Put the cat's litterbox outside your door (hopefully the litterbox still has some of the cat's eliminations in it). The familiar scent should help keep her close to home. It may also help to deter some of the wild residents. Also, put a couple of pieces of your dirty clothing outside your door - dirty underwear works particularly well for this and may also help deter wild animals.

Check your neighbor's brush pile after dark with a flashlight. Cats are more active at night, and their eyes reflect light, so they're often easier to find in the dark with a flashlight than during daylight hours.

Try staying up and leaving your door slightly open with no food present. Without food, coons shouldn't be attracted, but your own cat may show up. Also, since your cat is used to spending time on your back porch with you, spend as much time in your back porch as possible to see if that will bring your cat in.

Thank you for your response. Last night, we put a used t-shirt on a folded blanket she liked to sleep on and saw a coon had checked it out. My neighbors have seen strays and I am wondering if my cat is staying away because its "their outside territory," We did put one of the litter boxes out once (we have another cat and they both use each box) and a opossum inspected it. I am going to try this again and put more dirty laundry, as you suggested. Do you think it would be wise to put food out at 5:00 am for a couple of hours? I want to offer her food....but without creating a dangerous situation. The coons were coming by at 10...sometimes midnight and even 2:30 am on different nights. We have a pond right outside our back door about 100 ft away....I know this helps attract other animals.
We will continue to look for our Miss Bob, thanks again for your excellent advise. P.S. Several years ago, "Bob appeared on our deck in the winter....had a stub tail....that's when we named her "Bob," She wouldn't let us get close to her...but would come every night to eat...and then take off. Bob did this for 2 yrs (only in winter) That's when she took up residence in a box with straw we had put for her under our deck...thats when we saw Bob was a female :) she had 8 kittens and allowed us then to get close and offer food. All kittens went to good homes. Great mama cat....we love her so. Was able to get her to vet...so she is spayed. That was 7 years ago.

Keep checking the brush pile the neighbor thought he saw her in. She may return to it at different times if it offers shelter.
Years ago my cat disappeared while we were visiting relatives. I had taken him with us since we traveling at the time. We had to leave the next day so the relatives and neighbors (rural area) promised to keep looking for him. 2 weeks later a neighbor thought he saw him in a field so I drove back and while walking around a large brush/debris pile I heard a weak meow. I kept calling and he finally came out of the brush (no way I could go in!)..........and we happily headed home.
So, keep looking, keep calling her, leave doors/windows cracked, and put out strong smelling foods such as tuna to attract her. If you're worried about other animals getting to the food, place it where they can't reach it. You mainly want the aroma to entice her back to the house.

Thank you Annz. Glad you were able to get your cat back.
We will continue to search for our Miss Bob and I will put out some tuna tonight. I imagine it will also attract the mama coon and babies...but hopefully they will lose interest if they cannot reach it.
Thanks again for your reply!

Thank you Annz. Glad you were able to get your cat back.
We will continue to search for our Miss Bob and I will put out some tuna tonight. I imagine it will also attract the mama coon and babies...but hopefully they will lose interest if they cannot reach it.
Thanks again for your reply!

I'm hoping you'll be able to get Miss Bob back. At least you know that she is nearby and alright.

Have you thought about renting or buying a large size hav-a-heart trap? I'm thinking if you set one up near the brush pile you might be able to recapture her that way. Of course you might capture a few raccoons in the process, but once released they would probably steer clear of the trap.

Be patient. We have 7 indoor/outdoor cats and one disappeared for 7 months. We really thought she was dead, but she returned perfectly healthy although very needy. Then, this summer she disappeared again for 2 mos.

We don't know where her other home is, but glad she misses us enough to come back home. BTW- the other cats all shun her now. They don't like the disappearing act at all.

Thank you for the responses. I have put our dirty clothes and back porch and on the ground by our gazebo. I have tuna on a deck ledge (2 floor...no stairs) to help attract. Litter box out....camera set. If there is a sighting....we do have a live trap we can use.
Thanks again folks

Please let us know when she is home! Good luck.

Thank you. I sure will!

Its so tragic when a cat goes missing . They love to wander in my experience and our house cats always turned up eventually or were traced through radio and newspaper ads. When we lived in Malta our Siamese cat was found in a nearby convent ! He went on to travel the world with us and staying in motels all over the USA when we lived there. As a child my kitten was found having a nice time in the kitchen of a nearby hotel .NOW we have lost our SEMI FERAL cat who adopted us 18 months ago and was living on rats! She has her own quarters in our conservatory with all the best food and bedding and her own cat flap. She just vanished last week and we thought fireworks for bonfire night ( Guy Fawkes) may have caused her to take fright. I live on the South Coast of the UK and my love of cats is shared by my partner . I posted "missing cat "on local Facebook and plan to put an ad in local paper tomorrow. We patrolled the neighborhood but found no trace. Just hoping for a miracle .

Hi, I see this is an old post but wonder if any of you found your kitties.

Hi Mariam

I am afraid Poppy never came back to her luxury cat pad. At least not yet but a tiny bit of hope.

After I posted everywhere I could think of including local community website and ad in local paper, the local website connected with me to say she had been spotted in a garden about a mile away. Since then a lovely lady who has been renovating an old house in that area has been sending me updates and photos of her hunting in her yard. She had been with us for 18 months and obviously came from somewhere being only semi feral <. She loved to be fed and petted by my partner and purred a lot but extremely nervous even of us. She isnt house trained yet it

seemed as if she had been a pet at some time in her life. She stayed in our conservatory with several beds and a duvet and first class food that my partner bought for her. We had a cat flap installed for her but had to leave it open as she couldnt seem to get the hang of pushing it open.

its such a worry but we cant do anything it would seem . We always had cats before but kept them in as much as possible ! I live on he South Coast of the UK in a large village,almost a town.

Thanks for your interest, Mariam, presume you are a cat lover, !

Marion Howard.

All of this advice is very helpful for me. A feral male cat would not let us near him for maybe 4 months or so. We leave our garage door cracked for our other strays we feed during the rainy and cold nights. About a full week, this feral cat stayed in our garage. He‘d eventually leave but would come right back and spend the majority of his time lying on a blanket in our garage. I ended up petting him while he ate so he wouldn’t hiss at me. That’s when we noticed his belly was ginormous. It almost looked tumerous. We made an appointment with a vet as this feral guy actually let me pet him and guide him into our half bathroom. We found out had fluid in his belly and they were able to flush it out and prescribe us meds. After we brought him home, he would not stop purring. I think he knew we only wanted to help him. He’s been cooped up in our bathroom for a couple of weeks, recovering. But, has been the most friendliest. I thought he might’ve missed the fresh air and sun, so my fiance and I put him on one of our ofher cats leashes/harness and took him out. He just laid there for awhile and then we guided him to some sun. Once he was in the sun and walked around in some bushes, HE FLIPPED OUT. He unfortunately got out of the harness and ran. We couldn’t grab him and he didn’t want to come near us. I felt so bad, and I hope he comes back because I’d hate for him to go back into the same shape he was or even worse. I’ve put a blanket in our garage in hopes he smells his/our scent and also the crate with his towel he laid on when we took him to the vet. Fingers crossed he comes back soon.