I spent 3 hours with similar situation
Bongo will show up!

probably cry...

Poor Bongo.. I hope he's okay.

It's probably good to put up some posters and certainly ask the neighbours. Don't panic the friend just yet. If you put food near the window (use the stinky, wet stuff or some cooked fish so it smells strong) the cat will probably return. Also make sure you phone all the shelters and vet's offices in the area and leave a description of the cat and her ID tag information in case someone brings her in after you call. If the cat doesn't know you well don't spend the night there. Your presence may be enough to keep her away. If she's not back after 24 hours or so you might phone your friend to ask if the cat has a special hiding place. Is it an outdoor cat or not (I'm guessing not)? This might make a difference in your approach, since if she's an indoor cat there's no point in calling and alarming the friend to ask about an outdoor place if the moggy doesn't go outside. Does she have a microchip? If so contact the company. Say a prayer to St Francis and good luck to you and the kitty.

I've never dealt with missing cats before, but runaway dogs have become my specialty, sadly. Here's what I would recommend:
(1) CALL YOUR FRIEND. He deserves to know, and who knows, this may have even happened before and he can give you suggestions where to look.
(2) Alert the local SPCA, neighbors, and perhaps even some businesses in the area.
(3) Post signs, as well as some craigslist ads.

Good luck!!! And try not to feel too bad, it doesn't sound like it was your fault.

check the house even more, shake kitty treats (I hope they have them and the cat knows about it), post signs - start scouring the neighborhood- shaking the kitty treat container so they can hear it, ask people, post to craigslist and look on pet finder.

It is a horrible situation.
I have my cats trained to hear the shaking kitty treats- they come running. (sometimes, I think they have gone out, but are just better hiders, than I am a looker)

I experienced a similar situation while dogsitting. My boyfriend was walking the dog when he got spooked and broke free (in the city, I might add). He took off running, my boyfriend tried to chase after him, but he was too quick. He came back home to get me to help him, and the dog was waiting on our porch! It was a happy ending to a short, but awful dogsitting experience. Thank goodness he knew his way back... or that dogs have such a great sense of smell! ... and we did tell the owners what happened...

I heard somewhere that when dog escape they tend to run, but when cats do, they tend to stay close to home. So if you can check out to see if they're hiding somewhere nearby and close to the building. And shaking treats is always a good trick.

Good luck.

My cat escaped out of a partially opened window once, walked along a little ledge and into a neighbor's apt in the building next door. Someone there found him and let him out into the hallway. I had placed notices everywhere, so someone else in that building eventually heard him hiding in a radiator unit and called me. The radiator had turned on for the night and he finally meowed. Poor thing. So happy and relieved to have him home.

Give the cat an hour or two, set some food outside the window you think it used as an exit, ask the neighbors before you start hanging flyers.
Depending on the area they live in, the age of the cat, and the length that they've lived in that apartment there is a decent chance the animal will come home. My kitty made a break for it once, I attempted to chase her but we got halfway down the street I realized I was just forcing her further from her known territory. I opened a window of the apartment and she showed up outside the screen right at dusk asking to come back inside.
But definitely call the friend whether you've found the cat or not they deserve to know what happened.

1. CALL THE FRIEND - it's his cat and he has a right to know. Plus he would probably tell you all the cat's favorite hiding spots so you can look.

2. Call all the animal shelters within so many miles and give a detailed description of the cat and it's ID.

3. Set out it's usual food by the window you think it escaped - hopefully it will get hungry and come back.

4. Contact the neighbors - you might be able to get a few people who will volunteer to help look for it.

my boyfriend cat sitted for 3 months, and on the second to last day one of the cats ran off. after a chase up a tree and under a house, we finally gave up and called our friend. we also contacted pest control and rented a live animal trap for $50 (for as long as we needed it). the friend was very understanding, but alas we've never seen the cat again.

the live animal trap worked on several of the neighborhood strays, but we never caught our friends cat. :(

I had this happen to me too! The cat came back two days later. I waited a day to call the owner, but when I did, she wasn't totally freaked out. She told me the cat had done this a couple times.

My cat responds to me shaking a bag of treats, as well when I tap the side of a cat food can. Does it every time. You'd think she would have caught on by now!

Good luck!

I cat sat a pair of cats for 6 months, and near the end one of them ran off. I gave his description to the SPCA, and made Lost Kitty postings on Craigslist. 3 months later I thought he was gone forever but another CL user posted that they had found a cat and contacted me thinking it was the one I had lost, and it was! So 3 months later he came home. It was insane. I told my friend right away after he took off and she was very understanding, and (obviously) even more excited when he came back. Good luck!

My cats have escaped a few times, but I've always found them very nearby. My cats are skittish so it takes a lot of patience to bring them out. Go to somewhere you think the cat might be, sit down with a book, and just call out for the cat every few minutes. Being still and calm might help.

Another tip: since I have two cats, when one is missing I put the other on a harness and bring him with me to look. It's happened twice that the hiding cat came out when she heard her buddy crying for her.

Call the friend and take action immediately...visit shelters, hang flyers. Also, ask the friend if there are any spots where they cat likes to hide or go. I don't think you should avoid calling the friend or delay looking for the pet. The friend deserves to know and might also be able to offer some advice on places to look or ways to entice the cat back. Some shelters put stray cats up for adoption or to be euthanized after only a couple of days, so action should be immediate.

My favorite band actually wrote a song about this very dilemma. It's called "Murder (or a Heart Attack)" by the Old 97's.

This exact situation happened to me (except the little troublemaker in question actually tore the window screen to go explore the great outdoors)! I posted a sign at the entryway to the building and talked to the building manager who was familiar with the cat so he would be on the lookout. But ultimately I found the cat when I walked to the grocery store later that day (after 3 hours of panicking I needed to eat). The cat had been too nervous to wander far, so he was just sitting in the bushes of the embassy next to the apartment building, watching people go by. Fortunately I had brought the cat treats bag with me and his love of treats was enough to bring him out, though I had to wait for the street to clear of strangers before he became bold enough to leave the bushes. Keep eyes peeled and cat treats on hand, but definitely talk to anyone who might be able to help and keep the owner in the loop!

Try putting a can of tuna on the front door step. You might attract every stray in the neighborhood, but it always worked with my cat!

Please call the friend! It's the right thing to do. If you were sitting my cats, I'd give you this long song and dance about how they are strictly indoors only. And when you called in a panic, I'd sigh, knowing my tuxedo kitty has escaped once or twice. He panics and hides in the bushes right around the corner. Take a little catnip and he's yours.

A friend of mine was in this exact situation, and indeed, he did panic, search, and plaster the neighborhood with "Lost cat" signs.

Then he got home and noticed the tiniest tip of a kitty's tail peeping out from under a bureau. The cat holed up there for two days. The moral being, you can never check an apartment thoroughly enough to find all the places a cat might fit.

I'd wait a few hours but definitely not a full day before calling your friend. (Although I hope this is a purely hypothetical question. Otherwise, good luck to both you and the kitty.)

I love that you didn't crop your bowl and bong out of the picture! Is that where Bongo got her name? Genius. I hope you find her.

A similar situation happened with my kitty, Ahma. My girlfriend and I went out of town for a week and my friend was house/kitty sitting. She (my friend) came over one day and apparently the backdoor had been left open. Ahma had taken the opportunity to check out that exciting world she had always wondered about on the other side of the glass.

Instead of calling for her, or asking neighbors, my friend then decided..."hey, how about I play Guitar Hero REALLY LOUDLY and wait for Ahma to return." Now, not to fault my friends logic, but if I were a cat (or a human for that matter) would I want to come into a house where some stranger is blasting heavy metal and jumping around like a crazy person with a plastic guitar? No...no I wouldn't.

Needless to say, I got the call that Ahma had run away and quickly returned from my vacation. By the time I got the call about Ahma she had been gone for about 4 days. Luckily I was only 3 hours away so I rushed home. I spent the night calling for her, and went to my closest neighbors to ask for them to keep an eye out. In the process of calling for her I heard a tiny meow coming from underneath the house. About 7 hours later, after camping out in front of the hole that led to under the house she came out.

I still am thankful that I came home. I don't think there is any way she would have returned had I not been there calling for her and reminding her that it was safe to come out. She was hungry, thirsty and dirty...but she was home.

On a side note, that friend is no longer invited to house sit.

this is why every pet should be micro-chipped.

DEFINITELY contact your friend immediately. If something happened to/with my darling little pug, I would come home right away and be very upset if I was not alerted immediately.

Definitely try the food/treats. There was an article in the New York Times about a woman that finds lost cats in the Hamptons and she recommended turning off the lights and putting out tuna or wet cat food.

believe it or not, facebook is also a great tool for finding lost animals. If the kitty does not come home soon, make a photo album of the kitty, and post status updates, making sure the area where the cat is lost is in bold or uppercase. Most friends will be willing to pass the word on to others in your area.

You should stay at the house, keep the lights on and turn on some soft music.

Roast a chicken in the oven (I don't know a cat who isn't fond of that fragrance).

Pound the pavement, knock on doors, and a flyer at all the nearby homes, not just on the telephone poles.

Go to the local shelter and leave your flyer. Sometimes a lost pet will be surrendered to a shelter in hopes the owner will come looking.

**TIP TO READERS** My cats' tags have my vet's phone number, in case of ER, and the vet has my credit card on file just in case someone brings in one of my injured kitties.

DO call your friend and let them know what you are doing and will be doing to locate the lost kitty. I would be furious with you and very likely end the friendship immediately if you didn't call and tell me what was going on. It's completely irresponsible to not communicate the truth.

One of our three cats is 18 years old and deaf as a post, and because she's deaf, we are "losing" her all the time. She finds a place to curl up and will sleep for as long as ten hours -- no amount of treat-can rattling will get her to come out. The worst part is, she's always finding a new place to hide-out. I spent two hours looking around the neighborhood for her yesterday... only to discover her tucked away the furthest corner of my deep, dark office closet. I know, I know -- it's arguably irresponsible to let a deaf cat outside at all, but she mows and mows and mows and just loves to lay in the sun.

Did you check drawers and random shelves, underneath cushions?? Cats have a way of getting into places that don't seem reachable. But call the owner for sure and let him know not to panic, but the cat is missing. Paper, and ask! It can't hurt.

Call your friend, but keep calm. And give the house a very thorough search-- sometimes I am sure one of my indoor cats has escaped, but he turns out to be under the sink or inside the couch or in the bathtub.

Look around under the house, under any nearby parked cars, and in trees. Sometimes when cats get scared, they hide for long periods of time-- we had a kitten who hid for three days under a parked car across the street. Indoors-only cats can get very disoriented when outside, so check any nearby hidey-holes like culverts or open storm drains if possible.

Most important: It's not your fault. Cats will try to get out, and we can try to stop them, but there isn't a 100% success rate. Also, cats don't act the same for sitters as they do for their owners-- my cats go crazy and beat up on each other when I'm gone, and they act wild for a day or two after I return. If the cat is outside, he/she may not come to anyone, much less an unfamiliar person. Do your best for your friend's sake, but don't put this on your own shoulders. An open window is an invitation to most cats, and they can push up well enough to enlarge even a tiny opening.

I once knew a guy who had a search-and-rescue dog. While he worked with various law enforcement agencies, he was also available on a freelance basis, and he had been hired in the past to search for missing pets, including cats. That may seem counterintuitive given common cat/dog animosity, but apparently it's been successful. Just thought I would toss that out there since no one has mentioned it. I believe there's a national network of search-and-rescue dog handlers.

And, yes, absolutely CALL THE OWNER immediately! I would want to know.

I love how no one comments about the bong in the background of the photo. The cat in the photo is probably just on the of writers at the onion.

@tcasperite All I can focus on is that bong and hashpipe, too! I love that the cat is named "Bongo."

CATS DO NOT GO FAR FROM THEIR HOMES!!! Unless they are chased by another animal, the cat is likely within a 2-3 house radius of where it lives. It always irks me when I see Missing Cat posters miles away from where the cat's house is. People just simply do not know how to search for a cat. Here are some tips:

(1) Search the house thoroughly to make sure the cat is not really trapped somewhere it can't get out of. This is probably not the case, but you really should cross locations off your list.

(2) Call the local animal shelter and give a description of the cat in case someone brings it in. Again, not terribly likely because your cat is not going to let anyone get close to it, but best to cover the bases.

(3) Contact the neighbors within two houses in every direction. Ask them to search their properties (under stairs, in garages, in bushes close to the house, etc.) or see if they will allow you to do the searching. Don't make too much noise or you might scare the cat more, but bring some treats or some food to entice a potentially hungry cat to come out. People always assume (at least in my area), "Oh a coyote got the cat". NO!!! The cat is likely hiding either in your yard or your neighbor's yard.

(4) Put out the cat's favorite food at night and (on a night when rain is not forecasted) sprinkle flour all around the dish. That way, you can see the footprints in the morning and be sure what is eating the food (be it a raccoon, skunk, etc.). As most people know, a cat is one of the only animals that would eat cat food that has retractable claws. Therefore, if it is the cat, you should not see claws in the footprints. This is helpful to encourage you to keep going--if you see kitty prints, you know he's probably out there. You just need to get him!!

(5) Call the local animal control officer and ask to borrow a live trap. Set it out at night and cover the entire thing (except the door) with a towel or blanket. Put the cat's favorite food inside. But be prepared to potentially be releasing a wild animal in the morning. For detailed information on trapping cats, please check out the Postcards4Pets website: http://www.postcards4pets.com/Lost_Cat_Recovery.html
And Cats in the Bag: http://www.catsinthebag.org/
The postcards4pets website as A TON of great information.

(6) THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO NOT GIVE UP. This sounds corny, but it's absolutely true. In all likelihood, the cat is hunkered down somewhere close by, coming out only at night to look for food, and is scared senseless. Your cat depends on you so you have to make every effort to find it. YOUR CAT IS PROBABLY NOT DEAD OR LOST FOREVER. It just takes effort to get it to come back. DON'T GIVE UP.

I have the contact information of a VERY helpful lost cat expert (I know, sounds silly, but she helped get my cat back who was gone for one month) who will give you advice from a distance. Please email me at cwiz24@hotmail.com if you want her information.

Good luck!!!

Sorry--looks like the postcards4pets.com website I referred to no longer works. But if you Google "postcards4pets.com lost cat recovery" you can see the cached version.

I would call the friend. If he/she is the one who left the window open, it's not your fault. They should know if the cat is bound to escape. All you can do is leave the window open and hope it comes back. Cats often do. And I agree that you should call the animall shelter to see if the animal is there. Leave your # so they can call you if a matching cat gets brought in. And never agree to cat-sit again.

This happened to me. Momo the grey kitten was never found. To this day I have no idea how he got out. Oh Momo. How you ruined a beautiful friendship.

Call your friend immediately and tell them what happened. My cat once got out when i was out to dinner with friends and my roommates never bothered to tell me. I FLIPPED OUT at them for being such jerks. I could've had more time to look if they'd called me. Their excuse was that they didn't want to ruin my night, but obviously, my night would be ruined anyway when I got home.

Offer to thoroughly search the apartment and inquire around the building. Your friend might have ideas about where the cat might be hiding or might go.

If it's been more than a few hours, call the local animal shelters and animal control centers.

Don't stay overnight at your friend's house. Most cats are very wary of strangers or people intruding on their territory. The cat might be hiding out nearby waiting for you to leave. Put out some food near the window and turn the lights off.

Oh no, poor kitty! Did you find it?? Apparently there are lots of concerned readers and I'm sure everyone would love an update!

I once had a cat that would go back to my old place (6 blocks away from where I had moved to). Bossy would go missing and I would check the old place, and there he was!

Also had a cat that would go next door and get trapped in the spare (empty) room. That neighbor was a little wacky and one time I had to remove the window screen to retrieve Tazey...

My cats have never gone for the treats, but tuna works like a charm. The sound of the can opener and the spoon on the dish, especially.

I would let the owner know, check in with the local Vet / Shelter agency, post signs in the neighborhood, leave the window open if possible, and hope that Bongo returns. It doesn't hurt to walk the neighborhood calling him; sometimes cats get trapped in other people's garages.

Good luck! I hope he comes home soon.

p.s. I also once had a cat that was "tree'd" by raccoons and stayed in that tree for days. So when you walk around calling him, don't forget to also look up.

Just as I was starting to get over my pet-sitter anxiety...this. Looks like another 4 years w/o vacation! Seriously - worst nightmare. Best wishes to Bongo, his family, and the person who would be dead if she/her were my pet-sitter.

sleep there over night, call your friend, put up posters, basically do ALL of the above!!!!

leave the window open he left out of. Keep the other cats in a place they can't get to the window, call the local animal shelters, put signs at the closest vet offices and on the street. ask the neighbors.

This happened to me, as a pet owner on vacation. I have a very kind friend who was sitting for me and one day could NOT find the rather elderly cat. She looked under the beds, in the closets, in the cabinets, under the dressers—anywhere she thought a cat could hide. She then put some food in the food bowl. At the sound the cat emerged from her new hiding place. She had been under the quilt on the bed, nestled among the pillows. She looked like just another lump at the head of the bed.

My friend said that in one hour she aged ten years.

This happened to us. We were cat sitting for friends, when my husband had gone to the house to feed them. They have four lovely felines. Unfortunately, the porch was rotten, and they were unaware of the extent of it because they always entered through the garage.

As my husband opened the door, he fell through the porch. One of the cats, the one now on prozac, lunged forward and bit him. Another shot past him into the woods. The cat that bit him, ran back in, and he was able to get the door closed. His leg was broken in the fall through the porch.

He managed to drive home, and we got him to the doc's. I went back later, and corralled the remaining three into the cat room, and left the back door open as per the owners instructions. A few hours later, when I drove back, the cat was back indoors. (Thankfully! There are coyotes there.)

All cats were safe. My husband had to have antibiotics for the rather vicious bit, and a boot for his broken ankle. In the end it all worked out.

call the owner asap. when we've gone away on vacation the first day we were gone and called to see how Rivers the cat was they were like oh he wanted to go outside. and we were like WHAT?! he's indoors only. Now, I have to repeat over and over this cat is not to go outdoors for any reason and to be very careful when opening the front door because he like to wait by it and try to flee.

I've even lost my cat inside my home... we search for hours and when we shake the treat jar he'll pop out meowing. so we're still learning his hiding spots since he's still fairly young.

I've sort of had this happend but it was our own cat. The cat was a house cat so not used to going outside. One day when I left for school i didnt properly close the door and he escaped. My mother noticed and look for him all over our neighbourhood but didnt find him.
He came back by himself a few hours later, even before I had returned from school.

In this case I would tell the owner and always keep a door or window open so the cat can return home. Tell the neigbours and if after a day or two the cat is not back I would hang up notices and call local cat shelters.

My aunts cat once ran away a few months after they had moved. He had always gone outside and they looked everywhere for him. A few months later someone found him in a basement when they had allready given up hope of finding him.

Thanks everyone for your tips! This actually happened to my co-worker who was cat-sitting for another co-worker of ours--and the cat came back this morning :) Phew!

Oh thank goodness...

I've been worried.

Glad the cat returned. (And after re-reading this thread, I take it he's NOT Bongo ;-)