Ocala, FL Lost Male Cat, Sunny Is Missing

Facebook Community Response

Patricia B.

5 years ago

Sunny is chipped. Is this cat chipped?

Judith B.

5 years ago

At Marion County Animal Services

Sandra H.

5 years ago

Marion Oaks Neighborhood Marion Oaks Word Of Mouth Marion Oaks Lost and Found Pets Please post to these 3 pages

Sandra H.

5 years ago

Please post to nextdoor.com to alert neighbors Pawboost.com will blast all social media sites in area Place sign visible to traffic in front yard both sides of mailbox will work in a pinch Place fliers at all nearby crossroads for those not on internet Check with neighbors if they have security doorbell or footage to provide leads If chipped contact chip company and make sure all contact info is current Also post to petharbor.com

Phyllis T.

6 years ago

Hoping for a safe return

Pam S.

6 years ago

Sending Prayers

Cecilia L.

6 years ago

Sweet baby

Barbara A.

6 years ago

Prayers he’ll be found safe

Catherine D.

6 years ago

Shared and praying

Sandra B.

6 years ago

1. Scent is EVERYTHING to your cat! The FIRST thing you want to do is put something that smells like him AND his favorite human in the house. A shirt that hasn’t been laundered yet, his favorite bed..and catnip can’t hurt, either. They say that a cat can smell their own scent from miles away! 2. USE SOCIAL MEDIA! I’ve seen SO many pets reunited with their owners using Facebook and the Next Door app! Share, with a GOOD picture of your kitty, in all local pages as well as any lost and found pet pages for your area. Do a post from your personal profile and make it “PUBLIC” so other local friends can share! Make SURE you include location, town and state so local people can share your “Lost Cat” post. And include a phone number. Make it EASY for your cat’s finder to actually get in touch with you! Also, if you report your lost pet to Pawboost, your lost pet will be added to a nationwide database and they will do a Facebook post in your local state’s lost pet Facebook page. While on social media, check all local pages and lost and found pages for “found pet” posts! 3. PUT OUT FLYERS!! Don’t skip this step! Not everybody in your neighborhood is on social media, especially elderly neighbors. You can use any one of the preprinted flyers on Google or make one yourself on a word processing program. Be sure to use a CLEAR picture in good lighting and include anything that’s unique to your kitty, such as a rare marking, scar, stumpy tail, ear tip, etc. Again, include your phone number on the flyer. You want to make it as EASY as possible for someone to get in touch with you if they find your kitty! Use a staple gun to place the flyers on every other telephone pole for a one-mile radius in each direction of where kitty went missing. 4. For indoor kitties, search close to your house FIRST. Likely, they won’t be far from the house. My aunt’s indoor-only cat (and my former feral), Junior, got out twice. Both times, she set off her smoke alarm while cooking and, without thinking, she opened her slider door a crack to air out the house. The piercing wail of the smoke alarm scared Junior and he and BOOKED out that door. Both times I found him in the alley behind her townhouse, hiding in the brush. I should note that when I called him, he came crying to me, but he ran from me when I tried to grab him. My aunt noticed her sensor porch light lit up a couple of times, so we thought he was trying to make his way back to the house. I sat quietly in the yard and we put wet food by the door. Both times he came back home when we quieted down and she was able to coax him inside. 5. 6 USE A FLASHLIGHT, even if it’s during the day! A flashlight will help you to see their eyes if they are hiding under a deck or in bushes. If your cat is particularly timid to begin with, it may help to wait until dusk or nighttime when everything quiets down and try looking then. Often, when it gets quiet outside, they will work up the nerve to come out of their hiding spot. 6. LOOK UP! I forgot this when Blacky was missing and almost forgot to mention it in this blog post!! Cats climb trees and forget how they got up there ALL THE TIME. Use a flashlight, even if it’s during the day, so you can see the reflection of their eyes. 7. KEEP CALM! I’m guilty of this one. Cats mimic our energy. I made this mistake with Junior and also when I found Blacky. I couldn’t contain my excitement when I found Blacky alive and well and my nervous energy frightened him. 8. Use a humane trap. This one works particularly well if your indoor cat has never been trapped in a humane trap before. Here are some tips for trapping cats. Using tuna, sardines or stinky wet food is your best bet. If you see your kitty near the trap but just won’t go inside no matter how hungry they are, try using a dog cage to trap them. Here’s a Facebook Live video I did showing how to do that. NOTE: Often, well= meaning people tell you to set a trap at dawn or dusk when kitty is most likely to come out of hiding, which is true. However, dawn and dusk are also the time that neighborhood community/feral cats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and predator coyotes are out looking for food. BE AWARE of those risks. **PLEASE NEVER LEAVE SET TRAPS UNATTENDED!!** Rather, hide where you can’t be seen from the trap, yet you can see what is going near or in the trap. 9. VISIT your local shelters to check for new intakes! Calling them isn’t enough. You want to visit them every day or every other day and ask to see the new intakes. Find out which shelter does “open intake” for your town or municipality. Check that shelter first because if someone calls Animal Control when they find your kitty, Animal Control will take kitty to that shelter. Also, check with local rescues, as they often take stray pets and adopt them out if the pet doesn’t have a microchip. They see so many dumped off pets, they may assume that’s what happened with YOUR beloved pet. 10. If you live in an area with commercial establishments like restaurants or fast food joints, check with them. Your kitty may go after the food in their dumpster or the rodents who frequent their dumpster. 11. Bring cat food and treats with you when you search! If your kitty is anything like ALL of mine, they react to the can of cat food cracking open or the shake of the Temptations treat bag! That’s exactly how Blacky came out of hiding! 12. PICTURE THEM home safe and sound. Get a mental picture of their face in your mind and talk to them. Tell them you can help them if they will just let you know where they are hiding. I swear this worked with Blacky. Telepathy is not as freaky as it sounds and is much more common than you think, especially if you and your kitty have a tight bond! 13. DON’T LOSE HOPE! In May 2016, an emaciated gray/blue cat showed up on my property late one Saturday night screaming for my help, despite the fact that my resident ferals were trying to chase him off. We held him in Mom’s bedroom until Monday morning so I could take him to the vet. Luckily, he had a microchip. While I had the vet examine him and treat him for worms, etc, the owner called the vet back. We delivered him home later that day. Smokey was missing for 3 1/2 months. His home was 1 1/2 miles from my house. He was an indoor-only cat. The kicker of the story is that his mama owns an animal rescue!