Missing cat help
On Saturday night, one of my three cats got out. This cat has never been outside alone in his entire life (I got him as a kitten), and at the house we live at now he's never been outside at all except for being carried back and forth to the car. I don't even know for certain that he is outside, except that a door was accidentally left open for several hours and he hasn't been seen since. He's never been the type to attempt to get outside, but we've checked the whole house multiple times.
I live in a rather ghetto-ish area of a small city. The houses are close together and the backyards tend to be trashed - open garages, piles of wood, junk cars, so lots of cat hiding places. It's also not the kind of area where it's necessarily safe for someone to go knocking on doors.
I *think* I saw him in the yard this morning at about 1am. When I let my puppy out, I distinctly saw something dark and cat shaped and sized run out of the yard. This may or may not have been my cat.
He's an extremely shy cat. He's not the sort to come when he's called by anyone, except occasionally me, and he definitely won't come for me when he's scared (as I imagine he is right now). He also will spend days hiding just in our house, but we've always been able to find him when that happens.
We've shut the other animals up in other rooms and are leaving a door open near where I saw the cat run across the yard earlier. I'm sitting right next to that door now. One of our other two cats is outside on a leash and harness, in hopes that Frisby will see, hear, or smell him. I put his favorite food out there too.
He is not wearing a collar because I've never been able to get him to keep one on, and he isn't microchipped (I'm kicking myself for that now) but I've called animal control and the humane societies in the area. But he's probably hiding somewhere and it's unlikely that anyone would be able to catch him anyway.
My husband is out making copies of signs with his picture on it right now, and we'll be posting them around the area.
Am I missing anything obvious?
I live in a rather ghetto-ish area of a small city. The houses are close together and the backyards tend to be trashed - open garages, piles of wood, junk cars, so lots of cat hiding places. It's also not the kind of area where it's necessarily safe for someone to go knocking on doors.
I *think* I saw him in the yard this morning at about 1am. When I let my puppy out, I distinctly saw something dark and cat shaped and sized run out of the yard. This may or may not have been my cat.
He's an extremely shy cat. He's not the sort to come when he's called by anyone, except occasionally me, and he definitely won't come for me when he's scared (as I imagine he is right now). He also will spend days hiding just in our house, but we've always been able to find him when that happens.
We've shut the other animals up in other rooms and are leaving a door open near where I saw the cat run across the yard earlier. I'm sitting right next to that door now. One of our other two cats is outside on a leash and harness, in hopes that Frisby will see, hear, or smell him. I put his favorite food out there too.
He is not wearing a collar because I've never been able to get him to keep one on, and he isn't microchipped (I'm kicking myself for that now) but I've called animal control and the humane societies in the area. But he's probably hiding somewhere and it's unlikely that anyone would be able to catch him anyway.
My husband is out making copies of signs with his picture on it right now, and we'll be posting them around the area.
Am I missing anything obvious?