“Lost Cat!” What to do

It’s every kitty lover’s nightmare: your cat is lost!

Since you are reading this we hope you are thinking ahead and do not have a lost cat today. There are several steps you can take, before your cat is lost, to improve the chances of getting them back home safe and healthy.

Lost cat preparation:

• Update your cats’ microchip data frequently. (See this blog post for a free and easy website where you can do this.)

• Keep a collar with an up-to-date tag on your cats. Since pet tags have limited space, it is more important to put an extra phone number or email on the tag than the cat’s name.

• If your cat is indoor-only (and we think they should be!) make that clear on the tag. We recommend saying “I’M LOST!” or “INDOOR-ONLY”.

• Keep a list on the fridge of phone numbers for: animal control, animal shelters, and vets close to your home.

• Have good physical (as opposed to digital) pictures of your cats handy (we keep ours on the fridge where we can admire their beauty!)

• Write out a description of your cat. Include any distinctive features. Use language which a young child could understand. Avoid cat breed names or other terms a non-cat lover may not understand. (For example: say “long fluffy fur” rather than “Persian”. Or “mixed grey and brown fur” rather than “tabby”.)

How to recover your lost cat:

• Call animal control, animal shelters, and vets close to your home. Inform them you have lost a cat and give a description and the address where last seen. (Use the list on your fridge!) Ask if you can email them a sign about the lost cat.

• Wait until dusk or dawn to look for the cat. Cats are most active at these times of day.

• Use the waiting time to make “LOST CAT” signs. Hand them out to neighbors and post within a block of your home.

• Carefully search close to your home under bushes, up trees, etc. Look anywhere up high or small and cave-like. The cat is most likely close to your home; spayed or neutered cats rarely wander far.

• If your kitty is a ‘talker’ be quiet and listen for the cat. If you cat is usually quiet call to them softly and then listen for any movement or calls. Do not yell as this could frighten the cat.

• Make it easy for the cat to return to you by leaving a door or window open.

• Do leave out water for your cat, but do not leave out food (it will just attract vermin like rats). And a hungry cat may want to come home!

We believe preparing for 'the worst' can result in your beloved kitty's return.