Ballston Spa, NY Lost Male Cat, Prince Is Missing

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Paul D.

1 month ago

Comprehensive Guide for Finding a Lost Cat Don’t believe pet detectives and drone search groups without research. Do not give any personal info to anyone. Do not give money before seeing your pet in person. Research reputable Search and Rescue Dog teams that have extra training in finding pets. (more below) like Dogs Finding Dogs in Maryland Behavior: Cats go into a fight or flight mode when outside, but usually stay within 50 yards. Your cat will typically hunker down very close to home. If you know where they got out, go the width of about2 1/2 houses looking for small places they can hide. Sheds, garages, wood piles under decks, small holes, and storm drains. Utilize Video doorbells yours and neighbors baby video monitors and trail cameras to see when your pet is coming home. They may or may not recognize their name or your face. They WILL recognize, sounds or smells: the sound of a food can opening, favorite toy, etc. Take a moment and think of all the sounds that perk up their ears and make them come running to you. Record them on your smart phone and play them when tracking. Indoor cats lost outside become active in the evening usually around 7pm-5am. The best times for you to actively search is between 11pm – 2am. If it is safe to do so, leave a door or window slightly open at night put food and water near the door, also place a video monitor near. Again only if it is safe for you to do this. NOTE - Get permission from your neighbors to look around their yards. Fliers: Posting fliers and posters can pose a problem for some communities please find out the laws in your area before posting. Putting fliers on or in mailboxes is also illegal. Your flier should be color and as accurate to the actual colors and description of your cat. Place your flier in plastic coverings and hang them with bright colored duct tape to catch the eye of people walking by. Post fliers everyplace you can within a mile of where your pet went missing. Place fliers at bus stops, dog walking paths, and any business that will let you in the area. Do not give your address or amount of reward; this will protect you a bit from scammers. Also leave a flyer with your Mailman, UPS, FedEx, Amazon and any other delivery drivers. Bus Drivers, Ice Cream trucks, local patrol cops, fire stations. Garbage & recycling guys too. Use Social Media is imperative; many lost and found groups have members who just match missing pets with found pets in trying to reunite families. File missing pet reports with all the animal control agencies in your area. Investigate if there are local Trap and Release and feeding groups in your area who may be willing to help. Check with shelters and vets as far away as 20 miles daily in person if you can. Sometimes the person finding your pet may live further away than your city. Feeding stations: This will help draw in your cat and verify that your cat is in the location. This is a large piece of cardboard with a thick layer of flour placed on top. In the center of the flour place food. Lay down feeding stations in several places to get your pet on a repeating path and keep them in the area. Check the stations often and look for foot prints and signs that the food has been eaten. Once you see foot prints in the flour you should have an idea where to trap. Scent Strips: Cut up some scent strips out of your old cloths or bed sheets etc. (one inch by three-inch strips) put them on the ground about 3 feet apart or so. (I wore a shirt for 5 days to make it smell as strong.) The smell on the strip can last 3-5 days. Cat Chum: Mix a gallon of water with 1-2 cans of tuna/sardines. DO NOT place your scent strips in your chum mix. When laying down scent lines it near the opening of the trap and run them in straight lines way from /feeding station/trap/home. Make these lines the safest way to traps or home avoiding roads and heavy pedestrian areas. You can and should use Scent strips and Cat Chum at the same time but keep them at least three or more feet apart when you lay them down. Tracking: Try to have someone with you to keep everyone else from checking out what you are doing and for safety. Take a flashlight (even during the day), look under bushes, decks, any place they could get their head into. They maybe in sheds behind garbage cans, in hollowed out trees and storm drains. Note: Cats have a floating collarbone that allows them to get there body into any space where their head can get through. Check under decks, sheds, in sheds, and garages, in trees and small tight dark places, even if you do not think your cat could get into it. Use a flashlight to shine eyes (this can cause them to just freeze in place) If you hear or see them REMAIN CALM sit down, make the sounds they recognize, call their name open and toss food. Most of all LET THEM COME TO YOU. It may take hours even if you are within 10 feet of each other. Trapping: Get humane traps and place them close to the house or tree lines with favorite foods. (Sardines Tuna, or greasy chicken). Place a trap close by hidden under something that smells like home or you. Ask Neighbors to only put out water NOT food. Let your cat find food in the traps. In the trap put down 2 pages of newspaper the width of the trap. Place one page from the back over the trip plate. Place the 2nd page behind the trip plate to the door. This prevents a smart cat from pulling all the food to them easily. This helps hid the fact that it is a trap. Lay small chunks of food and food oil to a larger portion of food at the back behind the trip plate. (No bowls) Cover the trap with tarp or a blanket that smells like home but leave both ends open so the smell of the food gets out. Ensure that the trip plate and door are clear of anything that will prevent the trap from being sprung. This is very important if you do not use the newspaper on the floor of the trap. Check the traps at least two times a day. Also if possible, hang dirty laundry out at night, sometimes your cat is able to smell their way home. Place at least one trap near your home, as your cat maybe coming home while you sleep. Use Video monitors and/or trail camera to monitor. Establish a pattern, walk between your traps and home. Do this as often as you can. Get your scent into the air. This helps keep your pet in the area and increases the chances of getting your pet into a trap. Avoid crossing roads, train tracks and dangerous areas. https://youtu.be/DtXyrD6w0bk and https://youtu.be/aL6kSPjrBbQ Making Cat Shelter: Get/use a small cat carrier that is just big enough for your cat. Place a blanket that smells like you outside and straw inside. Place the carrier under cover somewhere tight and dark if possible. Leave the door open. Place food and water a favorite toy just inside the door. When approaching the shelter do it slowly and from the front. If your cat is there sit down and let them come to you. Do not make sudden movements, let them build trust. Turn your body and lower your head look as non-threatening as possible. Toss treats to the side of you and NEVER CHASE OR YELL at them. Litter (last resort): Put the UNCLEANED litterbox outside. For Multi-cat homes take the litter, bag it, then place the litter out further away from your strips and chum. NOTE this should be a last resort, as this can draw in Tomcats, Strays, and in some cases Predators that may keep your cat from coming home even hurt your cat. This is a LAST RESORT option and should be monitored with video monitors or trail cameras. If you are seeing danger then pull the box right a way. This is a good basics video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eCoC63B9I More free information - https://www.happycatlady.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eCoC63B9I Your cat is looking for home keep that in mind, so draw them to home. Most of all NEVER GIVE UP.

Carol D.

1 month ago

Lori Flynn because a cat won't be out of sight when they want to be.

Lori F.

1 month ago

Carol DeCola McDonald Yes they are quick but maybe you can put him in a room somewhere when you let your dog in and out..thanks.

Gary S.

1 month ago

Check extremely good around your house and neighbors, shrubs, bushes, high grass, paper bags and trees, underneath porches and decks, outbuilding and garages, evening time when it’s quiet too, check all shelters in your county and animal control also.

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Margie C.

1 month ago

Humane Trap ASAP

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Carol D.

1 month ago

Lori Flynn They probably didn't let him outside. I had a cat that was so determined he once dove under my GSD when I was letting her in the house and once went over the Cocker Spaniel as I was letting him out. Cats are fast and sneaky. They're like teenagers. If they want to go to the party badly enough, they'll find a way out of the house.

Lori F.

1 month ago

Hope you never let him get outside again.

Stuart K.

1 month ago

flyers

Marcia G.

1 month ago

IF YOUR CAT GETS OUT 🐾📌 Please Take Our Tips: TAKE OUR SUGGESTIONS NO MATTER HOW CRAZY THEY SOUND TO YOU Put a pile of unlaundered clothing, bedsheets , pillowcases and socks in your lawn...and hang some from your fence/bushes. Empty the contents of used litter box and household vacuum cleaner bag/canister across the lawn. Leave bowls of smelly food out - tuna/sardines, rotisserie or Kentucky fried chicken Turn on BBQ - cook hot dogs and bacon. SCENT IS EVERYTHING !! Do these things right now! FLIERS MUST GO UP ASAP TO GET SIGHTINGS. Every pole/tree/neighbors stoops/porches. Offer reward. Give fliers to mailman, UPS drivers, fed ex drivers, etc. Local supermarket, dry cleaners, drug store should have a flier. Call local precinct and report the cat as lost. Ditto for shelters. You must visit shelters - the person on the phone doesn't know every pet brought in. Delegate to friends so that you get the posters up ASAP!!!! Go out searching, especially when it's dark and quiet - early AM and later in evening. Carry tuna and heated Kentucky Fried Chicken for scent. Bring a bag of treats to shake when you call out its name and then just stop and listen for faint meowing. We've recently reunited cats that were stuck in neighbor's sheds/garages! Look under bushes, in/behind sheds, or neighbor's porches with flashlight. It'll make the cat's eyes glow so you can spot it. Don't drive around! If your cat is an indoor only cat, it hasn't travelled more than 2-4 blocks away. Look on your neighbor's properties. Written by Josephine Chianetta This is from a study that was done on lost cats: Cats are very different from dogs when panicked. They are territorial and your cat’s territory was inside of your home. Once a cat is transplanted into unfamiliar territory, fear sets in and it seeks shelter because it is afraid. They panic immediately and look to hide usually near the escape point or within a 5-house radius of their home where they've never been before. Cats that are afraid (and cats that are injured) will seek areas of concealment such as under a deck, under a house, under a porch, or in heavy brush and they will not meow! Panicked cats hide in silence. Silence is their only protective measure from predators. They can stay concealed for days, sometimes weeks! Just because you don’t see or hear your cat DOES NOT mean he or she is not right there, hiding in fear from the loud noises, etc. they will not meow! Meowing would give up their location to a predator. Their behavior has nothing to do with whether the cat loves you, whether it recognizes your voice, or whether it can smell you–it has everything to do with the fact that a frightened cat will hide in silence! The Threshold Factor: This is an interesting behavioral pattern that Missing Pet Partnership has observed with displaced cats. Many of these cats initially hide in silence, but eventually break cover and meow, return to their home or the escape point (window or door), or finally enter a humane trap. While some cats take only hours or a few days to reach their threshold, many others take several days (typically ten to twelve days) before they break cover. We suspect the threshold is reached due to their thirst, although more research needs to be conducted into this behavior. In an attempt to capture your cat, use humane traps in your yard or in your neighbor’s yard where your cat is likely hiding in fear. If you choose not to, place small amounts of cat food (and water) and hopefully you’ll eventually be able to determine where the cat is hiding. Written by Donna Harmon McNeff . .

Paulette P.

1 month ago

Shared....🙏💕🐾

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