no idea where the cat is, I don’t believe it is *impossible* they escaped. How can they guarantee that if they can’t work out where the cat could potentially be hiding? How do they know they didn’t tear a hole somewhere?

    Have they pulled the fridge/oven/washing machine out? Have they emptied their closets? Have they checked inside the washing machine/dishwasher?

  11. I’m the third person in the comments to recommend it, but definitely try IN the sofa.

  12. Have you tried checking under the bath/behind the bath panel? The piping behind toilets/sinks isn’t closed off in the UK and my cat used the tunnel created by them to get under the bath when she was a kitten. Not sure exactly how to describe it but I can provide a picture of what I mean if it’s not super clear.

  13. Do you have reclining seats? Ours used to climb up in the frame

  14. Do you have any cupboards? Check in those. Take everything out systematically and look in every spot. Cats hide up high or down low, in dark spaces. My mum’s friend’s cat went missing for some time when I was a toddler, and somehow I knew (maybe heard her meowing) she was shut in the hallway cupboard.

    Also one time my own cat freaked out on me in uni when I had friends round, and I was distraught because he had literally disappeared. Nobody saw him escape. I tore my flat apart searching for him and as a last resort I went into the kitchen (the door had been shut the whole time and these were HEAVY doors that would shut on their own) and went through the kitchen cupboards (which weren’t heavy doors but had also all been shut) and he was cowering behind the cleaning products under the sink.

  15. The Kitchen cupboards, the attic, under the bed, the airing cupboard or the chest of drawers. Mine loved the chest of drawers, would get in it from the back of the drawers.

  18. Check any drawers that have clothes in. My cat once spent a day and a half shut in a drawer snuggled among my jumpers. Didn’t seem to hurt or upset her at all.

  19. Once my cat got lost in the flat and we found her _inside_ the couch, where she climbed up after ripping up the lining on the bottom.

    It is however unlikely that he’s been hiding without any food/water at all since Friday.

  20. All I can say is that every single time I’m sure my cat couldn’t have possibly escaped the flat…she’s outside the front door because she absolutely escaped the flat and went on a stroll in the building.

  21. Try looking for “cat attraction sound” on YouTube.
    Some of them work INSTANTLY on my cat when I don’t know where she’s hiding and she comes up barging in with some of these videos.

    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p56fpxl7WEA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p56fpxl7WEA)

  22. Places I’ve found a missing cat in a small flat: behind the washer/dryer, in the washer/dryer, underneath a couch that surely should’ve been way too small to fit a cat, underneath a fitted sheet – no clue how the cat got there, between the fridge and wall, on top of the cabinets – cat was very dusty after that, under the sink – cupboard didn’t have handles so that was impressive

    Basically, you need to check everywhere, even the places you wouldn’t think a cat could get to.

  23. Happened to the previous renter of my flat. The cat got scared as he was moving out and hid. We thought there was no way in hell the cat was still inside the house as several days went by and the car had no water and no food. 

    Turns out the cat was inside the lower step of the staircase BEHIND a closed wooden panel next to the electricity panel. Crazy stuff. 

  24. That’s concerning, especially if they haven’t had any food or drink. Do you have a recliner? I’ve heard of cats climbing inside. They are IMO unsafe to have if you own cats.

    Also, check anywhere that’s dark. Cupboards, drawers etc

    Are you sure they haven’t got out the front door? You’d be surprised how many times my cat has left the house and I haven’t noticed, through an open door, even if it’s just a second.

    Leave some tuna and treats out over night in a quiet area of the house and leave all internal doors and cupboards open. See if the food has gone by morning.

  25. Check not just *in* drawers, but *behind* them – whenever mine went missing she was *inside* the base of my divan bed, behind the drawers.

  26. I lost my kitten once. Looked absolutely everywhere, no chance of her getting out. I felt like I was going insane.

    I was stood in the bathroom on the verge of a melt down. And then I looked down at the Bath. Just stared at it for a bit.

    I didn’t even know it was possible, but she’d gone under the sink to get behind the Bath panel and was tucked right at the back under the floorboards.

    Do you have a bath?

  27. Have you tried shaking a box of Dreamies? You might need a plasterer afterwards though

  28. From personal experience. Out of an upstairs window, across the roof, in through a neighbour’s window and asleep on their bed. Or inside the couch or chairs, especially if they are recliners. Inside a kitchen cabinet. On top of the fridge. Any boxes, also a firm favourite.

    Oh, and last week, inside the laundry basket buried underneath the clothes. Scared the shit out of me when they started to move.

    Edit: just remembered another one, has anyone been round with a backpack, suitcase or something similar. They might have accidentally took someone with them.

  30. My cat’s favourite places are behind the waste pipe behind the toilet which leads to underneath the bath, in the wardrobe, and underneath the kitchen cupboards. Anywhere you think they can’t get to, they probably can.

  31. Update – Have tried leaving food out, playing cat noises, checking in most places (but will check in unlikely places asap), but am now just genuinely very concerned about the well-being of the cat. There’s a very small chance he may be outside but there’s two front doors so we would have known if he left. Also no proper chimney either. Will need to check all floorboards and in warmer areas of the house. Thanks all for your help!

  32. Do you have a fireplace? We once lost a cat up the chimney….

  33. My best advise is to calm down. He can feel your stress levels, I would put £100 on he comes out when you are fast asleep to explore but your monitoring his food/water and looking for him is stressing him out. Even if you can’t see him he is hidden watching you.
    OP, lie on the sofa with a comfy blanket and stare at the tv. Eat snacks and pretend you don’t know what cats are. He will appear

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