Increasing your odds
I’ve been wanting to get up some tips that will help in getting your pets home. I first wanted to check if there was other information already available that I thought might be useful and found this site http://www.catsinthebag.org/ which goes into great detail about how to find your cat based on type; indoor, outdoor, personality type etc. I’ve also added a new link category for websites that I think offer great tips. Feel free to send me any you know of and like. Below is a short checklist. Many of you would know these but maybe there are some you haven’t thought of yet.
- Don’t delay in letting people know your pet is missing. Usually, the first thing people will do is check for any signs that someone’s missing the animal they’ve found. Make sure they find you, as people often assume the animal is abandoned.
- Put your cats litterbox outside and if possible scatter a small amount around the area close to home. Also try some pungent food or something your cat likes. Put out some of their possessions like beds or blankets that smell like them.
- Search around your area, in alleys and hiding places when it’s quiet.
- Be aware of any new construction or like activity in the area that might have got your cat curious.
- Rattle their bag of food or treats or other sound that they associate with getting food. Call them but don’t assume they’re not there if they don’t come. They might be in hiding if they’re scared. (I once had to coax my cat out from under a floorboard, when I moved. She was so scared she wasn’t coming out, but she was two feet away from me and I could see her! She stayed there for over a week.)
- Let immediate neighbours know that your pet’s missing.
- Put up posters around the neighbourhood of course. Colour is much better as it’ll stand out from the 20 other posters on the same pole. Put them in all the pet stores you can think of, all the vets offices, at the dog park. Give as much details as will help identify your pet. Put the date so people will know it’s current. If it’s been awhile say that you’re still looking. Go a little farther afield as a lot of people might go farther to get a particular brand of food, or go to their own vet, and not the closest.
- List them on all the websites you can find.
- Offer a reward. anything, even modest. It really help, but not too large in my opinion, as it can encourage con artists. I recommend actually not putting the amount on your poster.
- Contact all the rescues and let them know. Preferably before they’ve spent a lot of money on examining, feeding and/or treating your pet for injury.
- Physically go to the city shelters and go often.
- I hate to say it but check with your municipality to make sure road crews didn’t pick them up.
- Place ads in the local papers.
- If you’ve just moved don’t underestimate your pet’s ability to return to it’s old stomping ground, even if it’s quite a distance. And try to cover the areas in between old and new residence.
- Try a flyer mailing (thanks Taralyn: see comments). The campaign could be tailored according to your budget.
- Try not to give up too easily!
Please do contact me if I’ve left anything out. I’m not an expert but hope this will help. And if you do hopefully find your pet, please take all the posters and listings down and/or update them!
Lost Pet Resources
To be clear, the links on this site are not necessarily endorsements. My aim is to give as much information as possible, and therefore, the express exclusion of certain organizations based on their practices, to my mind would be short sighted, if it could possibly lead someone to locate their missing pet. I prefer not to assume that everyone is aware of them. Animals can get separated from visitors and newcomers, and on the offchance they should find this site I choose to include as much information as possible.
![found in Verdun[fr:]trouvé à Verdun](http://petluck.ca/wp-content/gallery/11/copy_0_cat-x.jpg "found in Verdun[fr:]trouvé à Verdun")
i just found this …
http://www.petlynx.net/PetLynx/search_found_reports.action
in the second page there is an ID pic to search ( i test it in cats only..), it could be very helpfull, i think.
i run several searches , again , and it seems not to be functional for QC,
i guess if it is good only for alberta ?!
Hi Claudia,
I checked it out. I think the only thing about it is that people need to know about it and submit, and I guess no one in QC
is using it. I’d never seen it before. Thanks for the link!
Hello I’m so glad many people have used this website and have found their little missing babies and I hope you all do. I have never found my family memmber Neutron the Cat, but I never give up hope that he is somewhere out there.
I’d like to take just a moment to stress how important it is to visit all the area Lost Pet Resources that are posted here (especially going to the SPCA). The SPCA does not have the time or volunteers to screen for every missing pet out there.. so going there will increase the likelyhood that you may find your pets..
Petluck.ca has gone to great lengths to provide this valuable information to you all to help you in your search. And if you can volunteer your time with one of the refuges or the SPCA, you are greatly needed….
There is always hope with kindness and help from others. Many thanks to Petluck.ca for keeping Neutron’s picture on the site for so long. The information you provide saves lives.
Best Wishes,
Rebecca
Thanks so much for your support Rebecca. I know that particularly cats can be lost for long periods unremarked, and I think thats one of the reasons it’s so difficult to track them down. I hope keeping them up will help some of them get home, including your Neutron. I know you’ve been looking out for the others when you go to the SPCA and I think that’s wonderful.
all the best
Petluck
I should let you know about the biggest reason behind our success with Eno…we mailed 5000 flyers to all of the households in the area, which is why so many people knew about him. The calls we had that eventually led us to him were all from the flyers. If money isn’t too much of an issue, for about 1,200 dollars you can have b and w flyers printed, and then mailed through Canada Post. To save money, we printed in black and white but included a blog address that people could check out to see better photos of him….
I don’t think people realize how easy it can be to reach thousands of people – we were laughed at for our idea initially, but it worked in the end!
Thanks again!
Taralyn