How To Find A Missing Cat

Losing your cat can be a very stressful experience, especially if they’re strictly indoor cats. Here are some tips to help you find a missing cat and bring him or her home safely:

• Make a safe place for your cat to return to. You can use a cardboard box and flip it over. Cut a hole at the side and the size should be appropriate to how big or small your cat is. Place it outdoors with a soft cushion inside. Place some food, water and a litter pan nearby.
• Search for your cat after midnight or around 2 in the morning when everyone else is asleep. Bring a flashlight and some food. Take a few cans of cat food with you or bring your treat jar and shake it while calling your cat out.
• Print out fliers with a photo of your cat and you can also offer a reward as incentive. Post them at eye-level on grocery stores, veterinary offices, feed stores, etc. but never stuff them in mailboxes as this is illegal in some areas. Give them out to people around your neighborhood, to the kids at the playground, the paper boy, UPS driver, the mailman, etc.
• Place an ad online or to local papers about your lost cat. Call local radio stations that broadcast missing ads. Let your veterinarian and his or her staff know that your cat is missing. Visit rescue shelters around your area. Check your old address if you have recently moved.
• Check the newspaper and online boards for lost and found ads.
• Try to work outside your home on weekends. Sit outside or somewhere near your home, talk in a soft voice or sing so that your cat might hear you. Bring a friend of your cat around the neighborhood as well to see if the cat will come out and join you.
• Keep track of where you posted your fliers and check every 3 days to be sure they’re still there.
• Visit houses nearby with a photo of your cat. Talk to the members of the house including the kids. Little girls are usually the best finders of lost cats.
• Stay hopeful. There are a lot of people who lost their cats for a very long time, only to have their cat show up at their door randomly.

When you follow all these tips, the probability that you find your cat will greatly increase. You have to stay focused and driven. Most cats hide close to the home they know unless they got scared away or were chased off. Follow these tips and keep your emotions in check and the odds will be more in your favor.