Stay calm. It is natural to feel upset, but getting into a panic won’t help you or your cat. Taking action immediately can mitigate anxiety. If you recently moved, go back to your old place and search. If you moved really far from your original home, ask friends, family, and old neighbors who are still living there to search for you. [2] X Research source Check any spaces where a cat could hide. This means inside sheds, garages, beneath decking, in bushes, up trees or on the roof.
If you have dogs, their enthusiasm may frighten your cat during the search. However, if your dog loves the cat and the feeling is mutual it may be useful to bring the dog on a search.
Trade cell phone contact information with everyone involved in the search, and supply each person with a flashlight, even in daylight.
Postal workers, children, and other people who spend a lot of time outside in your neighborhood can be useful resources. Offering a reward increases motivation, even relatively small rewards.
Also check under in sewer drains, and inside pipes and vents.
If there is any way for a cat to get inside those buildings, ask if the owner would be willing to search inside as well. Suggest searching for the cat yourself if they are not willing or able.
Construction sites often contain pits, rubble, or equipment that could trap the cat. The neighbors may have locked the cat into a garage without noticing. Phone neighbors who recently left for vacation, or have another reason for not returning their car to the garage. Your cat may have jumped into a car, delivery truck, or moving truck and been driven away.
Search recliner chairs, mattresses or mattress boxes, the chimney, dresser drawers, tangled drapes, behind the books in a bookcase, behind access panels, and behind appliances. [6] X Research source
Lost cats are usually too wary to approach sounds, even familiar ones, but this may work in the middle of the night, when it is dark and no one is around. Pause and listen for a response after each call.
Leave half the food in a closed plastic container with a few holes punched in the lid. This will cause animals (hopefully your cat) to smell the food without being able to get at it, and may cause them to hang around your door longer. [8] X Research source
Check the trap hourly. If a wild animal is caught in it, allow it to go free and reset the trap.
Include relevant information about specific dietary or medical conditions if life threatening. Ask neighbors to kindly check their sheds, garages and basements. Closest neighbors that the cat is reasonably familiar with are good places to check with first. Offering a reward can be good motivation and can get people out looking instead of “keeping an eye out. " If you receive a report of a cat sighting that doesn’t quite match your cat’s description, visit the location anyway to make sure. Descriptions from strangers often don’t match the description you would give the cat. Keep info on posters large, easy to read and simple. Include the relevant facts only.
When the chip is implanted in the pet, the owner provides registration information to the microchip company that will be kept on file until the owner changes that information. The code will be linked to the owner’s information through the microchip’s database. When the scanner reveals the code, the microchip company can then be contacted with the code and the owner’s information will be available. Most veterinarians and animal shelters will check for a microchip for no charge when a stray cat is brought in.
Give fliers to veterinary offices, in case someone takes your cat there to treat injuries or begin an adoption process. Post flyers near schools and playgrounds, at children’s eye level. Children are often more observant than adults, especially at noticing animals. Dog runs, dog parks, pet supply stores, and pet grooming salons are all visited by pet-friendly people who are more likely to search actively. Post on community message boards at laundromats, churches, missing pet websites, schools, pet stores, libraries, and grocery stores, or any other businesses that allows it in your neighborhood.
Lost pet tracking websites include Missing Pet, Pets911, and TabbyTracker. FindToto for US residents costs money to use, but will broadcast a “Pet Amber Alert” to neighbors in your area. Twitter and Facebook can be used to spread the word among your network of friends. Be sure to include a photo or two. If your neighborhood association has an email news digest or web site, post a Lost Cat notice. Remember to include the cat’s name, description and temperament.
Some shelters keep a log of lost pet announcements so that they have records of your information should a similar animal come into their facility. It never hurts to make friends with the front staff at the shelter to make them personally aware of your situation and your pet’s description. Home baked goods break a lot of ice anywhere you ask for help.
Do not call the emergency number for your police department! Call the non-emergency 311 number or just talk to your local patrolperson instead. While your lost cat is an emergency to you, police need to prioritize incidents involving people.
