r/outdoorcats

So my cat hasn’t been back since Saturday Aug. 15th and I’m really torn up about it. She’s always come home after being let out. I always had a bad feeling something like this would happen, but she is miserable if I make her stay in and I guess I just kind of believe in letting cats just be cats. I guess my question is how many of you have been reunited with their cat after they have disappeared? I ride my bike around the neighborhood calling her every day, and have posted on every lost pet website. I feel so helpless. Anything else I can do?

i have an indoor/outdoor orange boy who’s about 2.5 years old. he goes outside because he demands it and it absolutely miserable and makes everyone in the house miserable if he can’t go out. all of a sudden, he’s started to get into something every day that scratches his nose to the point where it just keeps growing because it can’t heal. i kept him in for a week so it could fully heal, which was challenging but we managed, and i just let him out again and he got another scratch.

i tried following him to see what he’s doing or where he’s going that’s causing the scratches but when i’m around he mostly just pays attention to me and it’s hot out and i feel like it could take hours to actually figure it out, which still seems pretty unlikely.

what other options do i have outside of just never letting him out again or just leaving an open wound on his nose?

help! has anyone dealt with anything like this before? is there anything i can get that can maybe protect his nose from getting scratched over and over again?

Myself (26F) and my mom (53F) have had a stray Siamese cat “live” in our backyard since May 2025. At first, she (we call her Momma Cat) stayed in the bushes with her two kittens. Of course, we immediately started putting out food and water for them.

Over the next couple of months, we see the kittens go from two to one, to eventually none. Then, in about November, Momma Cat disappears for a few months and we finally see her again in January. Now, she has her ear clipped (indicating she has been fixed) and looks much bigger and fluffier than previously. So, given these observations, I’d say she’s about 2-2 1/2 years old.

Well, she’s gone from being a neighborhood stray to pretty much only being in my backyard. I see her there all day long. She even sleeps right on the other side of my screen door. But, if I open the door she still runs away, doesn’t come near me when i’m outside, and hisses if I get too close. Also, yes, we do have a pretty decked out cat spot for her in the backyard.

However, I also have 2 male cats, one is 5(tuxedo)and one is 6(orange tabby). One of my cats (tuxedo) and Momma Cat will rub their full bodies on the screen door and will turn over on their backs and all. No angry hissing or loud meowing. I think my tuxedo cat realllly wants to hang out with her, but please tell me if y’all know more about stray cat behavior than I do because I know veryyy little.

Anyways, all of this being said, I’m not sure if I should try to take her in, or if we should just keep being her trusted little space. I’m scared if I try to get her and I fail then she won’t come back and will be in danger. I’ve never caught a cat outside who’s been older than a kitten, and she’s definitely feral enough to be pretty bothered by humans. Also, I don’t wanna traumatize the poor girl by locking her inside with two cats already. Or, does the sleeping by the screen door and rubbing against the glass with my cat indicate she *wants* to come inside but is just a little scared?? I know nothing about strays.

Thanks for reading my ramble, and I appreciate any advice :)

Hey guys, i have a make cat hes 1. He loves playing in my backyard, how would when i started letting him out he got fleas. We got meds for him and now hes fine. I noticed all day he stares outside so sometimes i pick him up and walk in the backyard but he fights me to go down. Any advice/ meds on how to let him outside without him getting fleas again?

Country: Poland

Cat age: 15

Cat sex: male, neutered

Vet info: we haven't contacted them yet but are planning to. We can afford vet care.

My 15 year old indoor-outdoor cat is constantly going missing and returning for the past two months. We never had similar problems with him, he always came back for the night / showed up the following morning. He is neutered.

Mid June he was watching me cut a tree in the garden and that was the last time I saw him during the first missing period. It was the roughest weather this whole year where I live. 38+ degrees Celsius and no rain for a couple weeks. The family was also incomplete because my father was in hospital (idk if it matters). He came back after exactly two weeks and behaved like nothing happened. Went straight to the bowl to eat. Our other cat (4, neutered) didn't seem surprised by his return. Next day we found a wound on his neck, but it was nearly healed and didn't hurt (no reaction to touching). I suspect the wound was why he hid from us that long. We sadly didn't have time to get him to the vet then, but the wound healed properly by itself pretty fast. We are currently booking a visit for a checkup and to get him chipped.

A month later me and mom went on vacation and cats stayed with my dad. Once again, the family was incomplete and it was another exceptionally hot week. After a couple days the cat went missing once again. After two weeks he quietly showed up in the living room. I haven't found any wounds this time, but I also didn't have much time to look because he was gone in like 15 minutes.

Showed up 3 days later. No wounds. Currently laying next to me and purring, but doesn't really want to cuddle. What do you think might be the reason? What do we do next? I suspect he might have found a new home or is starting to develop dementia.

TL;DR: My 15yo cat went from coming home every night to vanishing for 2-week stretches over the past two months. The missing periods overlap with heat waves, some family members travelling and a neck wound.

I left my house on Wednesday & my cat sitter has not seen my JoJo the whole time. I'm worried sick, made a recording of me calling him, girl cat is inside. Catsitter says poops in litterbox are different sizes so he must be there. Breaks my heart leaving them. 😢

I need something to keep my semi-ferals in my fence so my neighbors dont do anything and they stay safe from cars. I was thinking about getting the rollers that the brand "coyote rollers" offer, does anyone have experience with these? Or maybe other options that for sure will work?

Red Fox on a Log in the Woods with a Rat It Killed in It's Mouth

So I have a 7 year-old female cat called Chich, we adopted her last year as she was originally the neighbor's cat but she kept coming over so we took her in. The street we live in is a dead end, so there are not many cars, there are two dogs that don't seem to bother her and a few other cats that rarely wander into our garden, so Chich is allowed to go outside a lot at home, she knows the street and can find her way home but she mostly stays in our garden.

We are currently on vacation in our house in the countryside and we took her with us. This is her third time coming so she wasn't too stressed as she rediscovered the house. However, the last two times she did not go outside at all because there are many dogs, cats and cars but this time I wanted to try it.

I tried to get her used to her harness but after a few tries she runs away when I pick it up or hides under the bed.

So I decided to take her outside while supervising her. The first time went fine (I had to lure her back in with food), the second time she got up on a small window that we have in our garden wall and another cat showed up so I had to take her back inside, the third time she got up on the wall but came back down and I lured her with food. However the fourth time was unintentional. We were eating dinner outside and had locked her upstairs. One window was open and she jumped from the first story into the garden (which I thought she wouldn't do). We let her stay outside while watching her and that's where it went downhill.

She climbed a tree and got up on the back wall and into our neighbor's yard(said neighbor is absent currently). We tried to lure her in with food, to no avail. The neighbor's cat then chased her and she climbed back on the wall and went towards our garden. We got a hold of her at this moment before she could come down on her own and she was very stressed so she scratched my dad. She then seemed quite scared because she hid under the table and she wasn't aggressive but she didn't come for pets like he usually does when I reach out my hand. We got her back inside and she is pretty much back to normal.

What should I do ? I really don't want to lock her inside and it's a pain to have to manage every window and door in the house. We also want her to get outside time because she is very playful and happy when she does. I really can't force her to put the harness on and I don't want her to be scared of me because of it. I feel like she could get back home but I'm scared she won't and our regular house is across the country.

Thanks for any advice

TL; DR : we are on vacation in our house in the countryside which my cat is familiar with but it's her first time being outside there, I can't put her on a harness and we are getting mixed results and I am scared she could get lost. What should I do ?

Hi, we have a problem and I'd like to hear some advice, have pretty limited info as I have what I get from my mom, I live way too far. But I'll try to include everything important.

Our cat lives part home and part outside, I don't agree with this cat lifestyle, but not up to me to decide. She's a year young, so still can be taught and re-taught hopefully. She had the habit of following us when we go outside. Have a store a few meters away, she goes with us and waits up to a few minutes. That wasn't really a problem, she stayed in the area. Now the problem, 2 days ago my mom had her morning shift and left home at 3:15 am, but cat followed her to her workplace. That's like 20 minute walk for me, for mom it's around 30 minutes. So cat took a half an hour walk with my mom to her workplace. Some good samaritans in the store next door gave our cat some poultry. Until mom's shift is done a cat is posted on Facebook as a suspected missing cat in her usual spot by our house. So she found her way home. Today the story repeats, mom leaves for morning shift, cat follows, gets some meat and goes home.

Obviously we don't want our cat taken away and it's very unusual for a sterilized female cat to go such long distance on a daily basis. Maybe she found route that isn't claimed by other cats, but she shouldn't keep territory this huge. Plus my mom is her head caretaker in the sense of feeding and cleaning litterbox, but she doesn't give her any affection and the cat doesn't hear on mom's calls, only lil bro's.

How would you try to re-taught the cat? I did suggest feeding her right before leaving the doors and closing her at home. Mom is also looking into the possibility that cat feels something medically wrong with her. Tomorrow mom doesn't have a shift, so she'll try to leave but keep cat home, so we'll see. Any advice welcomed!

Edit: Other concern I suddenly acquired is the fact that neighbours have outdoor only cats that enter our garden on regular basis and this little lady cat doesn't defend this territory very successfully. Is it possible she lost this territory and lost interest and tries to find a new one? Could we get rid of the mark of other cat and replace it with our cat's marks?

Edit 2: Thanks for the suggestions! Thankfully mom took a 2 week time off, so no one will be leaving the house until dawn. Both the adults will keep an eye on cat when leaving the house and use treats to distract if necessary, so she will not be escorting anyone anymore. Plan B if she slips out, she'll be led back home. And plan C personnel in the butcher's will be asked not to feed her. For the "our garden isn't her safe space" the other cats will be shooed away as they are skittish of people and hopefully we won't have to step up and get a cat repellent for the fence that separates their and our garden. Thankfully since the cat will be kept home for more time now, her emergency dry food outside won't be necessary anymore and that should also keep the other cats away, hopefully. So fingers crossed, it will just be a funny story how our cat escorted my mum twice to work and landed herself on Facebook 😂

So I've been feeding an outdoor stray for the past 4 months or so. I built an insulated cat box that has a heating pad I purchased at Chewy. I live in NC winters at times can be below zero so my question is, is this enough protection from the elements for this boy to be happy?

Looking for a cat door. Will not be using sure flap as the reviews aren’t great. Partner is mainly concerned about wild animals making their way through the door and into the house.