Anyone had or heard of a MC go missing for months?

One of my cats Rufus accidentally escaped 6 months ago now and he was seen a few times out in the countryside (I live on the edge of a village) a bit further away from the houses than other cats go, presumably to avoid them. Despite exhaustive searching, extremely good public awareness in the village and beyond and pretty much every technique you could think of including 2 trail cameras out there continuously for months, we have never seen him ourselves or caught him on camera since he escaped. We know that he survived the first 3 months (February to May) when it was still quite cold, because of sightings, which were all within 500m of the house. Since then dusk was very late (he has reverted to nocturnal behaviour like a wild cat) so no-one out in the fields to spot him and all of the crops were above cat height, making it like finding a needle in a haystack.

Now that dusk is earlier and the crops are being harvested there is more chance, but I am seriously wondering if he is still alive. We have had no sightings for 3 months now (although the above factors play a strong part in this) and whilst I don't want to just give up like everyone else does, it's really hard with no positive info to give you hope. I have read that Maine Coons are excellent hunters and good survivors, and there must be plenty of prey out there in the fields and not much competition for it. Does anyone have any experience of a MC going missing for this kind of length of time then being found? The last person who saw him in good detail said he looked thin (but otherwise fine) which was 3 months after escape, but that was more than 3 months ago now. Is there any hope that he is still alive? He is/was such a beautiful ginger MC and a real character, I miss him a lot. Apologies for length and depressing content!

I have not heard abut an MC being missed..
but I have experienced!!!:sad2:

and so I can understand your feelings well..

Mine also used to go out n would come back..

Here, it is so hot from April to Oct n he was missing from Sept ,2011.

before that he used to go out n come back , one time after 2 days.
But during those times, he was spotted in the neighbourhood n would run home when he see me ,CRYING..

I still remeber my boy..n here no chance of searching wide as no fields or anything..only roads n huge buildings..

but I believe that he might have gone with anybody,preferably male, as he is addicted to males!!

n here nothing like camera can be put ..

I can feel you..n really see you wandering in search of him, as I used to do the same..

I don like to think that he is not alive..though I wonder, as you told he is able to survive in the hottest climate..

Thats y I think he might be somewhere else..

Like your boy mine was also so good n I still remeber him meowing louder n running to me , when he sees me outside.

Now it is one year since I met him..

But don think that yours is missed for ever...from your description I believe that he can be found in your region..n may be he prefers staying outside..n i think the climate anyway would not be so hot as 57 degree C here..so he can survive..

Best of Luck..
He will be back..

Do not give up,any breed of cat can go missing for months & then turn up again,we had a client whose domestic cat went missing for years & then walked into the house one morning at its usual time,sat in the same place looking at where its food was kept although at that point the kitchen had been changed & the original cupboard was no longer there,that was when they realised it was in fact their long lost feline... Is he ID chipped,one thing that is well worth its money as we have reunited lots of owners & furries through them,we always scan as a matter of course if a client says it turned up as a "stray" in their garden however long ago...
Cats are very able to adapt to fending for themselves but fingers crossed with the colder weather coming he will decide adventure was nice but a comfy home hearth is even better,keep faith until you know the worst & fingers crossed you have a very happy reunion....xxxx

Thanks for replies. To clarify, he wasn't an outdoor access cat as such, we have a small protected garden but he found a weak point when let out in the morning - we didn't know he was missing for a couple of hours. The garden has since been doubly fortified and I am going to get Loc8tor tags as well for his brother and Rufus if we ever find him. Yes he is microchipped, although that is only of use if he gets close enough to people for someone to apprehend him and take him somewhere to be scanned. The last we know is that he was out in the countryside and seems to have stayed away from the houses so far. Everyone in the village knows and there are still lots of posters around so if he had shown himself someone would have called. Trouble is if he is dead we would probably not know as I have heard that they go somewhere very hidden to die, and out in the countryside the number of hiding places is quite large.

I've been in a similar situation.

Less than a week after getting Spencer II he was at a friend's apartment and slipped out the door. He eventually came back two months later, lost 1kg to "only" 19kg. :D

I'd like to know how he coped.