Cat went outside and is now scared

Hi all

We adopted a 12 year old cat and she’s been lonely. Quite independent but likes to be near us.

We’ve been encouraging her to go outside and she’s been joining us out on sunny days but she retreats indoors when we go in.

We’ve been leaving the cat door unlocked in case she wants to go out on her own. We’ve pushed her through the flap and witnessed her returning through it, but we’ve never seen her go out of her own accord.

We woke this morning and she was not in the house. After a brief search we found her around parked cars a few metres from the front of our house. She looked very scared and confused.

She was scared to come near but I managed to scoop her up. I carried her into our house without a fight or resistance.

She’s now really really scared. Her pupils are wide and she seems to be constantly looking around, as if checking she’s safe or looking for something. She will occasionally lick her lips.

She was outside for up to six hours (I saw her at about midnight) and she has now been indoors hiding behind the sofa for five hours.

I’m a bit concerned she ate something bad, but she seems more scared than I’ll.

Does anyone have any advice? It’s really worrying that she’s not being herself.

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/nxd8q1/cat_went_outside_and_is_now_scared/