Cats Problems

Start your search early — don’t assume he’ll wander back of his own accord.

Search around the home — in cupboards, under beds, behind furniture, in a washing machine or tumble drier, laundry basket, the cellar, loft space etc. Outside in your shed and garage, greenhouse, compost bin, even your car, including in the wheel arches and engine compartment. Cats like to seek out warm, dark places to hide sometimes, so look in even the most unlikely places.

 

Next visit your immediate neighbours and ask them to look in their homes and garages, sheds and outbuildings.

While you are searching your local area, stop regularly and listen — give your cat a chance to answer your call. Stay in one area long enough for your pet to reach you if he is close by.

Make up notices to go in local shop windows/noticeboards, ideally with a photograph of your cat and a description. Place these also on lampposts and consider photocopying leaflets to drop through letterboxes in the neighbourhood. Many cats ‘go missing’ simply because they are befriended by a neighbour.

If your cat is microchipped or already registered with a pet-finding service, alert them that your cat is missing (Don’t forget to contact them and let them know when you have found him).

Contact veterinary surgeries in your area as if injured, your cat may have been taken there (they may also take your ‘Missing’ notice for their noticeboard). Call or visit local animal rescue charities too in case your cat has been mistaken for a stray and been handed in.

 

Search around hedgerows, open ground, woodland, farmland, and ask for permission to check in agricultural buildings. Often cats get carried away on their adventures then become disorientated and unable to find their way home.

 

Check with your local council’s refuse department in case your cat was knocked down on the road and has been collected.

Register your cat with local and national lost and found agencies. Many operate on the internet.

Take out an advert in a local paper and approach your local radio station to see if they will put out an appeal.

Tell as many people locally as you can, including: your postman/woman; milkman; neighbourhood children; elderly neighbours; dog walkers— all likely to be out and about and noticing cats at different times.

Don’t despair! Many cats turn up after many months, even years, after being missing!

According to the Missing Pet Bureau, 3,200 cats go missing every week.

How to keep your cat safe
Get him microchipped. It’s a permanent means of identifying your pet by means of a tiny chip, the size of a grain of rice, which is implanted painlessly between your cat’s shoulder blades. When scanned it shows up a unique id which can be linked to you. Vets and many charities hold scanners for pet identification. It costs approximately £20-£25. Ask your vet for details.

Buy him a safe collar with a buckle which will snap open if it gets caught and releases him rather than traps or injures him, and an identity tag.

Keep him in at night
Keep him in when there are likely to be fireworks let off — November, December (around Christmas and New Year), for example, plus other festivals etc.

Consider enclosing your garden — keeping your cat safe, while allowing him plenty of space and lots to keep him interested.

If you haven’t done already, get your cat neutered. Entire toms roam great distances in a bid to find females, and a calling female will wander off in a distracted state.

 

Coping with the loss
Losing your cat and never knowing what has happened to him or her can be as traumatic to the owner as a death. The Pet Bereavement Helpline has been set up to help pet owners cope with their feelings of loss.
The Pet Bereavement Support Service is a confidential telephone helpline that offers support through a national network of trained volunteer Telephone Befrienders. The Helpline is run by two charities, The Blue Cross and The Society for Companion Animal Studies. The Helpline is open daily 8.30am to 8.30pm with an answerphone outside these hours. To make contact call the freephone number: 0800 096 6606 or email pbssmail@bluecross.org.uk A co-ordinator will give you details of the nearest Telephone Befriender.

 

 
IUseful numbers
RSPCA Helpline 0300 1234 999
Battersea’s Lost Dogs and Cats Line Tel. 0901 477 8477.
The line operates within the M25 area and lines are open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm. (Calls cost 60p per minute).
Petsearch nationwide charity with 306 local registers of local lost and found cats. Tel. 0121 743 4133
Cats Protection
Tel. 08702 099099 Email helpline@cats.org.uk

The Blue Cross
Tel. 01993 822651 Email info@bluecross.org.uk

PetLog (Microchipping)
www.petlog.org.uk
Animal Search UK. Tel. 01432 761 406

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