 Cat
Care Library: Lost Cats |
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How To Find Your Lost Cat
And How to Help Cats You Find The Physical Search This is step number one and should be done first and fast! An indoor-only house cat will usually engage in certain fearful behaviors when it escapes through an open door or window of the home, or when it escapes from an unfamiliar place such as a veterinary clinic. An injured or sick cat will behave similarly. Understanding these behaviors will help you find your cat. Once it is outside in unfamiliar territory, your escaped cat will usually look for the nearest hiding place. This has been documented by Kat Albrecht, the “Pet Detective” and founder of the Missing Pet Network in Clovis, CA. She has extensively studied lost pet behavior and has performed many successful search and rescue missions (see her web site www.lostapet.org ). She has found that lost indoor-only cats will usually hide for about a week around your home and yard, or within a one to three house radius of your home and yard. Such cats usually do not meow or make other sounds during that week, which is a natural instinct to avoid being found by predators, including humans. This means your cat may not meow back to you when you call its name, even if you’re standing three feet away from it. It is vital to search for your cat immediately, when it is still likely to be close to home. This should be a search on hands and knees under porches and decks, in and around storage sheds, around basement windows, basement crawl spaces, under bushes, behind air conditioners, under covered lawn furniture, in storm drains, etc. Don’t reject any space as too small for a hiding place or entry way. Look long and hard and use flashlights too. Remember, if your cat glimpses you, but you don’t see it, it’s usually not going to signal you. You should also search high places such as trees, low roofs, storage sheds, log piles and high shelves in garages. If you don’t find your cat in your yard, ask neighbors in a one to three house radius for permission to search in their yards. If you don’t find your cat by nightfall the first day, borrow or buy a humane trap that you’ll place near the window or door where the cat escaped. Even better, get two traps and put one at the front of the house and one at the back. Kitty Cottage has traps to lend or you can buy them at many hardware stores and pet supply stores. Kitty Cottage charges a security deposit for each trap you borrow, which is refunded when you return it. If you can’t get a trap the first day the cat is lost, then immediately put yummy cat food around outside your house so the cat has food when it breaks cover at night and to keep the cat close by. You can also put a familiar, unwashed article of your clothing outside. As soon as you get the humane traps the next day, you’ll pick up the food and just put food in the traps as bait. There is helpful advice on trapping at www.catsinthebag.org. If the weather is bad, be sure to cover the traps with something waterproof and check them often. You don’t want your cat or even a stray cat sitting soaking wet or freezing all night. Some experts say that cats usually search for food between 1:00 and 5:00 AM. It would be a good idea to check the traps during the night, so you may want to set an alarm. If you don’t trap your cat after a couple of days, you may need to widen your search area. Kat Albrecht advises that 66% of lost indoor cats are found within a three house radius, while 96% of indoor cats are found within a larger one-half mile radius of their homes. But a dog or wild animal could have scared your cat away, or it may not have found a suitable hiding place close to your house or a neighbor’s house. A very bold cat may go farther than a timid cat. If your cat was an outdoor access cat, then you may need to search a much larger area. Since the cat isn’t afraid to be outside, it is less likely to hide close to your house unless it is injured or ill. It is most likely that something happened to your missing outdoor access cat. Most cats don’t leave home by choice. The cat may have been chased by another animal or threatened or chased by people. It may have chased after a squirrel into unfamiliar territory. A meticulous physical search is always the first step and remember that the cat may not respond to its name being called, even if it always did at home. There is some equipment that may help you find your cat. There are listening devices that magnify sounds in case your cat is stuck somewhere and is crying. You may want to try binoculars, and after dark try night vision binoculars. You can also purchase very powerful search lights. Searching by Phone You should phone and visit neighbors to ask if they’ve seen your cat. It never hurts to call local businesses too. Call your local police (don’t use 911!) and your local shelters to report your lost cat. You can also call local veterinarians. Follow-up by delivering your lost cat signs. Searching by Newspaper Place an ad in the lost and found sections of your area newspapers right away. Don’t skimp on the description of the cat and re-check your photos of your cat when writing the description of its color and markings. Put the same information in the ad that you put on your lost cat sign. You’ll probably get more calls if you offer a reward. Searching On-Line There are a number of lost and found pet web sites where
you can post a notice about your lost cat and read notices about found
cats. Searching Animal Shelters Of course you should go to your local SPCA and humane society shelters. Even though you take them a lost cat sign and a description of your cat, you’ll want to search there every three days because they may be too short-staffed to notice that your cat is among the new surrenders. The national return to owner rate for pets in shelters is only about 2%, so you must take a very active role in finding your cat. You will also want to search www.petfinder.org to find all the cat rescue and adoption organizations in your area. Some people will turn your cat over to the local SPCA, but many people, fearing your cat will be euthanized, will search for a no-kill shelter or rescue group to take your cat. Most of these cat rescue and adoption groups are not listed in the phone book white pages or yellow pages, so www.petfinder.orgis the best way to find out how to contact them to see if they have your cat. Networking Tell everyone you meet about your lost cat: mail carriers, people jogging or walking through your neighborhood, delivery people, landscape workers, home repair workers, bicyclists, etc. Keep a supply of your lost cat signs handy. Using Posters and Signs Don’t skimp on your lost cat signs. They can be 8 ½" by 11" if you’re putting them in stores, but you’ll need bigger signs too so people can read them on telephone poles at intersections. Here’s what should appear on the sign: a photo of the cat, the date lost, the general location it was lost, the cat’s name and detailed description, any distinctive behavior, your phone number and cell phone number and if there is a reward. It is recommended that you don’t give your name or home address. www.catsinthebag.com has a template of a sign you can download. www.sherlockbones.com can make vivid color posters for you. Hang your signs in every place you can think of, but be sure to keep a record so you can take them down later. Typical places are telephone poles, pet supply stores, pet groomers, grocery stores, community mailboxes, laundromats and church bulletin boards. You can also put them on people’s doorsteps or under their windshield wipers. Scotch tape them to rear car windows in your own and friends’ cars. Wear signs pinned to the front and back of your t-shirt when you are out running errands. Put a large sign on a stick in your front yard. Searching by FAX Fax your lost cat sign to local veterinarians, pet stores, libraries or any place that might hang the sign up for you. Businesses that Search for You Sherlock Bones maintains mailing lists and can send lost cat notices or signs to residents and businesses in your neighborhood. The web site is www.sherlockbones.com. Trained search dogs can be used to find cats, but we’re not aware of any in the Kitty Cottage area. Offering a Reward A person who sees your cat, but doesn’t like cats, may not be motivated to make a telephone call to help reunite you with your cat. However, if your sign, phone call or newspaper advertisement offers a reward, that may supply the motivation. Be sure to decide in advance if you are willing to pay for your cat only if it’s alive or if you would also pay the reward if the person found your cat dead, so you can word your offer appropriately. If you want to restrict the reward, you could say “REWARD FOR SAFE RETURN OF MY CAT”. Many people recommend not stating the amount of the reward. Preventing Lost Cats The national return to owner rate for lost pets is only about 2%, so the best thing to do is to prevent losses from occurring in the first place. Spaying and neutering your cats will prevent them from wanting to roam to find a mate. This will help to stop them from bolting out open doors. It is also important because of the huge cat overpopulation problem. Train your children to look all around before opening any door to the outside to be sure the cats are not getting ready to sneak out. Train them to go through doors quickly and not hold them open. Train your adult guests to look around when entering and exiting and not to stand in an open doorway chatting. If your cat tries to escape or hovers close to the exit doors in your house, use a noisemaker to teach him to stay away. Fill an aluminum soda can with coins, tape the hole and shake it loudly whenever you enter and exit. You can also keep a rolled-up newspaper and slap the door sill with it. Double-check your windows and door screens to be sure they are secure. Your cats will lie on your window sills in the Summer and lean on the screens, so be sure there are enough clips or use nails to secure them. If you are moving to a new home, be particularly careful not to let your cat escape. A lot of cats are lost during moves. If you plan to let your cat go outdoors, wait at least a month or more after the move before letting it out, and then only let it out under supervision for at least another couple of weeks. Microchipping can help reunite you and your lost cat. A microchip is a small pellet containing your unique ID number, that is injected under the cat’s skin between the shoulder blades. Many SPCA’s and Humane Societies use a device to scan stray cats and they can then notify the owners. Sadly, not many owners microchip their cats. Ask your veterinarian to do this for you. A break-away safety collar with an identification tag is another good choice to protect your cat. Keep your cat indoors unless you have a cat proof fence or you’re walking your cat on a leash with a cat harness. Friendly Fence of Pennsylvania has an excellent escape proof fence. Don’t use a simple collar and leash when you walk your cats; cats need a figure eight harness they can’t wiggle out of. In addition, you can now buy cat strollers that are completely enclosed, so you can take your cat with you on a walk around the neighborhood. Remember, statistics show that cats that are allowed to roam freely outdoors have a significantly shorter average life span than indoor only cats, because outdoor cats die more often from accidents, injuries and illness. Always use a cat carrier when you are transporting your cat. Many cats are lost when they jump out of their owner’s arms on the way in and out of veterinary clinics or when they’re being carried in and out of their homes. Helping A Found Cat There are millions and millions of stray cats in the United States, because people don’t put into practice the preventive measures described above. Un-neutered and un-spayed cats that are allowed outdoors or that escape will mate with other outside cats and the stray cat population just continues to grow by leaps and bounds. When you find a stray cat, provide it with food, water and shelter, even if the shelter has to be in your garage, shed, basement or bathroom. If you must leave the cat outside, place a waterproof storage box or other shelter on your porch filled with straw or blankets. Check the cat for a collar or tag. If there is no tag, ask a local vet to scan the cat for a microchip. Search your neighborhood for lost cat signs. Post your own “found” signs, containing the same information recommended above for lost cat signs. Often it is a good idea, however, to omit some detail, such as a crooked tail or freckles on the nose or a missing tooth. That detail gives you a way to be sure the person claiming the cat is the real owner. Also, ask people to bring a photo when they come to look at the cat you found, so you can make a comparison. Nearly everyone takes pictures of their cats, so if a person has no photo it should make you more wary of them. Remember, the appearance of a cat that has been lost a while will change due to weight loss, dirt, condition of the fur, illness and stress. Some newspapers give free ads in the lost and found section to people who find cats. Post found cat notices on web sites. Please refer to the list of sites above. Notify the police, animal shelters and rescue groups as described above for lost cats. If no owner calls to claim the cat or kittens you found and you can’t find a good home, then you may need to ask an adoption organization for help. Most non-profit shelters and rescue groups will appreciate any vet work you can obtain before surrendering a stray cat. If you can afford it, ask your vet to examine the cat, administer rabies and distemper vaccines, estimate the cat’s age and determine whether the cat has been spayed or neutered. Also, ask the vet to perform a blood test for feline leukemia and feline HIV (FIV). To find a shelter or adoption organization in your area, search on www.petfinder.org. Former pets that are outdoors fending for themselves become afraid of people. If your stray cat is too afraid of you to let you come close, you may need to get a humane trap to catch it. Kitty Cottage has a trap loan program. Some cats will relax after a few days and start acting like a loving pet again, but if your stray is truly undomesticated or feral, then you may want to practice trap-neuter-return. This involves getting vet care for the cat, including spay/neuter surgery, and then releasing it where you found it. Hopefully you can erect a weather proof shelter for the cat and continue to feed it. Www.alleycat.org offers detailed information about helping untamed strays through trap-neuter-return. If you find a litter of kittens that appear to be healthy, don’t move them until you have searched for the mother cat and at least a couple of hours have passed. The mother cat may simply be hunting for food and will return to care for the kittens. If you take kittens that aren’t weaned yet, it will create a lot of work for someone to bottle feed them and it’s not as healthy for the kittens. You can leave soft food for the mother and kittens and a shelter. If no mom cat appears, bring the kittens indoors, warm them if they’re cold and feed them right away. Offer them canned kitten or cat food, but if they’re too young to eat it, you must get kitten formula and bottles right away from a pet supply store. Don’t just give them regular milk! If no stores are open, go to www.kittenrescue.org for some homemade formulas that use ingredients you may already have at home. Both that web site and www.kittencare.com provide advice on proper feeding techniques and other things you’ll need to know. About Kitty Cottage Kitty Cottage offers homeless cats and kittens a terrific opportunity to find a new family, plus a chance to enjoy the luxury of our cage-free, cozy cottage. The cottage is cat friendly, complete with cat condos, cat trees, armchairs, rugs, paintings and even a safe, outside playgound. Kitty Cottage is a no-kill shelter. Location Our adoption center is located on Dekalb Pike (Route 202) in Blue Bell, just a few minutes north of the intersection of Dekalb Pike and Germantown Pike. Adoption Hours We are open 11-5 Wednesday through Sunday and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Please call for evening hours, which vary by season. Surrenders are by appointment only. It is against the law to abandon cats on our property. Behavior Counseling If your cat is not using his litter box, please call us right away to make an appointment to discuss it with us. Also check our web site at www.kittycottage.org for advice on litter box lapses. Lost Cat Services If your cat escapes from the house and you don’t find her the first day, please call right away for advice on lost cat behavior and to borrow a humane trap to catch your cat when she breaks out of hiding at night. Also visit www.lostapet.org for authoritative information from a specialist in lost pets. Kitty Cottage Adoption Center, Inc. is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation and is a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. The official registration and financial information may be obtained from the PA Department of State, by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800- 732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. |
