r/outdoorcats

My indoor cat has been missing for 4 nights and 3 days. I did all the usual things I was recommended to do by shelters and the internet: keep the doors cracked open, leave food and water out, leave some of my clothes outside, leave his litter box outside (some told me not to do that but we don’t have any raccoons or other animals in our area so I decides to try it). We searched for hours around the perimeter in all neighbors porches, grills, cars, and scoured the woods across from our house and up trees. I even rented a thermal camera to see if I could pick up his heat signature.

I set up security camera in the front and back of my house. They have picked up on 3 outdoor cats that have all come by to check things out. Once I saw the first one I moved the food inside and his litter box, but still kept the door cracked in case my cat decided to slip in the middle of the night.

Well last night, one of the more bold cats that we’ve caught on the cameras about 5 times now came INSIDE of our house and walked around last night while we were sleeping.

I’m so scared this is going to deter my own cat from coming home due to this outdoor cat hanging around. Any suggestions? Do we think my cat will still try to return home?

Hi guys, i’ve been here before talking about this but my cats been missing since the 14th, it’s been about 16days which is three weeks and she’s originally an indoor cat and she snuck out in the middle of the night and the thing is we do some outdoor time and she’ll usually be on the patio but she wasn’t in the morning and when she snuck out we had the outside door cracked open for a bit to let cooking air out and she went out and we shut the door without even noticing and went to bed not noticing and i feel awful. It’s been 16 days and i’ve had her littler box outside for two weeks and food smelly tuna and sardine food and have her toys out there and some of our clothes, it’s been raining so i’ve been switching clothes and stuff and i did talk to the neighborhood cats to look for her and tell her to come home and i’ve put up missing posters and given many to neighbors and they’ve been really nice and helpful but i’ve read there’s a thing that newly outdoor cats or indoor cats stay hunkered down up to 17days so i’m praying she’ll be back here soon or someone will call since she has a microchip but i just need advice on what to do or just some helpful stories