I haven't thought of this much since it happened YEARS ago...in 1978 when I was relocating from New Jersey to Albuquerque, NM sometime during the 3 days prior to our leaving, my wonderful cat, Tasha, disappeared!!! Tasha was not a cat who liked to wander, she usually just stayed close to home. It was beyond us what could have happened to her, but I told my husband that I was not leaving without her! My sister who lived next door to us at the time said she would be sure to look for her if we still hadn't found her and ship her to me. :( I said I still was not leaving!!!
So it came down to the very last night, the U-haul was totally packed, both cars and the camper ready to pull out first thing in the morning. Here we are sitting in a totally empty house except for a sleeping bag and a TV and all of a sudden I head "meow...meow". Tasha!!! We couldn't quite tell where it was coming from so we all went outside to look. Well, back east we had crawl spaces under the houses and there was a little door that covered the space unless you had to go under the house. Well somehow, that cat had gone under the house and probably went to sleep, someone put the board back, and she didn't hear us when we were in the yard looking for her. With all the noise from packing we probably never heard her crying to get out when she finally woke up! We were so happy to have gotten her back.
Course, when she spent the next 3 days in a car scared to death, she was probably wishing she was still under the house!
:D
She lived to the age of 18 and I finally had to put her to sleep. She was the best cat I ever had.
I will pray that you find your cat! I believe you will.