Pittsburgh, PA Lost Female Cat, Ghost Is Missing

Facebook Community Response

Barb R.

6 hours ago

🙏🙏🙏

Patsy H.

7 hours ago

I just want to share this with you. My cat Snoopy got out on a Friday night and I immediately set a trap. On Sunday, I bought a second trap. I checked the two traps after 6 am Monday morning. No luck. Monday night for the first time, I left the garage door open slightly enough for my cat Snoopy to get in and I left the cellar door open. I left the lights off in the garage and cellar, except for a light in a separate room. I put 2 blankets by the garage door entrance that Snoopy slept on. I kept all my other cats upstairs. After checking the traps with no luck, I went downstairs and I heard something and then found Snoopy in the cellar. My other cats went down to greet him. I am so grateful that Snoopy is home.

Patsy H.

7 hours ago

Some time ago, my young cat snuck out late. I called him and put out a trap, but he didn't come. In the morning, I went out and made cat sounds like he does because he doesn't meow. I then heard him respond and found him hunkered down beside the air conditioner. He must have been very scared all night. He was only about 20-25 feet from my back door. I copied the following messages from other people giving advice on finding lost cats. If Indoor Fixed Kitties: Indoor fixed kitties rarely go far and are usually found hiding scared nearby. Look under everything...porches, decks, sheds, cars, bushes, etc. Look at night and into the wee hours of the morning with a flashlight to see eyes glowing. Ask/tell neighbors. Flyers = sightings. Consider using a humane trap ASAP. Please no litter box outside because it can attract predators and potentially keep your kitty from returning. Prayers for a safe return. If you're able you can also try leaving a door, garage door or window cracked open to let kitty come back in. A video doorbell or trail camera can be helpful to see if kitty is coming around when you're sleeping. Honestly - the magic time is 11pm-6am in spring/summer (8pm-6am in fall/winter) - when no humans are outside. That is when they feel comfortable coming out of hiding. Sit on steps/porch by where cat escaped - talk softly. Let cat come to you. Avoid eye contact. Lost pets will not act "normally" - they are in survival mode.

Susan W.

10 hours ago

Praying very fervently for a safe return to you🙏🏻🙏🏻

Kevin J.

11 hours ago

We Ghost is back home soon. Safe and Sound

Linda H.

12 hours ago

All good ideas …. Please shake a treat bag when you’re walking, sit down and softly call her. She’s in survival mode now and afraid. Don’t give up! 💕

Jenn H.

12 hours ago

Please call all area veterinarians to let them know that she is missing and she is new to the area. That way if a good Samaritan finds her and brings her in somebody knows that she’s being looked for. Also post on a website called nextdoor for com. It’s similar to Facebook but it’s for your individual neighborhoods. You’d be surprised at how many people are active on that website and report lost or found pets. Walk door to door, introduce yourself, show them a picture of Ghost, and let them know that she got lost and that you’re new to the area. When you walk around during the day, bring an actual flashlight with fresh batteries. Do not rely on a cell phone‘s light because it will not be bright enough, and the beam of light will not be long enough. Carry the flashlight with you even during the day because you can look underneath decks and porches, inside of garages, Anywhere in her eyes will reflect the beam of light. When you go to look for her, also bring a thick towel or a blanket. That way, if you find her, you can safely contain her. Do not bring a carrier because as far as I know, almost every cat runs away from the sound of a carrier. Bring with you anything that she loves no matter how silly it sounds. If it’s treats, food, a toy, anything that she will come to you for. When you’re outside, you need to talk to her, to call for her, as if you’re both inside. If you sound scared, she might run away even further, or she might remain hidden and be so still that you will not even see her. Even though she’s a white cat, you’d be surprised at how good cats can hide. Also, when you’re looking, you must search high and low. A cats instinct will tell them to stay silent and still. That’s so they do not draw the attention of a predator. You could be right next to her hiding space calling her and she might not make a sound or even move a muscle. If she has never been outside, she will run for the nearest cover that she can get to. That could be a thick clump of weeds, it could be hiding underneath of a tarp covered item like a grill or a vehicle, or it could be someone’s basement window well, a shed, a garage, even an open basement door. What you should do is try to put out any familiar smell to her. Normally, I would suggest that you open up your houses windows but since you just moved in, she’s not gonna be familiar with the smell of the house. So you must use smells that are familiar to her. If anybody uses a cologne or perfume daily sprayed around your house. Get the dirtiest of laundry that you have and spread it around your lawn. Towels, bedsheets, sweaty T-shirts, sweaty socks, even underwear if you can find someplace to discreetly hide it, but that she might be able to smell it at. I never recommend to use a litter box as a sense item except for in an instance like this. Put out her litter box, but what you must do is make sure none of the litter gets to the ground. The reason for that is that you do not want to attract other animals in the neighborhood to find out what this new cat smell is. So what I want you to do is if you put her litter box outside make sure that you were outside watching it when it is outside. Why do I tell you to do that? That’s so your presence scares off any other animal, but Ghost will come to you or to the litter box because she smells something familiar. I highly recommend do not leave it unattended, especially overnight because you can bring about the attention of any other animal in the area. They might scare her off, which is why I suggested you’d be outside so that no other animal would scare her away. I do think that you might have better luck, searching through any of the tree line area. You might want to put on some gardening gloves, just in case she gets into any clumps of weeds that are thorny or prickly or maybe are some sort of like a poison ivy or poison oak. If there are neighbors near where the tree line is, maybe ask them if they have seen her. If you set up a live trap, it is best that you cover it with a blanket or a towel from inside your house something that smells like home that way it’s something that’s familiar to her. However, you do not want to leave it unattended. You don’t want someone to steal the trap, and you don’t want to have any animal in there for too long the time if they don’t need to be. So if you trap another neighborhood cat, a woodchuck, a raccoon, you don’t want to leave them in there for too long because it’s very stressful. Also speak with any mail carriers in the area or anybody who jogs or walks a dog regularly. Obviously, the last thing you want to do is to make any sudden movements if you do see her. When you’re out looking, leave the kids at home. Small children might be excited to try to help to look, but they will often get TOO excited and yell or scream or run at the lost pet. They don’t mean anything bad by it, but the cat doesn’t know that. When they’re outside and lost they’re running on survival instinct. Anyone or anything lunging at them or running at them is seen as a threat, even if it’s a family member. So leave the kiddos home and go out with trusted adults to go and look for your cat. You might need to set up a trap near the construction zone or near the tree line. Wherever she was last seen at. I wish you the best of luck in successfully getting Ghost home and I hope that you’re happily reunited soon.

Sunny M.

13 hours ago

Set and monitor some humane traps asap especially where you last spotted Ghost

Lynne W.

13 hours ago