my neighbor’s cat just turned up one day after being gone about two months.

that her cat who had been missing for almost a year had come home. She thought maybe her Mom was suffering some mental issues.

Nope. She sent pictures and it really was the cat who had gone missing before my friend moved to LA. Happy reunion!

My cousin had been searching for a lost cat for months. Turned out she'd been staying with a lovely family some miles away. The family kept in touch and visited occasionally.

we had a little Siamese cat named Thai. Eventually, all us kids left home and she was left with our parents. She was probably 10 years old at the time of the disappearance. She was an indoor kitty, but one day she sprinted through the door and they couldn't catch her. They looked all over the neighborhood, but couldn't find her. She hadn't been hit by a car, at least not nearby.

A few years later, they went to a progressive dinner in the neighborhood. At the salad house, where they had never met that neighbor before, there was a little Siamese kitty that was the image of Thai. She came right up to my dad, and he said, "Hey, that's my cat! Where did you get her?" They said they found her wandering on the road, so they took her in. They happily gave her back and she lived out the rest of her life with my parents.

We had one disappear from our yard several years ago and return 4 days later. We think she got run off by something and then someone took her in. At her first opportunity, she ran back home and into my arms.

I hope Porch finds his way back home.

He'd come home clean, seemingly not starving. Only once did he come dragging back in with some wounds like he'd gotten in a fight. But his sojourns kept getting longer, until eventually he didn't come home. Our theory is that he was two-timing us with a another family somewhere in the neighborhood, and eventually decided they offered better room and board!

================

Being Cats.

went missing for almost a month. I went outside and there she was, looking distraught, uncleaned (long haired Caltico) , and very thin.

I don't know anything about her missing, but she came home.

People said that I should have called him Houdini because be was such an escape artist. He'd scoot out a door faster than lightning and take off for who knew where? Usually it was just a couple days before he was back at my door to come inside.

But one time he was gone for two weeks. I thought I'd never see him again. I had just moved from a village on the other side of the county to where I live now.

Merlin often got outdoors in the semi rural village where I used to live. When he slipped out my door at the new place, he apparently went back to the old home, then made his way back to my new place again. One morning I opened my front door to see him walking up the sidewalk toward me.

Guess he had to figure out what was going on. That adventure seemed to spook him. He didn't take off after that.

Another cat of mine, a ginger named Leo, disappeared the night of a Christmas party.
He was only about 6 months old, and I'd only had him about two months. The noise and number of people at the party scared him so be raced out the door when a kid opened it. Did not come back in the morning. I was heartbroken and worried because he was so young. About a week and a half later, he showed up at my back door meowing to be let in.

I have no idea where he was during that time. Someone might have taken him in thinking he was a stray. Or, since I got him from a friend who found him as a stray, he might have gone back to his old territory when he was frightened. But, he found his way home to me on his own again.

Another cat, a half Siamese named Alex, slipped out a kitchen window when I left it open to air out the kitchen after burning food on the stove. We had just moved from PA to Ohio, a semi rural Cleveland suburb. We lived on the first floor of a 3 story apartment building.

I did not notice that he was gone until late evening. I went all around the building searching. Alex had a habit of answering back vocally whenever I called him, so he must have been far away, beyond my ability to hear him respond, if he did. I put up signs everywhere describing him.

About two weeks later, I found him sitting outside the window that he had jumped from. He did not know where the apt. building entrance was. I rushed to pick him up and he clung to me, as relieved that he was home again as I was.

So, if a cat has a good bond with you, it will find its way back again unless something holds it back, like another person finding it and taking it home. If that happens, it will get loose and come back as soon as it gets a chance to.

There is the chance that we don't like to think of, that the cat was hurt by another animal or a car. But before worrying about that, I'd just keep looking, calling its name, staying alert to its meow or other signs that it's nearby again. Might take a couple weeks or a month.

He could also advertise in the local newspaper or post a pic in social media in his area. Check with the nearest animal shelter to see if the cat was taken there. Check with vets in the area in case someone took it in as a stray and went to a vet for a check up.

Hope it turns out well for him and the cat.

The first was gone a month. We suspected she had hitched a ride on a moving truck at the neighbor’s house, got the route, and were even looking in the other part of town. She simply showed up on our porch a month later, skinny and a bit freaked out.

The second was a porch stray, a grouchy old man who decided humans might be ok after all. He disappeared in late winter, after acting a bit weird, like suddenly he didn’t want to come in for a few days. Then he showed up 2 weeks ago, talking up a storm, a tad skinny, and definitely acting like nothing had changed. He became all lap-ish, though. I’d guessing someone several blocks away made him an indoor kitty, and maybe passed on.

If you can’t find a body, don’t give up. I’ve had a friend lose their dog for weeks because a neighbor swiped it and hid it inside her house. But she had to let it out sometimes to poop and another neighbor busted her and spilled the beans. I’ve “lost” a cat to a neighbor down the block and been fine with it, as the cat decided she had more goodies to offer. A different neighbor “lost” a cat to us for the same reason, and they were fine with it. All sorts of weird stuff happens, good and bad, but many kitties who are gone for a long time do come back, or get spotted, if they’re otherwise ok.

They then get scared and stay in that one place

They will give you expert advice on when/where to look for missing/lost pets and what NOT to do (like putting their litter box outside.) The woman who works in my area has always said to leave a way for them to get back into the house, such as a raised window/garage door. Also, go outside at night and call them softly. Use a flashlight and look for eye shine. I know a lot of folks here on DU disparage Facebook, but it is a big resource for me and my friends who work in cat rescue. Here are good tips from a lost pet recovery specialist in my area.

https://www.facebook.com/legacy/notes/979164505535034/

gotten locked in a neighbor's garage.

Pets are family.

My friends lost their cat while on a cross country trip. They put up wanted posters at the campground where the cat disappeared. They stopped by the campground on the return trip. No luck. Six months later, they got a phone call from someone in the campground. "We're pretty sure we saw your cat hanging around here." Sure enough. He was skinny and dirty, but happy to see his dog buddies. He spent the remainder of his life indoors, only venturing out for a few minutes at a time. He had his fill of the great outdoors.

who was missing for about 5 days. She was stuck inside an old evaporative cooler stored on the side of our house. She didn't start meowing or answering our calls until she was desperate to get free. Our 60+ year old neighbor told us that a cat had been trapped in a garage for about a week, while the homeowner was away. So we asked all our neighbors if they had seen our cat, walked calling her name to no avail. The whole time she was sitting in an old rusty box not making a sound. On our street, we all have detached garages, so it would be really easy for a cat to get trapped in one. Good luck.

Second floor deck to eat supper at night. I had a little house for him outside, one day he disappeared, he was about five years old, after about a week I was sure he’d been taken by a coyote or something. He had been gone seven weeks and showed up in the yard thin and dehydrated obviously he’d been locked in somebody’s garage or storage unit the whole time, probably within 100 feet of me. He was glad to see me and soon put his weight back on. He
comes up to my back door still every night at age 14 so I never give up on him when he doesn’t show up for a few days. I do worry though. I know he’ can’t live forever

He goes in and out when he wants. He's part of a feral litter that we rescued. I can't believe he's going to be 7 this month. When we first moved into the house we live in now, he disappeared into the neighborhood. We're not sure what happened, but he probably got trapped in a garage or someone's back yard and was afraid to come out. He showed up two weeks later, dirty and he lost a lot of weight. He's always dirty though. He loves to roll in black dirt. He was just here a few minute ago having his breakfast and now he's out doing important kitty stuff. Your brother might want to try something like this, although I've never used it myself:
https://24petconnect.com/EX/LPP
I hope your brother gets his cat back!

Here's Monty:

..."aw shucks, thank you maam!"

v

The front door wasn’t latched right. He’d never been outside and it snowed that night, which I think really confused him and he wandered far from the house. This was pre-internet days, so I put “lost cat” flyers at every house in the neighborhood and told everyone I know to watch for him. 2 months later I come home from taking my daughter to church confirmation class and there’s DH holding Ricky! A friend who lived about 2 miles away found him. People down the street from her were going to keep him and had even taken him to the vet, but he had to sleep in the garage because their resident cat wasn’t happy. They were delighted that their “new” cat, who they named Casey, had found his real people. Ricky was thin and had worms (and another trip to the vet) but he settled back in like he’d never left and lived to be 15. And never set foot on Mother Earth again.

on this thread. And some very good advice.

Thank you all. You had me laughing and crying at the same time.

Thanks for the hug. Both my brother and I need it right now.

whenever you have need.

and disappeared. It was January in Minnesota, snow on the ground and waaay below zero. I was afraid he'd freeze to death. We looked everywhere for him, tried to follow his footprints in the snow but it was blowing around too much. After a little over a week I had just about given up when he appeared at the back door with a look like, "Well, you gonna let me in, or what?" He was hungry and had dead leaves in his fur but was otherwise none the worse for the wear. After eating a big meal he took a long nap on a radiator. I have no idea where he had been - he might have got himself locked in a garage or stuck under a porch - but he never tried to go outside again.

They are remarkably resilient.

Cats that just disappear are the heartbreak of barn cats. We have somewhere around 20, and have had the same ones for years. One that's been gone now since last summer was my very favorite, Rio. Her and her mom, Stripe, came back to KY with me from Calif. I rescued them out there. Rio would disappear for days at a time, then stroll back in for dinner one night. She was an inveterate hunter, solid black. After all this time, I guess she's not coming back....trotting toward me with that little curl in her tail. Her mom decided she would live in the garage, then come to the porch to eat with the others.

I'm pretty sure that coyotes have gotten our missing, and it just kills me to think of them hurting.