Donna H.
10 months ago
📌🐾 📣 Open Escape for Reentry‼️
⭐️ Keep point of escape open for reentry with a can of smelly food inside of house. Kitty might try to get back in from either fear, hunger, thirst, weather or comfort.
If still nearby, keep looking and listening for meowing.
👉 I’m noticing a pattern of return around 3am - 6am.
➡️ If you can’t leave an opening in your home for reentry and you have a garage, open the door about 6 inches up with food and water placed in back of room or find some place where cat may shelter and leave food (lamb chop seems to entice) & water there.
👉 During the winter months cats may look for a place to keep warm and they’ll want to seek out shelter from the rain, cold and snow.
📌 If cat is an indoor cat it should hopefully be very near still and hiding in fear.
• Search Immediately - Look under bushes, under porches, under decks, especially under sheds, including any small place they can crawl into & corners they can back into, look in-between fences, check car engines, on top of car tires & under cars, look up in the trees and on roof tops, in window wells, nearby sewers, garages, in and behind garages and sheds and neighboring properties. Look in all corners of the above and under items in those places. Most of the time they back themselves into a corner and remain quiet, even to you because they’re scared. Listen for the slightest noise of movement and move items around and use a flashlight looking for glowing eyes.
•Search when it’s quiet, early in the morning and when it’s dark with a flashlight for glowing eyes, shaking a bag of treats while calling out their name and then stop and listen for faint meowing.
•Try a Cat Meowing App and playing it in hopes it draws out the cat.
•Some cats hide at the house directly behind the house cat was missing from.
•Use a night vision motion detector video camera with sound that sends notifications to your cell phone. Aim outside at each door, where food is placed and at the humane trap. Ring, Arlo or anything else that records.
•Shelter- Place near where cat escaped adding straw (not hay), some catnip inside and spread some on a toy. Throw toy in back of shelter and watch to see if it’s taken out and played with.
👉 Scent-*Put used litter box outside. (*See down below for comments that it worked.) A lot of people have told me their cats returned shortly after placing the litter box outside, in garage or another enclosure. Make your own decision on usage.
•Empty contents of vacuum bag orter your unlaundered items such as socks, pillowcases, something cat laid on, etc. to attract lost cat.
•Leave smelly food -tuna, sardines, chicken, lamb or treats near where you want them to return. Bbq hot dogs, bacon or chicken sending the aroma throughout the air.
•Capture/Trapping- Either ask for help on groups that trap, handle strays, TNR or try it yourself.
-Do not feed cat for 12-24 hours prior to trapping (If they’re hungry, they may enter trap easier).
-Set up an outdoor camera facing trap that alerts you when movement is detected.
-Set up a Humane Animal Trap (Havahart Trap) store bought or rented from shelter in your yard or in your neighbor’s yard where your cat is likely hiding in fear.
-Bait: As smelly as you can get - Tuna, sardines or mackerel in oil, Fancy Feast Shrimp, Cod & Sole.(inexpensive from Dollar Tree)
-If you choose not to use a trap, place small amounts of cat food & water out and hopefully you’ll eventually be able to determine where the cat is hiding.
👉 More Exposure!
•Post on & join all lost groups of Facebook
•Post on Neighbors Ring App or on Neighbors Ring website. It alerts the community in radius of up to 5 miles around your home anonymously.
•Post on Next Door App or on Next Door website.
•Post on Lost My Kitty website (they send out emails about kitty & you remain anonymous).
•If microchipped, notify chip company & they’ll send out alerts.
•Flyers-Cover in plastic. Get helpers & post on trees, poles, at supermarkets, pet supply stores, pharmacies, hang on your car, etc.
•Handout flyers to Mail Carriers, Amazon Drivers, Fed Ex Drivers, UPS Drivers, Newspaper Delivery person, Crossing Guards, Veterinary groups, Shelters, Groomers, Police Precinct, Town Highway Division, etc.
•Enlarge a flyer, wrap in plastic, post on front lawn so drivers and walkers can see it.
•Animal Shelters- Go in person everyday to check and see for yourself because employees may not know of all the pets that were brought in.
By Donna Harman
*➡️ Comments on “Will Cat Litter Attract a Lost Cat?” Here’s some in agreement:
I lost my cat, kept seeing him in the alley behind my house. He was gone about a week, so I finally got cat litter from my other cat and placed it around my house, the next morning when I opened the screen door he was was sitting on my front porch. Becky 7/21
Our cat went missing a few days after we brought her home. She used to be an outside cat and we were afraid we lost her, especially living so close to a busy road. After a few days of constant searching, someone advised the litter box trick. We sprinkled it around the house and within minutes our cats returned home! Later in life I worked at an animal shelter and advised missing cat owners to do the same and had multiple people tell me it worked also, so I truly believe in this trick! Claudia 4/22
I’ve had several experiences where I recommended putting the cat’s litter box outside & the cat quickly came home. In one case a cat that had been missing for several days came home within 10 minutes of the box being outside.This seems to be the most effective for “indoor only” cats who become disoriented & terrified outside. Often the people who say putting the litter box out is bad recommend putting food out which also could attract predators. And the smell of the actual cat & it’s fresh waste while it is lost will also attract predators as well. Mary 5/10/22
Our indoor cat escaped through an unproperly fastened door. Security cameras revealing her wandering up down our driveway and approaching the back door. Last seen on camera Friday evening. Searching & calling, leaving back door open, no return. Wife sprinkles vacuum debris and stirs up a soiled litter tray & places on lawn. 30 minutes later a cold, wet, raggled Lotty appears at the back door. Apparently cats sense of smell is 14x better than humans. I’ve read that they can recognize scent up to a mile away. Brian Milnes 6/22
Indoor cat who was terrified of everything outdoors, one night slipped by me while I was unloading groceries and the more I called to him the more panicked he got. He eventually bolted at full speed and I lost him. After 2 days of extensive searching and calling at all hours day and night, I was despondent. A friend of mine told me about the litter box trick a day or two after we stopped searching. I put the litter box on my back porch and left my back door open. About an hour later he ran through the door! Covered in brambles and terrified. So, I definitely believe this trick works. Kristi Laviolette 10/22
Cat missing for 4 days. I put the litter box on the roof, where the cat left. The miracle, he showed up less than 30 minutes after. Worked like a magic! I’m so glad for all your comments. It helped us a bunch!! Hope many cat owners find out about that and recover their fur babies! Thank you. Carol 11/22
Your Decision‼️
