After 79 hours of fear and sleepless nights, missing cat smokey returns home hungry, tired, and into his owner’s arms: 'I’ve never felt so elated in my life'

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Aug 25, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Cats are just like toddlers, there we said it. It has been a long time coming, but the truth needed to be put out there. Because no matter how much we might try to ignore it a creature that loves nothing more than pushing boundaries, causing chaos, demanding food, and then going for a nap, is most closely related to a hooman toddler. Which means that the responsibility of making sure that our cat children do not get loose and lay waste to the world outside is on us. And that is the crux of our story today, which essentially tells the tale of a cat/toddler who has a thing for pretending to run away from home. Now usually this charade is over within a few hours, or at worst when the cat gets hungry and hears the sound of treats.

But on this day in particular the cat saw an opportunity to make a great escape, and it went so well that he had no idea what to do with the rest of the 'run away from home' plan. And just like a toddler who quickly realizes that they do not have the ability to buy food and take care of themselves in the outside world, this catto soon came home with his tail between his legs. But not before his pawrents almost lost their minds.
 

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  • 01
    I had a cat, he was my lil buddy, my lil bro. His name was Smokey but I always call him "buddy".
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 02
    He often tried to go outside but we kept him as an indoor cat cause it wasn't safe. He's gotten out a few times, but he always came back in an hour or two. Or if he
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 03
    didn't, he'd come running after a couple hours when we call his name and shake the treats. He's ran to me as far as the apartment complex the street.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 04
    But a couple nights ago he ran out and it caught me off guard because it'd been a pretty dang long time since he'd done that. And the first time it was in the cold. I was bringing
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 05
    dinner in the house and had my hands full so I wasn't able to just grab him. By the time I set the stuff down he was nowhere in sight.
    via Cindy-Moon

  • Cats are sometimes just like those kids who like to push the limits of what their parents are willing to tolerate. Except they go too far thinking that have succeeded but then have no plan for what happens after their great achievement. And considering that this catto likely realized that the outside world is not an all-you-can-eat buffet like his home is, he decided it was time to swallow his pride…

  • 06
    I didn't think it was a big deal, this had happened so many times before, so I figured he'd come back meowing in a couple hours or will come for treats like always. But it didn't happen. And I tried again an hour later, and an hour later, and an hour later...
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 07
    When it was getting to be 1 am i started trying to search outside with a flashlight and calling for him and couldn't find him. But I could find stray dogs. I have cynophobia
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 08
    Orange cat stretching out on a fence
    via freeman83 via Adobe Stock

    Disclaimer: This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 09
    and physical disabilities that make conducting this search very difficult. There's also not really a lot of nooks and crannies near our apartment for a cat to hide, so I fear he went pretty far. When I
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 10
    encountered dogs, I stopped calling for him and shaking the treats and returned home and tried again later. And I encountered more dogs. And I'd try again later. And I encountered more dogs. That's not good for
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 11
    me or my cat :( I tried 5. different times and encountered dogs every time. The next day I filed a lost pet report and printed flyers and we've put some up but we don't know how far out to do so. Our
    via Cindy-Moon

  • This stage of the ‘finding your cat’ process always breaks our hearts. Everyone is tired, strung-out and struggling to keep going and hope is diminishing, fast. But it is the exact point where we have to give as much as we can, because in all likelihood the dawn is just around the corner.

  • 12
    neighbors that share this apartment building with us are deaf and we don't really know how to communicate with them. I posted a flyer on the apartment building so maybe they'll see that.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 13
    It's been about 51 hours now. I'm worried, there's so many things that could happened. He could get stuck somewhere I can't find or reach, he could be injured, he could have gotten into a fight with other cats or dogs, he
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 14
    could have gotten hit by a car, he could have been picked up by someone else who is keeping them in their home, what if he ate or drank something that made him sick...?
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 15
    I've been reading a lot of posts and articles about this sort of thing these past couple of days. A lot of them say that indoor cats are timid and will stay near the home but my cat has always been very inquisitory and a people cat and not
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 16
    remotely skittish at all. And he's ran outside so many times now that I don't know if he'd react like a normal indoor cat. Whenever strangers come to visit he's always been friendly and come to investigate with them.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 17
    orange cat crawling under a fence
    via William via Adobe Stock

    Disclaimer: This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 18
    We'd found him as a kitten in our tree at our old place about 8 years ago. I loved the lil guy. He was a pain in the neck sometimes but he was my pain in the neck. I'm not ready to just lose him like
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 19
    this. The one silver lining has been that every other post I've seen about someone's cat going missing has ended in an update that the cat has been found or returned.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 20
    But I feel like I'm running out of options to find him and am really scared I'll never see him again.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 21
    EDIT: He's home! Took 79 hours but he found his way back. I decided to call for him again and shake some treats and I heard his meow, he got hungry enough to make it back I guess! I kept calling for
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 22
    him and he jumped the fence, ran into the house, and straight to the food bowl to chow. Gosh I've never felt so elated in my life, I'm so glad my lil buddy is here again.
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 23
    Not going to lie, a little bit of superstitious part of me made this reddit post precisely because I hadn't seen a single online post where someone didn't eventually get their cat back. I figured it unlikely that I'd be the first. So if I
    via Cindy-Moon
  • 24
    made the post, then I'd have to edit it to say he's returned at some point right? It seems it worked out :p
    via Cindy-Moon

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missing cat hungry fear arms tired reddit story hours cat story cat owners sleepless nights return home
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