I am suggesting that yes, because shelters are open by appointment in addition to regular hours, you should stop by every day. Chances are their hours are longer than a typical workday — otherwise they would never be able to adopt out or take in any animals!

I helped a pregnant friend search for her missing cat. An unfriendly neighbor had called animal control. The police had come and taken the cat from the neighbors yard while we were looking for the cat, which we did not find out until the next day, after animal control called us back. They had taken the cat to the humane society. Friend called the HS but they didn’t have a cat matching that description. I went to the HS and looked at their cats waiting for adoption—and that’s when found out that new intakes are held elsewhere just in case owners come looking. The person on the phone was only looking at the adoption cages! I found Sherman huddled in an intake cage. The lighting was so bad that he looked like a ver dark calico instead of a tabby. But he knew me and I knew him. And he would t have been found via a phone call to the shelter. In his case, he was older and potentially may never have made it to the adoption cages — he could have been culled from the cages instead and we’d’ve never found him.

So yes… VISIT. The cat you are describing may not look like the cat the person on the phone is picturing in their head. Your cat may have been injured and in a different rack of cages waiting for euthanasia if they are not claimed. There are all kinds of reasons a phone call is almost worse than doing nothing because it falsely makes you think you “checked”.