Our handsome marbled Bengal Cory snuck out on the night of June 10th. We didn't even realize it until the next morning when we didn't find Cory on the bed with us. I knew I should have gone with my wife's concerns that night about not seeing Cory, but I was drugged up on NyQuil from having a cold and just figured he was hiding somewhere. I don't know how or why but the window in our bedroom was left open further than it should have been. Normally it's left open about 2-3 inches so our 2 cats can't go out. We have window locks on all of our windows, so my wife or I must have opened it further than we should have and didn't realize it. Cory must have squeezed himself through the open window and pushed through the window screen to escape. We live in an apartment complex in a suburban neighborhood with a hiking trail and a small creek right behind. My wife and I sure are doing a good job staying hopeful and we look "ok" on the surface, but I know we both are a mess on the inside and fearing for the worst. We both feel so god damn horrible for being such awful parents.
We left his favorite dry food and wet food outside our patio that's right next to the bedroom window from which he escaped. We put up flyers with a $2,000 reward everywhere in our apartment complex, posted it on social media, and searched around on foot for the past 2 weeks. We also drove around the area as well but didn't find anything. Our fliers posted all of our apartment complex community have all now been taken down due to "policies" at our property. All of the neighbors seem to be aware but there are several outdoor cats that are confusing them. We've been getting calls for sightings every few days but despite what the 11" x 17" signs say about not chasing Cory and just taking a picture of him instead for confirmation, people are somehow chasing it away or getting him confused with other cats. In fact, just today when we were walking our rosetted Bengal Toby, 3 of our neighbors came up to us to congratulate us on finding Cory. They look nothing alike.
A bloodhound scent tracker lady came down to our neighborhood with 2 bloodhounds and a terrier last Saturday. Both bloodhounds ended up in the same area, a hiking trail outside of our community where many wildlife such as coyotes and skunks frequent. She found what she thinks are coyote dropping and regurgitation and cat hair. She has taken it to a forensic analyst have it compared against a patch of hair from Cory we have after a rough play fight with Toby. We're still waiting on the results. We've already spent over $2,500 on searching for Cory and it's starting to impact our budget: bloodhounds, humane traps, wildlife cameras, bait food for Cory, bait food to distract wildlife from Cory's bait food, fliers, laminated signs, lost pet private investigators, and even an animal psychic communicator.
Unfortunately, Cory is an indoor only cat so we don't have a collar on him. He is microchipped so I've been checking the shelters around the area. Cory has been missing for 13 days now. He is bit of a skittish cat so I'm worried that a car or an animal scared him or chased him far, far away. I really hope he is just hiding nearby. I can only reassure my wife so much before even I succumb to reality. We don't even feel like we deserve another chance with Cory but at least Cory deserves another chance to live with a family in a home and be safe. What else can we do? If anyone has anything to add, has an idea we haven't tried yet, knows about indoor-only Bengal behavior when they're lost outside, or even success stories, I would appreciate it. Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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