Oviedo, FL Lost Male Cat, Leo Is Missing

Facebook Community Response

Diana E.

2 months ago

Nadeem Najda, humane traps have their place in this process, but only after you've identified a place where Leo feels safe emerging at night for food -- until then you'll only catch other cats and critters which risks scaring Leo farther away. In future if you get a call after dark from a neighbor about a possible sighting, instead of searching, it's best to simply bring food and put it in a safe and discreet location -- that's it. If it's in view of a camera, even better, but at this stage your goal may shift to finding a place where Leo is comfortable eating overnight. If he's too scared to come back home or has met with too much interference, you need to figure out where he will emerge for food so he remains close and well nourished -- doing so will provide additional opportunities to recover him. This may sound silly, but the Japanese believe whenever the opportunity arises, you must tell other kitties in the area that Leo is lost and enlist their help to bring him home -- if other cats come to the food intended for Leo, just let them eat, tell them Leo is lost and ask them to send him home. Then just replenish the food. If Leo is nearby, he'll wait until the coast is clear rather than rethink whether it's safe to approach the food. But to be serious, it may also be helpful to publish photos of the other cats you've encountered while attempting to lure Leo home-- if someone else nearby has lost a cat, it will help get the word out about Leo ("as we're searching for our lost cat...") and spread goodwill that may be returned to you during your quest. At this point I would use the cameras you have to place food in some safe spots to see if Leo may be among the cats you lure to your home. I will provide more comprehensive instructions tomorrow if you let me know what happens tonight. Hang in there.

Nadeem N.

2 months ago

Diana Ellis Sadly it was not Leo, at least not last night. We removed food from the side garage door, put cat food out only on the patio, and watched all sides of the house including the front door/garage, both sides of the house and back patio. Unfortunately the possum still came back around sniffing even though I put cat food out in multiple places on our neighbor's properties and far off on my own. Then one of the cats we see around the cul-de-sac, a medium build brown tiger shorthair who we thought could have been Leo came to the patio around 11:30PM and tried eating the food before we scared it off. We didn't see anything else. One of the Havahart traps I originally had out way back in the corner of our backyard ended up trapping that brown shorthair. She's friendly and it turns out we're pretty certain she's pregnant. Her belly felt distended and she was not aggressive and hung around us even after letting her go. Later around midnight, our neighbor directly behind us called us and said he'd seen Leo across the street from him, but since it was dark and he only had a flashlight, he couldn't be 100% certain but said it looked like him. We went over there to check but the cat had ran off. I'm not sure what else to do now. We could try going back to that stop late at night and staking it out quietly to see if any cats come out. Or put another humane trap around the area overnight to see if we catch anything.

Joshua K.

2 months ago

There is a big pond and wooded area back there, best of luck

Nadeem N.

2 months ago

Diane D. McLeod Thank you. We've been doing that, and putting food out and have cameras watching everywhere and still haven't seen him, going on 9 days now 😣

Diana E.

2 months ago

Nadeem Najda, I'm hopeful it was Leo who came to the back patio and if that's the only location where food is provided tonight, perhaps he'll be able to return without interference. Please let me know how it goes.

Nadeem N.

2 months ago

Diana Ellis Yes that's right, we're monitoring all of them, at least as much as possible. I had to sleep eventually but we're keeping eyes and ears out for everything. I'll put cat food out farther from our perimeter then and we'll close the garage but still keep watch on all corners of the house, especially the patio. Will report back afterwards. Thanks again Diana 🙏

Diana E.

2 months ago

Nadeem Najda, are you monitoring all of the four places where food was left, and the only promising lead was the "whitish" cat seen on the back patio? And it seems baiting the trees and placing cat food at the perimeter of your property was not successful in keeping stray cats and critters away? This evening I would try again satisfy the other cats and critters away from the house (don't use tuna -- just cat food, as your objective is not to lure animals with a strong scent, only for Leo to find food when he arrives home and begin to eat which should calm him and hold his attention, allowing you to open the door without scaring him away). Focus your efforts on the patio -- make sure you have a good view of that activity -- and I'd probably close the garage for tonight and remove food from the other doors also (although you can keep monitoring with cameras, just in case). Let's see if it was Leo who came to eat last night on the patio. Start this process as soon as it's dark and make sure the food on the patio is close enough to the door leading inside so Leo has no problem entering the home when you open the door. You want to give him as much time as possible to return -- hopeful he does so before bedtime. Call him softly from the patio just as it's getting dark, then make sure you don't scare him with any sounds or sudden movements if he approaches the food. Wait for him to settle on it before very slowly and quietly opening the door. If he darts away, don't go after him, simply leave the door cracked open and retreat inside, calling him softly. Give him time to return voluntarily. How does this sound to you?

Nadeem N.

2 months ago

Diana Ellis Hi Diana. Sadly we can't confirm we saw Leo, there were all kinds of things that happened last night. We left food in the designated areas like you said: by the front door, on the patio near the sliding door to go inside the house, by the side garage door and then inside the garage itself. I also put scraps, some old fruits and some tuna andtered them near the base of a couple big oak trees farther back in our backyard as well as on the edge of our property towards the neighbors to try and lure critters away. Unfortunately we saw an opossum find its way into our garage and start eating some tuna we put out for Leo around 11:30 PM. I scared it off and added more cat food to the bowls. Then around 4:30 AM, my wife noticed one of the local stray cats (a tiger brown shorthair) in our garage as well. Then at around 5:15 AM, she saw a white'ish colored cat on our patio eating the cat food but it was a little obscured. We had a baby monitor out there and she couldn't quite tell if it could be Leo or not. Unfortunately it was gone by the time I went out to check just a couple minutes later, as she had called me from work so perhaps the loud call scared it off. It could have been him or not, it was hard to tell. I think we can try to adjust the positioning of the camera to be sure tonight. What do you think?

Ben W.

2 months ago

Diane D. McLeod yes my dear it's really good you are welcome

Diana E.

2 months ago

Nadeem Najda, I understand just how you feel, but I'm hopeful with the modifications we've discussed Leo should feel it's safe enough to venture home. His behavior is typical -- most escaped cats will attempt to return right away and if they can't get back inside they'll hide somewhere nearby. I know it's going on a week since he got outside, so if he doesn't return after course correcting, I will explain what to do during phase two of the recovery efforts. I'm hopeful, however, he'll return before having to try something a little more complicated, Hang in there.