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2 months ago
☆Best strategies searching for a missing cat☆ by Kat~(a former police bloodhound handler, crime scene investigator/search-&-rescue manager)
The action items on this list are meant to be repeated often.
✔ Search thoroughly around your property, inside as well as outside. Vary your search times, keeping in mind that cats tend to be most active late at night and early in the morning when it’s quiet.
✔ Ask neighbors for permission to search their property and try to expand your search three to five houses in either direction. Make sure to look inside their garages or any other structures where a cat could get trapped.
✔ Repeat your search and recheck the same spots. Cats may get spooked out of their original hiding spot and find another one in a place that you’ve looked already. If your cat is used to being outside, expand your search.
✔ Post large eye-catching posters (e.g., use brightly colored paper) with your lost pet information around the immediate neighborhood.
✔ Post your lost pet information on social media sites like Facebook, (Nextdoor .com & PetAmberAlert .com)
✔ Set humane traps in spots where you can check them frequently; shelters will often rent these traps to the public.
✔ You can also use your house or garage as a trap by leaving doors open.
✔ Check all the shelters that serve your area, not just the one nearest to your home. (Make sure your cat has a microchip or wears a collar and ID tag, so you can be reunited easily if he or she ends up in a shelter.)
✔ Sometimes, they are still inside the house.
A near-tragic example is the case of Bess, a two-year-old cat who disappeared one night from her family’s home. Bess remained missing until a few weeks later — when the family suddenly heard a faint “meow” coming from, of all things, a hinged window seat in the living room. ->“Bess is a perfect example of why you should comb every inch of your house thoroughly,” Kat says.
