Cat rescued from Turkey's earthquakes goes missing in the UK

NEWS AND VIEWS: The woman is distraught. She blames herself. Her story is interesting and at the same time educational. She tells it on the mumsnet.com website.

She appears to have adopted a rescue cat when she was living in Turkey. She describes her cat as an "ex-street cat". She kept him indoors after rescuing him. He spent two years inside her home in Turkey.

Domestic cat rescued from Turkish earthquakes. This is not the cat in the story. The picture is here to illustrate the page. Image now in the public domain.

During the earthquakes which were well reported he went missing for two months. He was found and rescued. He was kept in a tent for a week on a harness. He was then transported by car in a 20-hour journey to Istanbul. He was then looked after by a different person and then transported to the UK by road in a three-day journey to be reunited with his owner, the lady in question who is distraught and now living in the UK.

When the cat was returned to the UK, he apparently settled in initially. The lady has another cat who doesn't get on that well with the cat from Turkey.

She knew that she had to keep her Turkish cat inside the home for a few weeks before letting him out. The idea behind cat confinement when moving to a new home and a strange environment is to allow the cat to begin to own that environment and feel at home in it. This prevents him or her from trying to return to their previous home and getting lost.

The Turkish cat squeezed out of the cat flap as the other cat was coming through it. He returned to his home but he was asking to be let out all the time. He was howling according to the lady.

Against her better judgement she let him out. He came back a couple of hours later and so she let him out again but this time he didn't return and the days have gone by. At the time of her post on the mumsnet website he had been missing for four days.

She said:

"I just don't know what to do. I literally can't do anything other than just sit around all day crying and hating myself for being so stupid and not following the advice."

Her cat is micro-chipped so there's hope there. She has posted on social media and placed familiar items such as his litter tray and his bedding in the garden to try and attract him to it. She's going to print flyers and post those around the neighbourhood. She asks for help.

Lessons?

Educational? Unfortunately, this lady's life for a while was unsuited to a domestic cat. She travelled from Turkey to the UK after the Turkish earthquakes. This was discombobulating for her cat. It's not her fault but circumstances have created a very unsettled lifestyle for her cat. The earthquakes must have been traumatic for the cat.

RELATED: Live the life that your cat wants with consistency and routines.

In addition, the second cat doesn't appear to get on that well with the Turkish rescue cat. This unsettled lifestyle plus the other cat has resulted in the Turkish cat leaving the home. He might not come back but live outside and become skinny and dirty and suffer ill-health unless somebody rescues him (again for the 3rd time) and has the presence of mind to have him scanned for a microchip at which point he can be returned and reunited.

But the educational aspect of this is that domestic cats like and indeed need a settled lifestyle with routines and rhythms by their human caregiver. They want those reassurances. I wish her well and the same goes to her cat. She rescued him from Turkey so this is an excellent woman.

Infographic - videos on animal rescue from Turkey's earthquakes