Finding a Lost Cat

Follow These Steps and DON'T QUIT LOOKING!!

• Physically GO TO ALL municipal and private SHELTERS in your city and those nearby. LOOK at all cats, including those in sick/isolation and feral cat rooms. LOOK at cats described even vaguely like your cat – the public and shelter staff often vary widely in their descriptions. Sometimes people bring cats to a private shelter and say they're relinquishing theirs when it's actually a stray.
  
  
• CHECK dead-on-arrival logs. ENSURE your LOST report is in the right place. GO TO THE SPOT from which the cat was lost and then GO DOOR-TO-DOOR from there with posters, working outward in a spiral. ASK TO LOOK in sheds, garages, basements, and explain why (cats often go to ground pretty nearby). ASK THE NEIGHBORS TO CALL about any sightings whatsoever.
  
  
• GO OUT WHEN IT'S DARK WITH A FLASHLIGHT and look under cars and bushes. (You can see the kitty's eyes shining at night with a flashlight.)
  
  
• PLACE FOOD at the spot from which the cat was lost.
  
  
• RE-CHECK shelters every couple of days (if possible).
  
  
• RUN LOST AD in local paper(s) – sometimes they're free
  
  
• If you can afford it, contact 'Sherlock Bones' at www.sherlockbones.com or 1-800-942-6637. Their targeted postcard mailing can be very effective.
  
  
• PLACE POSTERS at vets, ER vets, pet food stores, on streets near where the kitty was lost, at commercial places near where the kitty was lost, Laundromats, post offices, schools (kids often notice new stray cats)
  
  
• GO TO Island Cat Resources and Adoption's website under 'Additional Resources' for the link to http://www.sonic.net/-pauline/search.html. It provides a good list of things to do to find lost cats.
  
  
• DON'T GIVE UP! Cats get frightened and hunker down. Also, people often see a new cat for awhile, start to feed him or her, then several weeks later decide to list him or her as "Found."

Source: Island Cat Resources and Adoption