Friendly cat wanders too far..
Written by Mackel
We lost our cat over a month ago and this morning I just got a call from someone over 4 miles away that they found him on their property. Luckily, he was still wearing his collars. However, he is now limping (right hind leg looks like it was broken and healed wrong) and is extremely skinny, almost to the point where he feels like pure bones. However, this is not my problem. I will take him to the vet tomorrow morning first thing to have him checked out.
After this incident, I have many concerns regarding his safety. He LOVES people. In fact, he wanders all around our neighborhood going in people's houses begging for food-and this being a college town, no one thinks anything about it. Everyone loves him and knows him by name.
My concern is that he will wander far away again and we'll have to go through the same situation trying to find him. We don't know how he got so far away. He might have just jumped in someone's car, which has been known to happen. Do cats usually find their way back home? You know the old song, "The cat came back..." Is that usually true? How long should we keep him in before letting him go out and explore again. We're worried he will pull the same stunt. Your thoughts?
Thanks for your help!
~Mike and Angela
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Mackel, it is a good thing cats truly do have nine lives! Your kitty sounds like a lovely boy, but not very "street wise" in his sense of adventure. Depending on what the vet recommends for the leg, he may need to stay in for an extended healing period. If no surgery is done to repair it, then I would keep him in for at least 2 weeks or better to reinforce your house as his home. I would also encourage you to microchip your cat while he is at the vet. This is a small implant that goes under the skin between the shoulder blades and can be picked up by a scanner that reads the number which is registered with the company who puts out the chip. You pay a small one time fee to register your cat and if he is turned into a shelter or vet, they will have the scanner, can get the number, call the company and find you. Breakaway collars are good too but if the collar gets lost, you have a back up.
Your cat will probably always have the urge to wander, it's just him. Cats are pretty good at finding thier way home most of the time but you can't be 100% certain that will always be the case. What I do with my cats is offer canned food by a certain time at night and they are now conditioned to come in at that time, (they have an in only door installed in the basement window in case we are not home, they can get in) and they do not get to go back out at night. That way I know they are safe at least for the night from the predators.
I wish your kitty a speedy return to normal and hope the leg is ok, keep us posted!
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