"Archer", DSH, Tuxedo, Walnut Creek - Found!

Archer is an indoor/outdoor, neutered, nine year old, 20 lb tuxedo cat. He is not wearing a collar, but is microchipped. He had been missing for a few days when I was called. 

He was outside his home when a loose neighborhood dog chased Archer up a very tall tree. Archer's person was nearby and saw what happened. The dog was brought in doors, and then they attempted to get Archer down from the tree. Archer was coming down from the tree, when he fell to the ground and then ran off. 

We found his track leading out of the condo complex and then to the right into the neighborhood. The track continued up and through some neighborhoods. The dogs did indicate some sustained scent in some large sewage pipes on one of the streets, which I think meant that Archer spent some time in those pipes, maybe waiting until he felt safe to go out, maybe at night. 

From there the track led down to the downtown area of Walnut Creek. Here I learned that Archer's person regularly walked Archer up and down these streets. Actually, she said that she would take Archer to a wide variety of places, where Archer would stay outside the door, like at a friend's house, until his person came out to get him. 

The track went for several blocks all the way down to the end of the downtown area. From here it went under the highway, along the edge of more neighborhoods and then out to a very long and narrow open space in between two neighborhoods. This continued for several miles all the way into another city. This space was a walking path with a lot of hiding spaces for a cat to walk and then dart to the side for quick cover. We did find the track would suddenly dart off to the side at various points. 

We continued until almost five hours when Archer's person stopped the track. We got a ride back to her home. She said she was going to go back to that area later in the day to distribute flyers and walk around. 

I received an email a couple of days later that Archer had returned to his home. His person felt that the search with the dogs was a total fake since she felt that Archer was in the area of his home this whole time, and was hiding somewhere. I explained that I felt that Archer followed her scent all the way back, which actually is quite easy and common for a cat to do, especially an experienced outdoor cat. I explained that it only took us five hours to walk, and it took him 24 to 48 hours to get home. That would have been quite easy, especially once he got back to the downtown area which he was familiar with. She still did not believe me that the dogs tracked him to that spot.