13/07/2025
Welcome home Joey, 15 LONG days!!
Three year old kitty Joey decided one day to do something unusual and bolt out the back door as his pet parent Christa was feeding their indoor/outdoor kitty. Joey was gone in a flash and Christa spent the entire night outside trying to find him 😞
The next day the search continued and Christa did everything she could think of to find Joey (flyers, talking to neighbors, contacting the animal shelter and nearby vets, motion activated cams, etc).
He's normally a pretty skittish kitty so she figured the odds of someone picking him up were low.
I was contacted that same day to help.
I went over lost cat behavior with Christa, made a few small adjustments to what she had in place and we discussed scent luring him home.
The nearby houses to Christa are empty and there are lots of sheds, piles of stuff, etc around them-plenty of hiding places for a lost indoor only/skittish kitty!
After a few days of their best efforts and no signs of Joey, I was scheduled to track. Unfortunately due to an unexpected injury to my hand that would never happen.
BUT then on day 7 a potential sighting of Joey in the neighbors backyard! A cam and scent station was moved and that night there was Joey on cam! But Joey didn't eat and actually never would eat on any cams placed.
A trap was moved in front of the camera (thank you Cindy for loaning a bigger trap) but then things got crazy. Day after day, night after night there was Joey on camera at the neighbors and in his own yard-but never once showing interest in the trap! Hot high value foods were a no, catnip/treats were a no, scent items from Christa and Joey's mom/siblings were a no, the sounds of Joey's siblings meowing were a no, a laser pointer was a no-Joey was obviously eating somewhere else and had zero interest in what we were offering. He actually seemed pretty content outside while the rest of us were getting grey hairs trying to figure out how to lure him into the trap to safety!
Even a house trap was tried but unfortunately didn't work.
I decided we needed to totally switch up food and mentioned trying Churu's. Joey's fur-Mom said he actually loves those and bingo-we have Joey setting one foot inside the trap eating Churu! Slowly the plate of churu was moved towards the back of the trap until boom-Joey went in, trap went off, adventure over 🙌🏻
It took some time for Joey to decompress and acclimate back into the family but he's doing well.
Christa never gave up and worked diligently to get Joey home safely
And as an added bonus I have a new lifelong friend 😁
