Sandford, England Lost Male Cat, Sooty Is Missing

Facebook Community Response

Siobhan N.

9 months ago

Hi a cat if frightened will bolt and hide.. My cat did this. I searched the whole area calling for him.. Nothing.. I put posters up and through peoples doors.. Nothing.. I was in the area he ran off in for one week. Then on the Thursday evening when it was quiet. He meowed when I called. He was in that area for one week and hadn't responded as afraid of what frightened him. By calling he will hear you and begin to feel safe and hopefully respond to your call. Keep searching and looking. Someone who isn't on Social Media may be looking after him. Hence the posters. Hopefully he will be found soon.

Allison O.

9 months ago

🙏🐾🙏🐾🙏

Jan B.

9 months ago

[ ] Best time to check is 2/3am when it’s dark and quiet [ ] When you go searching always take a Torch as that will reflect the cats eyes in dark places. go searching late and early when its quiet, shake treats, call and listen and wait , cats need time to respond [ ] Look up Trees/roof tops, empty houses, church yards, cellars [ ] Look In hedges, bushes, bramble, ditches [ ] Under decking and under sheds garages, tarpaulins , behind meter box [ ] Behind bins and under cars in case injured [ ] Down any steep embankments, rabbit holes, ponds, drains, water butts [ ] Gaps In between fences and buildings, [ ] Ask people to leave sheds garages open a while to give a trapped cat time to escape as they wont just run out, they hide in fear [ ] When searching in bushes etc,get down to cat level as its easier to see them or use walking sticks upside down for ease, using the L ....shaped handle ....for moving bushes aside to gently search [ ] Put posters up and leaflet houses [ ] Check any CCTV/ring door bells and ask neighbors to check also, see if he was picked up or got in a vehicle [ ] Put familiar smells out, , blanket, empty hoover contents in garden [ ] Hang your used unwashed bed sheets out, t shirts, smelly socks [] Make sure there is a way for your cat to get back in your house, even when you are asleep, maybe wedge open the cat flap, or leave a window open [] Ask postman to keep a look out, let him have a leaflet, they go to most houses daily [] Contact all vets in the area, the local council, cat rescues and microchip company to let them know and flag them up as missing [] Contact ‘Harvey’s Army North’ on Facebook who will make you a poster with are ll the relevant information on that you can then share and post through letterboxes and on lampposts [] Share with all local vets/councils/rescues in the area asking them to put it up in their reception/offices [] Also put them on the Nextdoor app and PawBoost

Jenny R.

9 months ago

Put items of your unwashed clothing outside your home so he can pick up your scent. Call very late at night and early mornings shaking the treats and look behind walls and hedges. Go out in your garden between 2am and 4am call listen and wait. If possible leave your door or window ajar for access. Put posters up and leaflet drop in your area and physically ask neighbours to check their sheds and garages. Phone local vets. Good luck

9 months ago

Most of these should help too. I copied this from another post. It is very informative and I hope it helps you to find your cat. Sorry I haven't got time to change he to she. Please read all tips, they will help with the search. 1. A SOUND - Cats have extremely acute hearing and are naturally terrified of loud noises such as thunder, a car horn, a dog barking, a refuse lorry coming down the road emptying bins. The younger the cat the more easily they are scared by noises and bolt. 2. A LOCAL BOLD and DOMINANT CAT – will size up to a more timid cat to exert control over the territory. 3. An UN-NEUTERED MALE CAT will scare off all local cats in his endless searching over miles seeking a female. His instinct is to dominate in all territories and intimidate and fight with all local cats. 4. THE SUPER FRIENDLY CAT KNOWN TO EVERYONE: sometimes disappear on occasions for longer than normal as they are visiting many homes. They turn up suddenly as if nothing had happened. Cats are territorial and do not just run away from home. Something will have spooked the cat and it has bolted out of its familiar territory and ended up in a garden it has never been in before. LOST CAT ADVICE A CAT USED TO GOING OUTSIDE: something has happened to interrupt this, cats hide mostly when scared. They will be oblivious to the panic they have created. INDOOR ONLY cat who has escaped is very different, it will be MUCH CLOSER to home in the first hiding space it can find. It will be terrified finding itself suddenly outside. It will hide immediately very nearby but too panicked to respond to being called. ●Hang recently worn unwashed clothing in your line. If you have a shed put his bed inside and leave the door ajar. Put some of the contents of your vacuum cleaner outside your front and back doors. A cat NEW TO AN AREA through moving house or being re-homed will also find being outside frightening and will hide away quickly and nearby. This cat will also require the same tips as above● MISSING CAT STUDY from Missing Animal Response Network - A study of 1200 missing cats that were lost and then found. • The majority of cats 75% were found within 500 metres (1/3 of a mile) of their home (or escape point). Indoor only cats were closest to home often up to 10 houses distance. • The majority (83%) were found outside in a GARDEN near to home (or to their escape point) under shrubs or decking. • The majority of cats that were found, were found within 8 weeks. Half of those found was within 7 days. • Some bolder cats work their way home when their adrenaline has subsided (sometimes after a few days). Many cats will stay in hiding for very many days – often 10-12 days. They need our help to be reunited especially if they have bolted beyond their personal territory; they will be disorientated and unable to find their way back. THINGS YOU SHOULD DO: FIRST: SEARCH STRAIGHT AWAY and REGULARLY: Immediately search the local area. Call from your garden day and night. Walk the length of your road STOPPING and WAITING. Frightened cats take a while to respond. Start at the end of your road and WALK TOWARDS your house as you call so you don’t tempt your cat to travel further away from its home. Do the same on parallel roads as many times as possible every day. Don’t give up as the majority of found cats are found within 2 months with 50% in the first 7 days. Call in your normal voice so your cat is reassured that it is safe. They will pick up on the slightest anxiety as cats are hugely sensitive. Unless your cat is very bold, he/she will not rush straight out of hiding on hearing you; many stay in hiding for up to 12 days. Stand still and call. Build your cat’s confidence by hearing your voice sounding relaxed, talking to switched off mobile as you walk towards home. NIGHT-TIME/EARLY HOURS when the WORLD IS ASLEEP, when it is QUIET is a very good time to call and search. SOUND TRAVELS MUCH LONGER DISTANCES at night and your cat is much more likely to hear you calling it. CATS FEEL SAFER IN THE DARK from predators and are more likely to leave their hiding place on being called. Call in your garden frequently overnight. If walking on the street near your home to call through to reach neighbour’s gardens; take someone with you to stay safe. Shaking a treat bag GENTLY is a signal to cats (if it’s something they have heard at home) and the sound will travel much further late at night. If preferred take strongly scented fish or chicken with you. Search at dusk and dawn BE PATIENT; WAIT; REPEAT: Hiding away and not responding has nothing to do with whether your cat loves you, whether it recognises your voice – it has everything to do with the fact that a frightened cat will hide in silence! It is following its instinct and is in survival mode. Even if you are nearby the cat won’t just come out. Search hiding places. SECOND: PUBLICISE: LEAFLET EVERY HOUSE. LEAFLETS are very successful and have resulted in reuniting quite a few cats. Leaflet both sides of your road and parallel streets. Include a clear full photograph of your cat and your mobile number. Ask them to search in their gardens, sheds and under decking. Leaflets through doors really RAISES THE PROFILE of your lost cat in a large number of people’s minds. It reaches so many people – literally many hundreds. Make use of all social media. Post on Neighbourhood Watch, Next Door and local online Community Noticeboard. Give a poster to your postman, milkman and refuse collectors. Let your vet know he is missing and contact your chip company and make sure his details are up to date. Good luck

9 months ago

Please make sure to read the advice in "files" and the "featured" row near the top of the pages or groups. sometimes you have to press a little arrow like shape to open it, scroll by pulling to the left or right. 🔻THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF SCAMS PEOPLE USE TO MANIPULATE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MISSING FRIENDS. OFTEN THEY TEXT SAYING THEY HAVE FOUND YOUR FRIEND AND TELL YOU TO SEND THEM A CODE. DO NOT The newer scams are links in comments like: "Omg its so sad! these people found my pet fast! go to ImMentallyillinaBADway in ìnśtaģgram for their team to help you too!!" Or things like "contact pet dŕöñės for help" ..they often ask for cash before they look, and or for you to send them a code. Or they tell you they can see them but need a code or cash... DO NOT send them anything. 🍀 If you do encounter scammers please screeshot their names and profile pics and put it here so we can ban them and report them.. you can report them to Facebook and to the admins if you are in a group seeing it. Press and hold on the comment, options will open. First report it to Facebook for spam, scam, harassment, unauthorised sales, false information, mocking victims, animal abuse, child abuse, and terrorism! Maybe they will actually do something for once after all that ..then report it to the admins. The admins will ban them and delete the comment asap. ...sigh..... ok... take some slow, natural, deep breathes.... 🍀 For future posts copy this: **MISSING** Please share and help contribute to a reunion! County: City: Location Details: Date: Name: Gender: Breed: Coloring: Physical Features: Age: Weight: Collar/Microchip/Other: Contact: Additional Information: 🍀 Use a bright flashlight (brighter than a phones flashlight) at night and when its dim, to look for their eyes glowing. keep the flashlight up by your head so their eyes retroreflected light goes into your eyes. if you dont understand that study it. or trust us.. 🍀 Put out scented objects like pillows and couch cushions. and if safe, crack some windows to let the scent out.. hopefully u can afford to leave one cracked open enough for them to crawl back in the middle of the night.. 🍀 When searching, move in a slowly growing spiral pattern, yell louder on the spiral path back so as to pull them home.. searching up wind is more likely to help, if they are down wind they would possibly be able to smell their way home already... 🍀 For scent, vaccume bag dust can be used to make a long trail home.. best to stretch the line of dust up wind.. by up wind i mean make an line of small piles of dust that is layed out going 'up'/into/against the prevailing wind (that is the usual typical orientation of wind).. that line should probably be no more than 1/4th of a mile long for every day they are missing.. maybe less distance for cats, and more distance for dogs.. Check for them all along the trial as often as u can. and collect more dust for more trials and or a longer one.. Remember the house must be the most smelly part of the scent trial.. Add more scent closer to home. Less farther away.. 🍀 Dont forget to refresh the outside box/house or traps with fresh stinky pillows food toys etc.. buy a big bag of their favorite food, spread it in many feeders on all sides of the building.. scent form all things can get ed way up to high by the wind and houses heat, so place some on all sides of the building.. 🍀 Putting out food after the first day risks attracting others, their presence might push your friend away.. probably best to only use familiarly scented objects. If you do put out food, place it a ways from your home so the the others dont occupy the space outside of your home... 🍀 if you want us to more easily help find them, we need to know how u talk to them, like "come here good girl good kitty" or "come on baby, here come.." etc etc.... really the best option is a voice recording we can mimic and even use directly.. also, unless they are accustomed to you yelling their name, they may find the distortions the yelling produces to not only be unrecognisable, but scarey.. so please keep that in mind and remind others. try to sound normal, and sometimes normal, just louder.. get a cone to direct the sound so less yelling is needed. 🍀 if only for future reference/inspiration, it also may be helpful to consider; does this beed or individual often need hair cuts to look like they do in the picture? if so, another picture with longer hair, or a picture of a very similar hair cut or lack there of, might help them be identified in their current or future state.. 🍀 Give paper copies of pictures and helpful suggestions to all of your neighbors or anyone in the area.. 🍀If they are panicking and not lisitng to words. try these methods 🍀with just lots of your and other familiar smells, find them and then sit and wait up wind. hopefully they will smell you and see you are calm and friendly.. 🍀 Suggestions by Rena Hays: set a Humane live trap. Traps MUST BE MONITORED CLOSELY.. alert all neighbors and ask to check sheds, garages, under decks, bushes, even old dog houses. If possible place the pets bed in garage with food and something that smells like home. Leave garage door up just enough to allow entry for kitty. Best of Luck 🐾 🍀 USE CAUTION DURING DIFFICULT WEATHER, TRAPS SHOULD BE MONITORED EVERY 30 to 45 MINUTES for the safety and the well being of the animal. Hope that helps good luck 🙏🏻

Karen J.

9 months ago

Knock personally on all surrounding neighbours doors. Cats can travel quite far so you will need to consider all the roads around your property and a little bit beyond. Ask them to check their sheds and any outbuildings check their sheds/gardens. Leaflet the area with an a 1 mile radius with contact details and a photo . Flood the area with posters. Remember lots of people are not on social media sites.

Eileen O.

9 months ago

Go out after dark with a torch and look for eyeshine in shrubs and bushes and under cars and take some smelly food with you-sardines to tempt him. Ask neighbours to look in sheds and garages for him and call his name. Report lost to chip company and get some posters up too. Good luck 😃

Jeannie B.

9 months ago

Call your cat very late at night and very early in the morning when its quiet. Look in sheltered areas as if an indoor cat as could be hiding or sheltering x

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