It's hard not to get emotional when a pet goes missing. But a well thought out strategy is vital to increasing your odds of being reunited with your furry little friend.
Before you start your search, you should consider why he went missing in the first place.
The Possibilities
1) Injured and hiding.
If your cat was hit by a car or attacked by a wild animal, he may be injured and hiding. An injured cat instinctually hides and remains quiet to keep from alerting predators to him in his weakened conditioned. In fact, if you call him, he may not even answer your familiar voice.
2) Has been accidentally or purposely transported out of your neighbourhood.
He could have jumped into a delivery truck or moving van and be far away from home. He could also have been the target of a neighbour who doesn’t like that your cat uses his garden as a litter box and has taken him to another neighbourhood or to a farm to fend for himself
3) He has been reported as a stray and taken to a shelter or humane society.
This is the best thing that could happen when it comes to finding your cat.
4) He was severely injured and has died in hiding.
A horrible thought but ultimately it is much more comforting to find him and know what happened than to be left wondering and often imagining the worst.
The Steps to Finding Him
1) Trust your gut.
If you think your cat is missing, even if he’s only been gone for a short time, don’t wait two days to be sure. Start your search immediately, not only to increase your odds of tracking him down but so that if you don’t find him, you won’t suffer the guilt or regret of not looking for him sooner.
2) Grab a flashlight and thoroughly search your immediate vicinity.
Before you put up missing posters, do a door-to-door search. Most cats are found within a five-house radius of their own home so grab a flashlight and start knocking on doors. Ask your neighbours if you can look in their garages, alleyways, backyards and under porches and bushes.
3) Hand out flyers.
Don’t just put up a few posters on telephone poles here and there. Print out a hundred copies and hand them out, door-to-door. That way you can collect information from neighbours who may have seen him last. Put up flyers in local coffee shops, vets offices, laundry mats and video stores - any place that gets neighbourhood traffic.
4) Walk the streets at night, when it’s dark and quiet, calling his name.
If he’s injured and hiding, he might not answer your call but if he does, you’ll be more likely to hear him when it’s quiet.
5) Register him as “missing” with the local Humane Society, shelters and other animal rescue organizations.
You can often register your pet online and even upload a photo. You can also search the “found” section where the public posts animals they have found. Don’t forget online classifieds sites as they are extremely popular and often have a “lost and found” section. These are more effective than posting (and paying) for an ad in newspaper classifieds.
6) Consider using a Missing Animal Response Technician: a.k.a. “Pet Detective”.
If, after trying everything else, you still haven’t found your cat, you might want to consider hiring a professional trained in tracking down missing pets with a scent tracking dog. But research it carefully. Unfortunately some individuals will take advantage of people desperate to find their missing pet.
On a final note, even before your cat goes missing, get him micro chipped. The technology won’t help track him down but it will make him immediately identifiable if turned in to a shelter or vets office. Your cat should also wear a collar and tag so that if a neighbour finds him, they’ll know where he lives. It’s all about making sure that if he does go missing, he finds his way home to you, where he belongs.
