Missing Cat - charlie missing from Ludgershall, Wilts/Hants - HOME after 11wks

[gillybabes_98]

Thats fantastic news! Ive just got my cat back after 10-11 DAYS being away and I was frantic so god only knows how bad you must have been when it hit 11 WEEKS!! Im now keeping mine confined to indoors, I had to borrow a cat trap from the rspca and pay a fifty pound deposit for it which I thought was steep if you are on benefits:( but it was worth it and done the trick, infact I nearly caught a fox instead of my cat! nightmare! its nice to read another happy ending!

[Millys Mum]

Lovely news, shows how effective posters are  well done

[Dawn F]

what great news!  and lovely for others still looking to know that they shouldn't lose hope!

[Dawn F]

what great news!  and lovely for others still looking to know that they shouldn't loose hope!

[Tiggy's Mum]

Fantastic news 

You must be over the moon to have him back! 

[Janeyk]

That's wonderful news! you must be soooo pleased Andy 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Oh Andy what wonderfu lnews I am so happy for you.  I will amend your thread title and move it the "SORTED" section for you.

Welcome home Charlie xxxx

[Shirley]

SO pleased for you Andy, you must be over the moon!! Glad Charlie seems so well after being missing for so long (the same lenght of time as MY Charlie!) What do they do all that time???   

[andyg]

Well....Incredibly good news ..  Charlie is home !!!

We've been re-postering and still hitting the streets to keep a look out for him, we were still receiving a few calls with possible sitings a bit further away from home..then ...last night..

I got a call from a couple down the street from us to say they had charlie in their shed ! Their cat was playing in the garden when Charlie popped out from under their shed, they thought it was him from the pictures on our posters so they coaxed him in with some food , gave him a few strokes then popped him into their catbox ! I sped down there and there he was !
Brought him back and he was overjoyed to see us, hopped straight into his bed and purred his head off.

He's lost weight and had a few ticks on him, also his ears were quite scabby (presumably from scratching due to parasites or from scratching them on his way into and out of their shed.)

Anyway, other than that he looked fine, is eating well and toileting, drinking, etc. Took him down to the vets today to update his innoculations, get him parasite and worm treated and checked over. So now just need to keep an eye on him and let the medicines do their stuff.

We're gonna keep him isolated from the other cats for a few days to make sure any fleas or mites are killed off then introduce him back to them slowly.

Wow, can't believe he's back !!  He was away for 11 weeks !

[Gail Bengal Slave]

sending homing vibes to Charlie xx

[Janeyk]

Sorry you've still had no news, keeping fingers crossed for you xx

[andyg]

No News I'm afraid, we put more posters up at the outlying villages from us to expand the search area, just pounding the streets and re-postering now in an effort to find him.

[Shirley]

Any update, Andy? 

[Shirley]

Any news on Charlie, Andy?

[kate g]

Good luck with finding him... keep putting posters up and asking people, the more people who are looking the better. It's worth covering a big area too... one of mine went walkabout a few years ago and eventually turned up 12 miles away...

[Shirley]

Just to say Andy, don't give up hope! My Charlie (tho he wasn't mine at the time!) was missing from a cat rescue for 5 weeks last summer. (He was a semi feral taken there when i was redundant last April) He was found, thanks to my fliers, being fed by a woman across the road from the rescue. Lots of fields for him to play in and she'd only been feeding him for a few days, so don't know where he'd been before then! I trapped him and he was taken back to the rescue. It was then decided to rehome him as he'd started letting other people stroke him. After only a week with his new owners he went missing again-this time for ELEVEN WEEKS AND TWO DAYS!!!!!! VERY long story, but i found him again (20 miles from where i live, but in the same street as he'd gone missing from this time!) This was another country type area, but, on both occasions, he hadn't gone far. (He's been with me since last November and is a happy boy now!)

I really hope you find him soon.

[andyg]

No Luck on the weekend. We had a few calls, but all were false alarms or no show. I think we managed to see the cats that the people from both farms were seeing, very similar, but not Charlie  :-(
I have a trap ordered and on it's way, so if we get a positive ID we can set a trap, trouble is, with such a vast country area and lots of cats, we'll have to be careful if we go that route.
We covered all areas practical to cover by foot or road on the weekend, roped family in to help too, made sure posters are everywhere and had more announcements on local radio.
We'll be walking the streets each night this week, but don't know what else to do now. Guess we are down to blind luck, sightings or Microchip now ??

We really thought we would have him back by now, strange as well, considering the mileage we've done, that he hasn't responded or turned up. Guess he's either been taken in by someone, decided that the country is for him and isn't coming back, or somethings happened to him 

[Shirley]

Did you manage to get a trap Andy? Hope you hear something positive very soon.

[Janeyk]

I don't think I'm gonna see him again....

but you've had lots of sightings so do get a trap(s)
wishing you the best of luck - and don 't give up 

[Liz]

Andy if you can see if you can set a couple of traps at the locations where he may have been seen - we got our neighbours cat 2 miles from home cause something had been killing chickens and we got him after 4 months.

Always keep postering get him on sites for lost cats and of ciourse the vets etc and keep the faith

[andyg]

Had another phone call around 6:30 last night, the farmer from the original farm I went to saw a black cat ambling down the lane that goes past his farm, he thought it was strange cos' it was just meandering down the lane and didn't startle or anything. He saw our poster and phoned straight away, I was on my way home from work and we were there within 15-20 minutes but no sign. Their farm is about half a mile or a bit less from the other one where the sightings were,trouble is, that's the last farm before the expanse of the country, and if it was Charlie, then he's heading further away from home.

I don't think I'm gonna see him again....

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Lots of luck and hope you catch him soon 

[Gail Bengal Slave]

crossposted with you there Gail 

 

[Janeyk]

crossposted with you there Gail 

[Janeyk]

So what next ? This seems to be the place to concentrate on, We'll be back over there this evening and we have family coming over on the weekend to expand the search area and the farmer has said we can have free reign over his farm, I guess we need to try and sight him, positively identify then try to call him to me, but not sure if he'll be too freaked out to come ? I'm thinking I might try to get a trap and cover it in his old blanket and bait it with his favourite food ? Where would I get a trap from ? Any other ideas ??

Thanks,  Andy

I think that may be the best option and is what I would do, I'd ask your local CP if they will loan you a trap.

[Gail Bengal Slave]

Well that sounds possitive - I was going to sugest a trap.

Try your local CPL - or other cat rescues, I am sure they could loan you one.  like you said pop something of 'his' in there so he can smell it and hopefully enter.

GOOD LUCK and next time you post , hope it is to say the wanderer had returned xxx 

[andyg]

Hi, thanks for the kind words.

May have a little bit of progress ...  We got a phone call a couple of days ago from one of our neighbours who thinks she saw him on Friday night heading across the field outside our house towards the local farm. Turns out that this farm (Which I could only scramble around the back of through the field) isn't the one where I had dropped posters and spoken to the farmhands, it's a different one on a back lane (had driven past it but not made the connection geographically). So yesterday, Denise headed down the lane after work for an hour or so having a nose around, but nothing. So Last night I had a wander down the mud track at the side of the field and popped out on the lane itself, had a walk to the end where the farm house was, postering on the way and knocked their door, on showing him the flier he said "I've seen him, he was wandering around the back paddock of the farm on Monday" !!! He took more posters and our numbers and said he would tell his farmhands to keep an eye out, also see if he could lure him in somewhere if he saw him. On the way back up the lane, one of the house owners next to the farm was putting his car away so I let him know what was going on to which he replied, "I think I've seen him too, we saw a black cat like that in our back garden (Adjacent to the farm paddock) yesterday (Tuesday)" !!
Now, this could be coincidence, but for sightings on 3 separate occasions in the same general area and direction, obviously of a strange cat as it stuck in their minds all seems to add up. I wandered around the paddock last night until around 11 and there's loads of open barns, shelters, outbuildings etc with blankets, straw, water everywhere. So makes sense to me this would be ideal ground for a cat to hole up ??? No sightings for me though, but it was cold and I only saw one other cat out last night, so he may have been tucked away somewhere. Both Denise and I were out at 6 this morning for an hour or so before work to see if we could see him, but no luck, to be honest though, it was cold and there wasn't much sign of anything at that time of day.

So what next ? This seems to be the place to concentrate on, We'll be back over there this evening and we have family coming over on the weekend to expand the search area and the farmer has said we can have free reign over his farm, I guess we need to try and sight him, positively identify then try to call him to me, but not sure if he'll be too freaked out to come ? I'm thinking I might try to get a trap and cover it in his old blanket and bait it with his favourite food ? Where would I get a trap from ? Any other ideas ??

Thanks,  Andy

[JennyLynn]

Awwwww! what a cutie!

Lots of positive vibes that he finds his way back to you soon.

Jenny x

[Gail Bengal Slave]

You have NOT let him down - 

I really feel your sadness    - sending homing vibes to charlie to come home safe to his mum & dad -xxxx

[andyg]

Thanks for all your kind words, we're out until midnight every night calling out for him. We had a call from one of our neighbours yesterday who said she thinks she may have seen him on Friday heading off into the field next to the house. We searched across there last night up to the small holdings and farms, if he's gone that way then he could be anywhere as there's about 3000 acres of farm land, barns, outbuildings, etc. :-(

We scattered the contents of the hoover bag and old litter around the house yesterday hoping to give him a scent to follow, also attached his favourite blanket to the fence hoping to introduce some familiar smells.

Can't help feeling I've let my friend down....just want him back safe now..

[miriambuddy]

fingers crossed for Charlie's safe return 

[Mark]

Hoping Charlie comes back soon 

I know cats can get into odd places. When we moved here, we thought we had lost one of ours. After searching the house over about 10 times, I eventually saw a tail hanging down from an upstairs chimney.....

[Janeyk]

So sorry that your lovely cat Charlie is missing, as Helen says it's amazing where cats can squeeze into and hide so do have a thorough check everywhere.   I'll be keeping keeping everything crossed for some good news soon xx 

[Tiggy's Mum]

  to Purrs, sorry it's under such worrying circumstances 

Have you seen the list of hints and tips here - http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,305.0.html

Is there a possibility he could be trapped somewhere in the house? We had a terribly sad case on here where a rescue cat had got stuck underneath the kitchen cupboards 

Could you put all the other cats in one room and rattle treats/call his name just in case he is stuck somewhere  If he is outside then the hoover bag sprinkling could be a good one as he has not been outside in your new home before so may find it more difficult to find his way back.

and please do keep us updated

[andyg]

Hi Everyone.

Just joined up here to get word out on as many forums as possible. Charlie, our black and white 3 yr old neutered Tom went missing from home on friday. He is black with white patches on his throat and belly. We live in the Wood Park area of Ludgershall and are deperate to get him back. He is microchipped but has lost his collar.
We have 5 cats in all and have had others over the years, all from various rescue backgrounds. Whilst we have lost cats to old age, illness and RTA on one occasion, this is the first time we've had one go missing and it's the not knowing that's driving us crazy.

We have fairly recently moved to this area and are staying in a rental property whilst we sell our old home. The cats have been here for around 4 months and have been kept in as I didn't want them to become confused where home was if we ended up buying a house only a short distance away. On Friday, however, there was no sign of Charlie when my partner Denise came to feed them all, after turning the house upside down, we can only assume he must have sneaked out the door when she brought shopping in as we are always very careful when coming in or going out.  As it was a while between her coming in and feeding them, I assume he maybe loitered outside for a bit then wandered off before we realised he was out.

Charlie came from the RSPCA with his sister, Misty, as 6 month old kittens and both were from a partially feral farm litter. Although Misty took a long time and lots of work to warm up to human company (she is now a wonderful pet), Charlie was friendly from the off. The house we are renting is right next to a huge expanse of countryside and farms on the fringes of Salisbury Plain, so we both fear he has gone into the countryside where we may never see him again. We have done all we can over the last couple of days, radio announcements, fliers, posters everywhere, contacted councils, local farms, police, shops, schools, petlog, websites, RSPCA, CP, etc. and are pounding the pavements every night calling his name.  We are all gutted that this has happened and Denise is distraught that she may have let him out inadvertently, it's a slight comfort that we live by the countryside, so there's less chance of an RTA, but that doesn't stop us worrying about him. If anyone hears of him in the area please let us know on 07512 935284 or 07795 260212 or PM on here.

Also any ideas of stuff we haven't done that might work are welcome.

Thanks,

   Andy