HappyCatLady .
6 months ago
💖🐱I'm so sorry you haven't found your sweet kitty YET. RIGHT NOW it’s still early and quiet - Go out the 'escape' door again - and CALL For kitty in a calm NORMAL voice(no stress in your voice) Keep calling CALMLY. If kitty escaped from the front and you have a garage spend time there if possible , talk on the phone, work on laptop (do normal stuff). At sunset, place wet food (+ your dirty laundry at the opening of garage) THEN place kitty’s bedding WAY inside away from the food (food= predators, bed = safety so must be separate areas) Repeat calling kitty LATE TONIGHT and spread the news to your neighbors door to door flyering during the day 🙏
💖🐱Dear guardian...sending this message with only LOVE in my heart...please do not rely on folks seeing this post online from your neighborhood or actual block - You must let your neighbors know kitty is missing with FLYERS and no better way than to post around your neighborhood and the best way is going door to door talking to your neighbors whoever is home and leaving a FLYER with those who are not home (TAPE A FLYER DIRECTLY ONTO THE FRONT DOOR using painter’s tape / won’t harm).! Even if a neighbor sees kitty outside they will assume kitty is indoor/outdoor and ok - not lost or missing - unless they are notified! ONLINE posts only gets to those actively looking at lost/found pets which is very limited. The exact neighbors you want to reach are right there near you - if you haven't gone door to door with flyers and posted up flyers on every street corner and mid street - I would highly suggest doing this TODAY. Also, in case KITTY is stuck/trapped you want the flyers to ask folks to check crawl spaces under homes, storage units, bats etc.. (Templates found on www.happycatlady.com) Check FOUND cats online at your local shelters; if they don't have online website with lost cats posted daily then call them and/or visit especially if your cat is friendly with strangers as he could also be picked up and brought there (or kept at someones house). The point is to cover ALL Possibilities.
https://www.missinganimalresponse.com/lost-cat-behavior/
🐱 Lost cat 'PRETO'- was found 1 week later - trapped in a garage, inside a HOLE going under the garage. His guardians each night would walk around very slowly calling for him in a CALM, NORMAL voice. They crinkled his treat bag and kept calling calmly. He finally meowed after 7 nights - after the 400th call!!!
🐱 LOST cat ‘Squirrel’ was found on night 13 hiding disorientated inside the front stair deck of a neighbor’s home. The guardians had shined a flashlight there every night and this time ‘Squirrel’ was there! He did not meow when his guardian’s called…
🐱Lost cat ‘Hugo’ indoor/outdoor was found 2 backyards away after several weeks, a bit confused and disorientated.
🐱Lost cat ‘Blue’’ was spotted by a neighbor who I had spoken to in person and given a flyer lost 3 weeks
🐱Lost cat ‘Bella’ was spotted by a neighbor and called because he saw a FLYER on the lamppost - 6 weeks missing.
💜Cover all possibilities; FLYER Door to door, talk to your neighbors. Post up flyers, Search and call for kitty at night in a calm voice..Stay strong. Don’t give up! 🐱💜🙏
🐱Call for your kitty in a CALM voice (no stress in your voice at all) during the day and MOST IMPORTANTLY at night / early morning before dawn when it's dark + quiet - Sit down and gently call for your kitty remaining in the same spot for 5 minutes..be patient. Leave a way back inside (porch light off)
🐱RING CAMERAS: ASK NEIGHBORS to check their security CAMERA and if they can add a ‘RING’ missing cat alert
🐱 BUY A WIFI CAMERA AND AIM it to the WET food you leave by the escape point - so you will receive MOVEMENT notifications to your phone(adjust settings) and to check footage to see if you cat is eating late night and hiding from you. IN SO Many cases we would have NEVER known lost kitty was right there hiding without using a camera. Cats in survival mode WILL HIDE from all humans - even the human/s kitty loves - because once in a new environment or spooked - they go into survival mode - in order to protect from predators (or perceived predators). If you spot kitty on camera eating the WET food you’re putting out nightly (but kitty not coming to your calls) THEN you will need to RENT/BORROW a HUMANE TRAP
💥💥BEFORE TRAPPING: MUST-WATCH HOW-TO VIDEOS
1. Trapper Tips and Tricks! Presented by Neighborhood Cats : https://youtu.be/DtXyrD6w0bk
2.Trappers Tips & Tricks Presented by Neighborhood Cats and the Community Cats Podcast : https://youtu.be/aL6kSPjrBbQ
🐱We were able to trap a lost cat that got outside of at a cat sitters house. The guardian thought the cat was GONE. I said NO, the cat is scared and will remain within ear shot even though there wasn't any place to hide (cement front yards) ....at night the cat would return every few days - caught on a camera aimed at the wet food bowl - it took a few nights to trap the cat - he had to be hungry enough to go all the way into the trap (I placed a trail of a couple of small blobs of wet food at the entrance and midway the trap leading to kitty to the back of the trap)
🐱Lost cat Apollo was spotted on a neighbor's RING camera after being lost for over a month! You must Replace flyers and talk to neighbors again. And Continue to leave wet food and water out at sunset with a camera aimed at the wet food. Apollo was caught on camera hiding in a crawlspace and coming out to eat at 2am ! We then placed a TRAP next to the wet food to get him used to the trap being there (Apollo is super skittish so baby steps were taken to trap) . The next night we placed a bowl of wet food partially inside the trap (with the trap NOT set) just to get kitty used to going inside the trap without the door shutting. The camera revealed the time Apollo would eat...the owner was SHOCKED he was in his neighbors crawlspace several weeks and would not meow when he called for him. Yes, Sometimes cats will just continue to hide in complete survival mode so the only way to get them is to trap them and in order to do this - the best thing is to get kitty eating at a certain time first so then you can actively set a trap when you're ready to do a STAKEOUT for several hours, watching the set trap from a distance every minute it’s set - making sure no other animal gets near.
🐱The point here is that we don't know if Kitty is hiding VERY near...or if kitty is stuck at a neighbor's property unable to get back. HUNGER always wins and at some point kitty (if not stuck) will be spotted by a neighbor - but they need to SEE your flyer and KNOW to call you and take a photo of kitty if spotted. Today, tomorrow and every day knock on your neighbors doors asking folks to check their RING cameras and check garages and under porches and crawl spaces
If you haven’t already - BUY a camera right now. Buy 2 if you're not sure which side kitty escaped from. This tool has helped me find countless lost cats that were presumed dead or GONE. THEY HIDE AND HIDE and need to be lured with wet food with a camera aimed.
🐱 Print MORE flyers to post around your neighborhood on every lampposts (both sides) and distribute door to door to every single residence around your block and 1 block out in all directions from you to at the very least. Then expand out 1 block at a time
Sending you LOVE, HOPE and determination…
damia foti 650-339-6619 www.happycatlady.com 650-339-6619
REUNITED LOST CAT EXAMPLES (and why you must cover all possibilities!) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m6gjYB1cx_girwYJ_3cx8K_4-WIVKGsq/view?usp=sharing