Sterling, VA Lost Male Cat, Melon Is Missing

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Ginny R.

2 months ago

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Kimberly P.

2 months ago

🐾😘🙏come home kitty cat!!

Paxie W.

2 months ago

I am not an expert, but after ours went briefly missing I have a few tips to share. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Look in storm drains. Bend down and look, dont assume they can hear you calling for them. Even if you are next to it calling out, they may not hear. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Walk the surrounding areas during quite times of the day, especially in late at night and early mornings. Take treats to shake or cans of food to tap. Cats are most likely to be active and venturing out of hiding during those times. Cats are naturally more active during dusk and dawn, and may be less likely to be seen during the day. Additionally, many cats will attempt to return home within the first week, often in the middle of the night. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Don't put out their litter, but do put out a load of your laundry. Your baby knows your scent. Litter might attract territorial aggressive strays or ferals that might fight or chase away your baby. They won't care about your laundry though. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Tell your neighbors. Ask the delivery people, garbage & recycling people to keep an eye out. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Notify the microchip company and make sure they are still in their system 🐈‍⬛✔️ Use free online sources like Canva to make flyers to put up. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Contact the local shelters to alert them. They will check the pets that came in and will be on the look out for yours when new ones come in. They also have resources/suggestions, and can loan you traps. **if you use a trap, check it often as raccoons will injure trapped cats. Do not leave it alone over night. ⚠️ Set your alarm to wake up to check it 🐈‍⬛✔️ Contact the vets in the surrounding area. Someone might take your pet in to see if they have a chip. Leave your info with them just in case someone does. 🐈‍⬛✔️Reach out to local rescues to alert them. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Register them on websites like Petco Lost Love and PawBoost. One will create a flyer for you to print out and both can be used to share on social media. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Check out websites like 24PetConnection , nextdoor neighbors, and the shelters periodically to see if they have been listed as found. 🐈‍⬛✔️ Don't give up.

Jenny B.

2 months ago

Shared

Nayak S.

2 months ago

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Jessica P.

2 months ago

Other tips from a fellow foster/trapper/volunteer with an animal rescue group: - [ ] Look on Pawboost.com to see if someone posted a FOUND listing. If not, - [ ] Create a free posting of your kitty on Pawboost.com with good photos and as much information as you have about where/when s/he went missing. They’ll create a proxy email for you to avoid spammers/phishers. - [ ] Create free flyers from Pawboost that you can print and post around your neighborhood. - [ ] Contact Fairfax (petresourcecenter@fairfaxcounty.gov) and Loudoun county animal shelters ((703) 777-0406) as well in case someone has turned him/her in and file a LOST CAT report. Share your photos with them and when you have time, go to their facilities in person to check if your cat is there. The staff doesn’t always have time to do a thorough check among the cats in house. - [ ] Start walking around your neighborhood after dusk with a flashlight, slowly and quietly, looking under bushes and decks, in open garages, calling for him/her and then listening for him/her to respond. You can bring food with you, but most cats are too scared to come immediately to the smell of food. - [ ] If you do spot him/her, call somebody to bring a carrier over with the food in it to try and attract him/her; do not try to pull him/her out from under a bush or garage or wherever you find him/her. Most cats will withdraw further because they’re scared. - [ ] Last thing, put something that smells like you on your porch. Cats will be attracted back to a familiar smell and this may be a good way to get him/her to come back on her own. Chances are high that s/he’s only within one street of your house if s/he lives indoors normally. Best of luck to you and I hope you get him/her back very soon.

Jessica P.

2 months ago

Some immediate actions to take and what worked for us to find our lost cat who was missing for over two months: Please check in and around your house - even “doors no one has opened today” or places your cat “could never get into” including closets, bedrooms, behind/in walls, attics, garages, up in trees, etc.. Go out at night with a strong-beamed flashlight to look for eye shine and call out softly for your cat. Also ask your neighbors to check garages, attics, cellars, window wells, etc.. Is he/she microchipped? If so, report them lost with the microchip company (and make sure your contact information is correct!). If anyone scans it, you will be notified. Also contact (and visit in person!!) all rescues, all animal shelters, and all vets in the immediate and the surrounding areas to give them: - the microchip number - pictures from different angles Here are some local VA shelters’ contact info: - Fairfax County - https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/animalservices/lostandfoundpets/filereport - Loudoun County - https://www.loudoun.gov/545/Lost-Found-Pets - Prince William County - https://www.pwcva.gov/department/animal-services/report-lost-and-found-pets/ Make flyers and hand them out to everyone you can; not everyone is on social media. Also post flyers around the area. Ask for people to report sightings so you can narrow down the search. (This is what worked for us - we posted flyers and 1-2 weeks later posted flyers again in a wider area; found our lost cat after almost 2 months because someone had been seeing the cat and then contacted us after seeing a flyer from the second posting of flyers. We then set up a trap at the sighting location and checked it every 1-2 hours. Finally trapped him 3 days after setting the trap.) Post on social media: - Bring Ace Home - PawBoost - Petco LoveLost - Local lost pet pages - Neighbors (free app by Ring; you don’t need to have a Ring product) - Nextdoor Rescues in the area should also be able to lend you a humane trap. Make sure you check it every 1-2 hours and don’t leave it overnight (unless you can keep checking it every 1-2 hours). Raccoons can seriously injure a trapped cat. Put food and water down at your home every day and have a camera on the feeding station. Good luck ❤️

Jessica P.

2 months ago

Would you please add the nearest intersection and or landmark where he was lost from or last seen?

Ariana M.

2 months ago

Praying for his safe return

Jennifer R.

2 months ago

Try these tips: Indoor cats that get outside usually stay close but they will hide b/c they get scared of the new sounds and textures outside. Check all hiding places (under decks/porches, sheds, bushes, parked cars, up in trees, in storm drains or other exposed pipes). Ask your neighbors to check those areas of their yards and to open their sheds/garages in case the cat went in unseen and got locked in. Post flyers in your neighborhood b/c not everyone uses fb or knows about these lost/found pet sites. File a report with your local shelter and give them a picture so if someone brings in your cat they will be able to more quickly reunite you. Go in person and ask to see all the cats. Do not rely on staff to visualize your cat the same way you do. Do not rely strictly on pictures posted on their website in case the site is not up-to-date or not all-inclusive. Cats will come out at night to search for food so put a dish of smelly cat food outside near the door the cat most likely went out. You can also try going out at night with a flashlight to see if you can get the reflection of the light in its eyes. Shared and prayingFollow these tips...they work :) Owners of lost cats on the lost and found pet pages have said that these tips work, especially numbers 1, 3 and 5: 1. Put wet/smelly food out in the evening. Pick it up during the day or if you notice it's attracting strays. 2. Put a trail of dirty litter from the box all along the edge of your yard and along trees and bush lines close by and along side any chin trails. Do not out the entire litter box outside. 3. Put out an unwashed article of your clothing or a dirty sheet/towel/t-shirt. You can also make "scent strips" from these items and place them in trails leading to your door. 4. Go out in the evening with a flashlight and look under porches, sheds, etc. 5. You can make chum trails leading to your door by using a can of canned tuna in water (no oil) or canned cat food and a gallon of warm water. Shake well and sprinkle in trails leading to your door. 6. Your cat will be most active between dusk and dawn. Trying shaking a bag of treats and softly calling your cat's name while searching with a flashlight to catch the reflection of your cat's eyes. 7. Get fliers up right away with phone numbe r asking for sightings right away and ask neighbors to check garages, etc. 8. File a lost report with the appropriate shelter and visit *in person* often. Most cats do not go far, especially those that are not used to spending time outdoors. Every 2 seconds a pet is lost..MICROCH IP!! ! I

Melon is Missing in Sterling, VA

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Melon is Missing in Sterling, VA

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