Some advice for if your kitty gets out:

Preamble:

Are you *sure* kitty got out? Many times, they will be under the bed inside the box spring, inside the couch, under the bookshelf, in the closet, behind the washing machine. Think like a cat, and take another look throughout your house.

Still no kitty?

First, if you have adopted from a Rescue, notify the Rescue immediately! They may have advice or even be able to help you look for the kitty.

Secondly, if your kitty is microchipped, notify the microchip company right away (so important to register those chips!!). If you didn't register the microchip, do it right away and then report the kitty as missing.

Next, post on your local lost and found pets Facebook page, as well as your own. Boost the signal! Also try Pawboost (Facebook I think, they may also have a website). Don’t forget Nextdoor!

Check your local lost and found pets pages for found pets, and also Craigslist found pets sections. Check the "free" sections too, in case someone "rescued" your kitty and is trying to find them a home.

For boots on the ground action, put kitty's bed, blanket, and an article of clothing that smells like his or her person on your porch. Their sense of smell is very strong and having familiar smells may help him or her find their way home if they are lost.

If it's safe to do so, leave a window open overnight near where they got out. They may surprise you by coming back in on their own!

Talk to your neighbors! Make flyers (I recommend doing quarter page size so you can print 4 per page) with photos and leave them at the houses where nobody answers.

Talk to your postal carriers, UPS and FedEx drivers also! Give them a flyer with a pic and your contact info!

Check the shelter! Check online but also go in person; a frightened kitty may be mistakenly assessed as "feral" and could end up in the feral section of the shelter. Check the intake logs and also the books of found animals flyers left by the public. Leave a flyer at the shelter.

Go to your local vets' offices and clinics, and leave a lost kitty flyer in as many of those as you can. Talk to the staff and ask if anyone has brought in a kitty to be scanned for a microchip.

Contact your local rescues, email them a photo and ask them if they have been asked to take in a kitty who looks like yours - usually we scan for microchips, but you may actually ask us before we even have a chance to scan them!

You may even want to check Petfinder for local rescues and see if your kitty has been rescued and is up for adoption.

When indoor kitties get out, they usually do not travel far. They will usually be very very scared and look for places to hide. If you or your neighbors have raised foundation type homes make sure you check for access to those crawlspaces. And remember they can fit into much smaller places than you would expect. So check all around your house and any of your neighbors houses just in case he's hiding underneath nearby.

Check your security camera footage. Check your neighbors’. If you don’t have cameras, fix that ASAP. Get a wireless Ring stick-up cam (or several) and connect it to your phone and place it on your front porch, back porch, back yard, near the crawlspace access to underneath your house.

Also if you have a normal feeding routine, for example if you feed him or her canned food at night, take a can of food and a spoon and walk around calling your kitty and tapping the can with the spoon.

Make sure you also check your neighbors garages, in case he or she has gotten into somebody's garage and they're not aware. If there are sheds in peoples yards, check those too. Kitties who are used to being outside can get into all sorts of new places.

Also if you have a local colony where community cats are being fed, check there.

The best time to look is late at night. Take a flashlight with you and shine the light into bushes and under cars; kitty eyes will reflect back at you.

If you have recently moved and your kitty has gotten out, if you’ve moved fairly locally, check your former home and leave flyers in your old neighborhood. If you’re close to your old ‘hood, it’s possible that kitty tried to go home. Post on that neighborhood’s Nextdoor also. Try and intercept the postal carrier in that area also, and give them a flyer. And if your old home is serviced by a different animal control agency than your new home, contact that animal shelter as well to report the pet missing and to check their intakes also.

The most important thing is that you do not give up. They do not go far, and are usually found closer than you would expect. I once had a friend whose Kitty got out and was found three weeks later under the house!

There are even more tips in the comments on our PSA post on our Facebook page.

Front Street Animal Shelter has a really good video here.

Don’t give up!!