Cleveland, OH Lost Female Cat, FiFi Is Missing

Deirdre H.

3 years ago

I am so very sorry. Some things you might do-- Leave some of their bedding, and/or an item of your clothing (unwashed-- they would recognize from the familiar scent). Leave some treats and favorite food by your door too. Don't leave food out overnight as it will attract other animals that can scare the cat away. Since it is cold at night, outside, maybe get a big plastic storage tub, set it on it's side and put the bedding inside this. Try to make SURE the bedding doesn't get wet!! Leave it near your door. Go to your neighbors and let them know your cat got outside and give them your contact info. *****Many times cats are found within a few hundred feet of their homes. Under shrubs, behind garbage cans, inside neighbor's garages etc....**** When they get out like this, they are frightened, and will hide. Post flyers around your neighborhood with your phone number that people can call day or night, and talk to your mail carrier. They see lots of animals. If they see a strange cat skulking around, they may recognize it as yours. Also, PUT UP POSTERS!!!!!!! That is one of THE biggest things to help get the word out locally!!! Tell your neighbors and give them your phone number so they can call you if they see your cat in their yard! Call your local Police, your Vet's Office and the Warden to report the loss of your dear pet. Send them a photo too!! Also maybe post on Sam the Parrot and Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland --both also here on Facebook. They too get a lot of people posting about lost or found pets in the Greater Cleveland Area. Also, you might check to see if your town has a "Home Page" website. Very often, these Home Page websites, have a Lost and Found Pets page. It may be well worth your looking for this! You might also put this on Nextdoor.com **You will have to join Nextdoor, but it is really worth it for this! Good Luck on this....

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Christina S.

3 years ago

Here are a ton of good tips to try taken from many sources: Look VERY closely in the bushes, shrubs, weeds directly around your house. Many times they do not go far but can hide extremely well & will NOT come when called. Even to their owners. They get out, get very frightened & go into total stealth mode. Also look in neighbors garages, sheds, weeds & shrubs, etc. We had friends who's cat got out, did not come when called, they looked & looked in their yard & finally heard him sneeze & found him right beside the house in the flowers, shrubs, etc. They think he had been there the whole time which was, to the best of my recall, more than a week. It was really quite a long time. Here is some info from helpinglostpets.com INDOOR CAT Indoor-only cats are likely to be found very close to home; in fact, sometimes they are stuck or hiding INSIDE the home! They are most often found in or around the owner’s or an immediate neighbor’s home in the bushes, under the house, in a shed, under a deck, or some other hiding place. When they get out, indoor cats tend to be quiet and fearful, and to hunker down and not emerge, even to the sound of the owner’s voice. We have counseled owners on many cases where they were calling and shaking the food bag right next to where the cat was hiding, but there was no response. Indoor cats are in danger of being labeled as feral in a shelter environment, because they are not socialized to other people and environments and will likely hiss, strike, and display other “wild” behavior when stressed. This is why it is critical to get them back in their homes as quickly as possible. SHY CAT Shy cats will hide and avoid people for very long periods of time. We have experienced many cases where cats hid for days or even weeks and miraculously survived after being found. After days or weeks of searching, the owner may give up, believing their cat is dead when he is still hiding (or stuck) nearby and in need of medical attention. OUTGOING CAT The outgoing cat may be vocal and approach people, even following them home. Because of this, he may travel away from his own home then become disoriented and unable to find his way back. Such outgoing cats are in danger of being taken in and kept by finders who mean well but assume the cat has been abandoned. You can put out a piece of your worn clothing for your scent. check garages and local rescue sites. check shelters and take a flyer. you can also put out a sign in your yard with picture and contact information check with your local mail person and give them a flyer. if they like treats, go out after dark and sit down. talk like you would a phone call - they know your voice. they don't know what house is theirs like we do. anything with their scent, bed, toys, etc., will help them find their house. Try a live trap - you can get one at your local shelter or tractor supply and rural king sells them. Make sure you know how to properly use it not to hurt kitty and use tuna or wet food. Put it close to a window so you can keep your eyes on it. if you have an open garage door put something with scent near cover the trap with towels to keep calm if caught and check every couple hours - don’t leave overnight unsupervised. Cats rarely go far and are often found very close! Indoor only cats are found the closest to home! They hide very well, especially when scared!!! Cats are very active at dusk and dawn and tend to move around more at night. The most successful things you can do; 1-Walk your neighborhood, talk to people as you can. 2-Talk to your mail carrier they see lots of animals!!! 3-Post fliers in your area with contact information and your cat’s photo!!! 4-Call for him or her, they know your voice! 5-Put their food/water, litter box (**see notes below) and cat nip outside your house to draw him back as they can smell these a mile away. 6-Check nearby garages, especially under porches, decks, dense bushes, etc. They often wind up at your neighbors house!!! A strong flashlight will catch a cat's reflective eyes at night and save you tons of time! 7-Let your neighbors know your kitty got out and give them your contact info. 8-Post on Facebook about your missing cat. Many times cats are found within a couple hundred feet of their homes. Post fliers around your neighborhood with your phone number that people can call day or night. Call local animal shelters, etc…Run ads in local newspapers too! Try lost cat sites like Tabby Tracker, LostMyKitty.com, Sam The Parrot on Face Book, Lost Cats of whatever county you're in, etc...Cats can disappear for days, weeks, months and longer and return so don’t give up!!!! If someone took your cat call the police it's a 5th degree felony now here in Ohio to hurt an animal...Keep at it, keep us updated and please get the cat micro chipped and have a collar on at all times. Indoor cats escape all the time!!! Go outside late at night or very early in the morning while everything is quiet. speak softly and gently and sit down. cats feel safest at night and you may have better luck then! Your cat may be hunkered down somewhere close. Could your cat be in the house somewhere like a closet, drawer, box, in upholstered furniture, rafters, etc. and can’t get out? Small cats can hide in some unbelievable places. **Many rescues and veterinarians recommend putting the litter box outside, but some posts and rescues will say not to. Your clothing, your pet’s toys, etc., may have a better chance at bringing your pet home. Here are some very good cat attracting tips. Many have had success with these. http://www.ohioalleycat.org/lostcat/ https://petfbi.org/i-lost.../tips-to-lure-a-cat-back-home-2/ Post as lost and search found kitties on this page. https://petfbi.org/ Post on Nextdoor. It’s specific to your area based off of your address. https://nextdoor.com/

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Diana S.

3 years ago

I am so sorry your kitty is missing. If you have not already done so, try the following tips. Perhaps one of them will help bring her home. If you have not already done so, put something with an odor that FiFi would recognize outside your door. It could be her food dish, cat bed, carrier, favorite blanket, or even something that you have worn recently but have not yet laundered. Cats who get out rarely go far and they have a keen sense of smell so a familiar scent can help lead them home. Check for FiFi often, especially in the morning and around dusk when cats are the most active. Use a strong flashlight to search hiding places in the area such as under porches, under bushes, behind in between garbage containers and recycling bins. Go back and check the same spots at different times of day. FiFi may not be in any of them when you first look, but she could show up in one of them later. Ask neighbors to look for fiFi in their garages. She might seek shelter in an open one, slip in unnoticed, and be trapped there when the door is shut. Give neighbors your contact number. That way if they do see her they can keep her closed safely inside and call you immediately to come and get her. Contact animal shelters and rescue organizations to see if anybody has brought in a cat that looks like FiFi. Somebody could find her, not know how to locate her family, and think that the best thing they can do is surrender her to a humane facility. Leave your number with all of the places that you reach. Ask them to call you if anybody should bring in a cat that resembles yours. Post flyers with fiFi’s photo and your contact info throughout the neighborhood, asking anybody who sees her to call you immediately. Include any information (such as if and how she likes to be petted or her favorite treats) that might help a person who sees her keep her in the same area until you can get there. Be sure to call FiFi by name whenever you are outside looking for her or even if you just step out to do something like get your mail or take out the garbage. She might be nearby and able to hear you. Don’t yell since loud voices can scare a cat. Use the same tone of voice that you use when you call her inside the house. That helped us find our lost cat after she had been missing for three days. She finally meowed in response to her name, but even though we could hear her we could not see where she was. We followed the sound and discovered her hiding in a sheltered alcove by a neighbor’s garage – a place we had already checked several times. If nothing else works, you could try setting up a humane trap on your porch or by your door in case FiFi is visiting in the middle of the night when you aren’t awake to see her. (I believe that some shelters will let you borrow a humane trap for a small deposit fee. Ask them about this when you call to see if anybody has brought FiFi to their facility. A pet supply store might also rent a trap to you.) Good luck! And don’t give up hope. Cats have been known to return after days, weeks, even months and sometimes years. But I hope that FiFi is back home very, very soon.