Panicking - my new kitten is lost in my house

[Anonymous]

We brought home a new kitten yesterday afternoon. She's about 4 months old, and was a barn kitten (which I hope means she's more resilient than most). Despite all of us working very hard to contain her in one space (we live in a large home with a very open floor plan), she ran off this morning during my husband's watch. She has now been MIA in our home for 5 hours. He's the only one home right now, and getting irritated with me calling him.

I imagine the kitten is hidden somewhere, and probably asleep. Anybody have any brilliant ideas for how to lure her out of a hiding space? My husband told me he continues to look everywhere for her, but hasn't turned her up yet. Really really trying not to panic.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the doors are all open and the kitten can get to food/water/litter box. Then calm down, unless there's also a free range large boa constrictor in the house or something. You seem overly freaked out.

Containing the kitten at first is so they get used to a smaller space and aren't overwhelmed. You were eventually going to let it explore the whole house, you're just doing it sooner than expected.

[Anonymous]

It will come out when it's hungry. Don't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Put out a plate of tuna

[Anonymous]

This was inevitable, OP. Stop bothering your husband. You're going to need to be very patient with this cat, because it might take a long time to warm up to you and its indoor surroundings. Make sure there's nowhere it can get trapped and set out food and water.

I think the main issue is whether they'll run out the door one day and hightail it into the wild.

[Anonymous]

I understand, I have a kitten now 6 months. When only 3 months, I worried - they can get stuck easily and knock over heavy things on to themselves or hop into the toilet etc.
kittens are fragile.
Check the refrigerator thoroughly, dishwasher, washer, dryer to rule out. Mine jumps in these appliances. Also got wedged in a wall somehow. Constantly tried to burrow into plumbing for some reason. Check drawers, baskets, closets, etc
Then open food (or formula) and carry it around to entice. Something with food smell. Kittens need to eat every few hours. It may be hiding, it needs to learn humans are safe and are there to protect kittens.

[Anonymous]

That is just what they do. Put the food and water out and she will come out eventually. The more you try to chase her now, the longer it will take for her to trust you.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, this happened to me and scared me to death. We found her asleep on top of clothes on a high shelf in a closet. She must have climbed up the clothing or something.

[Anonymous]

If it's inside the house - shell show up eventually. Just keep it quiet and listen. I would actually keep doors closed so it's not running from one place to another, and put food out in most likely space.

And "funny"story from me - our cat somehow got into the AC vent on the floor and was stuck there. We discovered her almost 24 hrs later because kids heard her meowing under the floor in their bedroom. We had to cut through ceiling and vents themselves in the middle of the night to get her out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's inside the house - shell show up eventually. Just keep it quiet and listen. I would actually keep doors closed so it's not running from one place to another, and put food out in most likely space.

And "funny"story from me - our cat somehow got into the AC vent on the floor and was stuck there. We discovered her almost 24 hrs later because kids heard her meowing under the floor in their bedroom. We had to cut through ceiling and vents themselves in the middle of the night to get her out.

I'm so glad she survived, poor thing!

[Anonymous]

This happened to me shortly after we adopted our cats! One went totally MIA, I looked everywhere and couldn’t find her. I was convinced she had slipped out the front door when someone opened it. I had my son and a bunch of neighborhood kids looking all over, carrying treats and calling her name with no luck. A couple of hours later, she came walking down the stairs! I have no idea where she was, but I learned then that kittens sleep a LOT and will come out when they are hungry!

[Anonymous]

This happened to my neighbor and cat was hiding behind the laundry machine

[Anonymous]

Kitten is hiding and will probably come out when the house is quiet. Set out a can of kitten food and monitor with your security camera / baby monitor. Stop moving around or looking for the kitten., wait until it goes to the food and then close the door behind it. It will be a while, so don't panic any more than you already have.

[Anonymous]

Similar situation also happened to my friend while she was traveling - their cat didn't show up for meal time twice in the row, and there was no way he could escape outside. I searched that house top to bottom. Nada. Cat showed up in unfinished basement of the neighbors two doors down - imagine neighbors surprise when they saw a kitten walking up the stairs from the basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's inside the house - shell show up eventually. Just keep it quiet and listen. I would actually keep doors closed so it's not running from one place to another, and put food out in most likely space.

And "funny"story from me - our cat somehow got into the AC vent on the floor and was stuck there. We discovered her almost 24 hrs later because kids heard her meowing under the floor in their bedroom. We had to cut through ceiling and vents themselves in the middle of the night to get her out.

Something similar happened to us! We were moving and it was our first night in the new house. The movers had lifted off a floor vent to the hvac when placing the furniture and our cat went exploring and couldn't get out. We had to have someone cut into the vents to get him out! Our cat always loved hiding in closets so I would be careful to leave those doors open till you find them and just listen for meowing in case they got stuck somewhere.