How to Find Lost Cats

Look for places where cats can hide. When cats are lost and frightened, they often run to the first shelter they find. You can search in dense foliage, under porches, in pipes, and in garages or sheds. Start your search near the lost cat area and expand the scope.

• Don’t forget to check the drains, pipes and vents.

Search multiple times in the area within a radius of 5 houses. Many cats hide and stay silent for a few days until they decide to answer your call. Go back and search in the vicinity of your home and let the person you love call out to the cat.

Search in higher areas. Even cats that have had their toenails trimmed can still climb, especially when they’re scared. Look in trees, on rooftops, and in high places. Cats can even climb into the space between the roof and the wall.

Search in an area with warm temperatures. If the weather is cold, cats can get trapped behind heaters, climb into vents, and even get under car engines.

Search around your neighbor’s house and yard. Knock on every house and every business within the radius of the area where you last saw the cat. Ask permission to search around buildings in the area, and remember to focus your search on where the cat can hide.

• If you suspect your cat may have climbed into buildings, ask your landlord if he or she can help you look inside. If they don’t want or can’t help you with your search, you can ask permission if you can search in their home yourself.

Think about where the cat might be stuck. Here are some examples of places where cats can get stuck: ^[7]

• Construction sites often have sandpits, rubble, or devices that can trap cats.
• Neighbors may have accidentally locked the cat in the garage. Call neighbors who have recently traveled, or haven’t used the garage in a long time.
• The cat may have jumped into a car, or a delivery truck, or a moving truck and they accidentally drove away. This is often the case if your cat loves to play with cars or to explore cars.

Remember to search inside your home. Cats can get trapped or injured under furniture, in a locked room or closet, or in areas you rarely visit such as an attic or basement. Maybe it’s because the cat wants to hide from the noisy sounds coming from your house or the neighbor’s house.

• Search in the recline seat slot, in the mattress or mattress holder, in the chimney, in the drawers, in the curtains, behind the book on the bookshelf, behind the switch panel, and behind the home appliance. use. ^[8]

Call your cat outside at night. Lure the cat out of the shelter by calling the cat and shaking the can of dry food or snacks that the cat likes. The sound of opening a can of cat food can be effective, and if the food has a strong scent, your cat may react to the scent. ^[9]

• A lost cat is usually cautious about approaching sounds, even if the sound is coming from a loved one, but if you call your cat in the evening, when night falls and the space becomes quiet, there may be function.
• Stop and listen for a response after each call.

Let the familiar scent in front of the door. The cat’s familiar box or favorite toy or blanket will help the cat recognize the scent and keep the cat around longer if the cat looks to the source of the scent in the evening. If you don’t have these items, you can leave the dirty shirt you’re wearing by the door.

Leave food outside. Strong-smelling foods like cat food, tuna, or liver can be appealing to your cat – or other cats and other wild animals, and they may repel your cat. This is often recommended by many animal shelters, however, you should be prepared to keep foxes, ferrets, or other cats away.

• Place half of the food in a plastic container and poke a few holes in the lid. This will help the animals (hopefully your cat) smell the food but not get the food, and this will keep them around longer on your doorstep. ^[10]
• Use sardines to lure cats. Conventional cat foods will not work. Sardines will attract your cat’s attention. ^[11]

Try to stay at home, or have a loved one always at home to monitor. Cats are often highly territorial and often return home after a while. However, if the house is empty, they may wander around again.

Place a baby monitor walkie-talkie by the back door. And put the other one right next to your bed, turning the volume up loud enough to wake you up once the cat appears and meows.

Set up a humanitarian trap. Many animal shelters will lend or rent traps that are easy to use. Pet food stores also sell these traps. Remember to put some cat food in the trap, sprinkle with treats and catnip grass.

• Check traps every day. If any wild animals are trapped in the trap, contact Animal Control to free them.

Use catnip grass as bait. Spray a scent of catnip grass or sprinkle catnip grass around the door and around the vicinity.

Empty the dust in the dust bag of your yard vacuum cleaner. Because it can be filled with cat hair and cat smell, it helps cats perceive familiar scents. Do the same every 10 days or so. ^[12]

Distribute flyers looking for cats in the area. If your cat has been missing for more than a few hours, you can search for information from your neighbors and make flyers to stick on power poles, or hang under the neighbor’s doorknob. Write your name, phone number, and attach a photo of the cat to the flyer. Add detailed descriptions (like: “triangle white spot on back”), and add in the cat’s coat color if you’re using the black and white flyer. You can find flyers and poster templates online if you don’t know how.

• Include additional information about your cat’s diet or medical condition.
• Politely ask your neighbors to inspect their sheds, garages, and basements. Neighborhoods that your cat frequents are the places you should check first.
• “Thanksgiving” is also a great way to get motivated, but don’t put a specific amount on the flyer, as it will attract scammers and liars to you. ^[13]
• If you get a report of seeing a cat whose description doesn’t match yours, go there too to confirm. Descriptions from outsiders are often not the same as the descriptions you would normally use when talking about your cat. ^[14]
• Date the flyer so everyone can know the information you give is the most complete and up-to-date information.

If your cat has a microchip, make sure the contact information is up to date so your veterinarian or animal shelter can call you. Microchip implantation is a fairly common procedure and only needs to be done once in a pet’s life. The microchip is implanted by veterinarians under the skin on the cat’s shoulder blades. The microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and has a special code that can only be read by hand-held code scanners and placed on the pet’s body.

• Once the microchip is implanted in the pet, the owner will provide the registration information to the company supplying the microchip and this information will be kept until the owner changes them.
• The code will be linked to the owner’s information through the chip’s database. When the scanner reads the code, you can contact the company that supplied the chip and will know the owner’s information.

Placing flyers at effective locations. It’s best to post as many flyers as possible within a one-mile radius of your home. ^[15] In addition, there are many strategies for you to use flyers more effectively, and in remote places that will help you a lot: ^[16]

• Send leaflets to veterinary offices to avoid someone bringing your cat here to treat an injury or want to adopt the cat.
• Post flyers around schools and play areas where children can read them. Children often have a higher ability to observe than adults, especially in recognizing animals.
• Dog parks, pet supply stores, and pet salons are frequented by animal lovers, and they can help make your search more efficient.
• Post a cat search in the community bulletin at laundries, churches, lost pet websites, schools, pet stores, libraries, and supermarkets, or any company in the area. allows you to post.

Post color photos of cats online. Many pet discoverers often search for information about their owners online; Consider posting a color photo of your pet on pet recovery websites, local community websites, in your local Craiglist lost pet directory, or any other site. any website you know. Remember to include contact information.

• Lost pet tracking sites include Missing Pet, Pets911, and TabbyTracker. FindToto in the US usually requires you to spend a fortune, but they will broadcast the news as “Find Lost Pets” throughout your area.
• Twitter and Facebook can also be used to post news to friends. Remember to include a photo or two.
• If your local community has its own email address or website, you can post it in the “Finding Lost Cat” notice. Remember to include the cat’s name, some description, and the cat’s temperament.

Post in a local newspaper. You can pay to post a lost cat news, be sure to include a description and your home phone number. Choose a newsroom that is as famous as possible. If your area doesn’t have a local newspaper, you can post it at a community center, police station, or at your area’s building.

Change the voicemail message. Record a new message to ensure that the caller’s information is fully updated. For example, you could say “You have called [your name]. If you are calling about my lost cat (cat’s name), please leave a message with the time and place you last saw it. Thank you”. ^[17]

Call local animal welfare agencies. Usually, if someone finds your cat, they will report it to the Animal Welfare Association, Animal Management Station and similar local authorities. Call your local animal shelter and report the stray cat with detailed descriptions (cat’s sex, coat color, and contact information). Visit these agencies every day or every other day until you find your cat, as sometimes the shelter has so many cats that it can be difficult to find a cat that matches your description.

• Many animal shelters keep reports of lost pets so they can be easily contacted if they find an animal that matches the description. You can befriend the staff at the animal shelter so they can pay more attention to your condition and descriptions. “Getting to know” will give you an edge when you need help.

Quickly and often check in at animal shelters, lost animal shelters, and social organizations. If your cat is taken to a crowded animal shelter, they may only be able to keep your cat for a few days before deciding to euthanize it. If employees know you’re constantly searching, they can be a good ally for you. Ask them to call you if they come across a cat that matches your description.

Notify the local police station. Occasionally, police may receive a call about a lost animal, especially in areas where there are no animal shelters. Police officers who often drive around the area every morning may spot your cat.

• Do not call the emergency number to contact the police station! Call a regular phone number or speak to the police officer in your area. While finding a lost cat may seem urgent to you, for the police, it’s human life that comes first.

Check out the “found” section on online sites. Check local newspapers and popular websites and pay attention to the “found” section. Many animal shelters have websites that post pictures of animals they find, or wild animals, so check the site regularly every day. Enter the phrase “lost pet” + the name of the city you live in to see other local websites.