Hiya all! I'm a new member here since I decided to join up after lurking on here for the last two years. It saddens me to be making this thread as my very first post, but I've watched many of the threads in the pet section since I started coming here as a visitor, and noticed how lovely and supportive the community here is.

Anyway...I'll get the point hehe.

I've grown up with cats all my life as part of my family, and have never had a cat go missing. My female black shorthair has been missing since Friday at around 9pm. Whisper is a very timid cat, and would never go to strangers unless knowing them for a while. Me and my family have had sleepless nights since then, because the worry is all too much. Not knowing if she's ok is really getting to us. We've been out searching for her every day since she went missing, and have also asked around if we could look in people's gardens because you never know if she had got trapped in somewhere. She has never really stayed out long, and has never been out all night. The longest she has ever been gone for is around 8 hours, and that was during the day.

Today I made some missing posters and will get them photocopied tomorrow to put up around the area, hoping that they will increase the chances of us getting back our lovely cat. We also phoned our local Cat Protection to give them our details if anyone hands her in. Whisper also has a ID barrel on her collar which has our information on as well. We brought home a 12 week old kitten at the start of December, which we had adopted from Cat Protection. We named her Bell, and she is missing our Whisper very much, as they would normally chase each other around the house and play together.

It's not a very good start to 2012, but we're hopeful that she will return to us.

Hi SilverCrown, and welcome.

I can't offer much to you other than to say that I really hope that Whisper (lovely name, by the way) turns up soon. I can imagine how you are all feeling.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and check in tomorrow for hopefully good news.X

Hi, first of all welcome! Glad you finally took the plunge & decided to join instead of lurking! It is a lovely community on here (mainly!) . There are loads of people who are full of wonderful advice & support to dish out.

Regarding your post, sorry to hear about your cat. But please don't give up hope, it's not been that long yet & some cats can go missing for weeks!

My first thought would be that the cat may have gotten shut in a shed or garage- so it might be worthwhile asking your neighbours to open the doors & have a look for your missing cat.

Posters & contacting the local Cat protection league is very good, I would also contact any vet s that you have on the area as someone may have handed in your cat there . Aswell as the local RSPCA centre of there is one.

Apart from this I can't think of anything else you can do. One of my cats growing up always used to go missing, sometimes for 2 weeks at a time! But she always came running back! So there is hope!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! Another thing as well that a lot of people advise is to advertise your missing cat on Facebook & twitter !

Hope it comes back soon , keep us informed! X

OP, I don't have any advice but I just wanted to say I empathise with you completely. One of my girls has been missing since Friday - she was in for food at 3pm but didn't come in for her 8pm feed and she is usally as regular as clockwork.

I'm hoping that she is snuggled up in someones house in front of a nice warm fire instead of out alone in the cold. I'm missing her so much and feel so helpless.

Good luck, I hope your baby comes home soon.

Garlic x

Thank you guys for the support/advice.

Garlic - I hope your cat comes home to you! Let us know what happens.

I'll definitely keep you all posted on what happens here.

I hope your cat comes back soon too. its so sad reading all these missing cat posts. I would be absolutely beside myself if one of my girls ever vanished, so can only imagine what you are going through.
Luckily my 2 are mainly housecats due to not having a flap so they only go out for a wander when i'm in & open the window for them for a few hours each day. I think with them mainly being inside though they don't really even like going outside, they'll sit on the rooftop & survey the area, but they don't ever venture far, and if i open the door for them to go out into the garden they come running back as soon as they realise i've gone back inside!

I have to say i'm quite glad my 2 are like this because i'd worry all the time if they were out overnight

Hiya everyone! I have some great news.

Just as we were about to put some leaflets through doors around the area, we heard a loud meow from the garden. We quickly ran out and saw our lovely cat running down the garden path towards us. She seems unharmed, but was very thirsty. So we're thinking that she had got stuck in someone's shed or maybe a empty house. We're just grateful to have our little baby back.

Thank you for the support.

Oh what wonderful news!!

Good news. I know what it is like, it's a great feeling.

Oh good I'm glad she's home, there is nothing like 'that meow, when they have been missing.

Excellent news. I am really pleased for you and her, that it's such a happy ending.