Conference misery::feline_v1

    Tilly was out over the weekend.  She got out on Saturday night and
    we didn't find her until Monday morning.  We were sick with worry.
    Some of the things that we did were:
    
    1) Walked the neighborhood shaking a Pounce treats can instead of
    calling her.  It was late at night, and the calling would have woken
    the neighbors.  Every cat in the neighborhood, other than Tilly,
    came running when they heard that sound.  :^)
        
    2) Talked to all the kids in the neighborhood on Sunday, and showed
    them her picture.
        
    3) Checked at all the neighbors that leave food out for outdoor
    cats.  Figured that when she got hungry, she might turn up there
    for a free meal.  It is amazing how many neighbors leave out food
    for strays.
    
    4) Went out looking at night with a flashlight and checked under
    all parked cars, bushes, shrubs, and up in all the trees.
        
    Had we not found her on Monday, my next steps would have been: 
        
    5) A lost ad in the local paper     
                                              
    6) A call to all local vets telling them that she is missing, and
    that she has a skin condition which requires medication. (I figured
    that if anyone found her and was thinking of keeping her, they might
    take her to the vet for her skin problem) 
                                              
    7) Door to door search of the neighborhood
     
     
    Jo
    

    Notify:  All animal control officers, police stations, shelters 
    and vets in at least a 30 mile radius from home, including, of
    course, your own town.
    Post flyers/ads in local supermarkets, drug stores,in local papers,
    donut shops, wherever a large amount of people might pass through.
    Colored pictures are a big help w/posters.  As detailed a description
    as possible, too.  
    Notify all neighbors, (especially children in the neighborhood!)
    for in at least a three block radius.
    Check in all surrounding basements, sheds, barns, garages in the
    neighborhood.  Cats do not always make noise.  The one locked in
    my husband's apartment basement was there at least a week, and
    never made a sound.
    
    

    spoken from past experience, I'm re-living now looking for snuggles....
    
    Do walk the neighborhood, or leave lost flyers in all mailboxes,
    or ask your friendly mailman to do a favor and drop them off.
    
    In winter, with snow.... be alert to crawl spaces, then tend to
    get covered up or when a thaw, dripping melting snow can freeze
    on the ground covering a crawl space (like under porches).
    Look for kitty paw prints.
    
    Food, like outdoor feeding spots, OR garbage ....  Check those
    BFI garbage bins local they sometimes crawl into.
    
    Vets/pet stores, sometimes if one picks up a stray they may have
    them bathed, or vetted.
    
    

    You cannot leave flyers in U.S. mailboxes.  It is illegal and postal
    workers will often confiscate and discard them.  Leave the flyers
    tucked in door screens, partly under doormats, etc. instead.
    

    When my indoor cat Cubby escaped from the house a couple of years ago,
    I walked all over the neighborhood calling his name and clinking a 
    metal spoon against his glass food dish. I think that helped bring him
    back home. He was gone for about 12 hours but showed up at breakfast 
    time the next morning, just after I returned from looking for him. 

    Here are some other ideas for searching for a lost cat:

    When you write up your "lost kitty" ad, include the sex, age, color 
    of cat, coat pattern, whether long or short haired, type of build, 
    how long missing, any unique characteristics, and a good picture, 
    if possible. The unique characteristics and picture are probably the 
    most important, since many cats fit the same description. 

    Make lots of copies of the ad to:

	pass out to all your neighbors, and to as many houses outside your 
	neighborhood as you can handle. 

	post on telephone poles in your area, on bulletin boards at 
	supermarkets, churches, at work, the humane society, veterinarians. 
	My condo development has a little house for all the mail boxes; 
	people post notices there.

	give to the Animal Control Officer in your town.

	I would probably give the police a copy, too, though it's probably
	unlikely that the cat would turn up that way. 

    Put ads in the newspapers in your area, and maybe adjacent towns. 
    Sometimes cats wander if they're not spayed/neutered, or they climb
    into open cars and go for a ride.

    Don't give up hope!

    Linda

    P.S.  Jo, I'm glad you got Tilly back, especially with that nut in 
          your neighborhood.

    Re: .4

    That's a very good point. Personally, I'd be inclined to knock on the 
    door, hand out my flier, and briefly speak to the people. If they then
    saw a strange cat around, it (a brief, personal visit) might be more 
    likely to jog their memories than if I left an anonymous flier. In my 
    neighborhood you could do that, but there are places you wouldn't want 
    to.

    Linda

    We were sick with worry about Tilly, knowing one of our neighbors
    has been shooting cats.  Luckily, he was out of town this weekend.
    (his house was the first place we checked)
    
    Jo

    All I can add is....just don't call the vets, animal shelters, etc
    just once.  Continue to call even after a few weeks/months.  Your
    kitty might be lost and it might take some time before he is 
    brought to a shelter.  Just continue to search and don't give up.
    
    Also follow up on all leads...go see the cat to make sure it is
    not yours.  Sometime a person might say the cat he found looks like
    he's one year old...but in reality maybe your cat is 8 years old
    but very young looking.  Description can be deceiving...
                                       
    Also pray to the kitty god..
    
    Sandy (who's still searching for Cam)                 
    
                                       

    I have just two points:  Don't assume kitty is just taking its time,
    each kitty has a routine, when kitty does not return when expected
    start looking.  Look at your landscape, especially if you live in
    country, cats don't keep to the main roads.  The cat may have gone over
    the hill to the next group of houses, which may be a couple of miles
    away by road but only half a mile away over country.
    
    Lastly, if kitty does not come back just remember, your cat was doing
    what it wanted to when what ever happened to it happened.  You have
    given love and the best of care that any cat could hope for.  
    

    .9 Really nice last paragraph....so many of us feel so guilty
    when one of our babies is missing.  It's so hard not too!  
    
    Sandy

    re: .10  ditto  

    Don't depend on phone calls to a shelter -- go in person and look
    at the cats.  Often the desk personnel aren't good at descriptions,
    or they aren't aware of all the cats, so you really need to look
    yourself.  Repeat visits:  keep in mind how frequently they have
    to "put cats down" -- some will only keep a stray for a few days.
    Also check the lists of dead animals.
    

    > Often the desk personnel aren't good at descriptions,
    
    Even my own vet isn't up on cat colors.  From the description
    he gave of the little tortie, I thought we had a brown tabby/white.
    
    

    
    There was a REALLY convincing article in a Reader's Digest about
    a year ago, about getting children in on the hunt to find a lost
    kitty.  The author's cat was gone about 2 months I think, but they
    found her within a week or so of getting the children involved.
    Turned out she was about a mile from the house (so tell LOTS of
    kids!), living off scraps in an alley.  I seem to recall they
    offered the kids a reward as an incentive, which probably really
    helped.  It was really an adventure for the kids, and they got
    quick results, so it would always be worth the trouble of going
    around to the kids I think.  Plus, remember how much more intimately
    kids get to know neighborhoods through their bike rides, etc.
    
    
    
    

    re: .14 - that worked for us when Kathryn went missing.

    Here is another idea I remembered awhile back and have been meaning
    to add.

    If you have moved recently (within a few months, even) your cat may be
    trying to find its way back to your old house. Contact the new people 
    at your old location, as well as your old neighbors, to see if the cat 
    has shown up there. Give them one of your "lost cat" notices* with your 
    new address and tel. no., if they don't have it. It will help positively
    identify the cat, and they can contact you if they do see it.

    Also, if you have adopted a cat from someone (that is, directly from its 
    home, as opposed to a shelter) or if you are cat-sitting for someone 
    else's cat in your home, the cat may be trying to return to its old/last 
    home. 

    Linda


    * Presumably the notice has a picture of your cat, to help identify it.
      Usually we only think of taking pictures of our cats when they are 
      doing something cute; this is a good reason for making sure you have 
      a good, clear picture of your cat. 

    For an inspiring and heart warming lost-and-found success story, 
    read note #1811.
    
    Linda

    Due to another experience this weekend...the following is another 
    suggestion when trying to find lost animals.
    
        "Look high Look Low...you never know where they go"
    
    Our neighbor asked us if we were missing a cat because he said
    a cat had been on his roof all night long.  Now this is a three
    story apartment building...and I have no idea how the cat
    got up there...but obviously he wouldn't come down....he just
    sat there and cried and cried.  (It wasn't one of ours..)
    
    Well after calling the fire department and getting laughed at...my
    hubby and this neighbor proceeded to go up on the roof to help this
    cat.   Well after 2 hours of trying the cat finally came down
    with them....and ran off.  (hopefully home!!)
    
    My suggestion is to "look everywhere...because they do get
    themselves in some prediciments.
    
    Sandy
         

    
    	Sandy,
    
    	You had me going there for a minute....I thought you had
    	found CAM......
    
    	JJ
    

    JJ
    
    Gee I wish it was CAM....but no luck..yet! It's been over
    8 months since we lost him....but I still won't give up!
    
    Sandy

    My sister is a bit of a ditz's--she can't help it she was born that
    way.  While on vacation this Autumn I was found by a little white tom
    cat, after "that special visit to the Vet" I took him home.  Last Thursday,
    while my daughter and I were at the Feliners get-together at Littleton, 
    she (sister) let the new kitty out.  He didn't come back for three days--I 
    went crazy.  No one was on speaking terms with my sister.  however, the 
    other three cats are over-joyed.
    
    After losing Flea last year I really didn't need this to happen.  But
    at least it prepared me, and from the advise I had gotten from this
    notes files, I had an action plan ready to go.  I made posters, wrote up
    an add for our cable company to run, walked the neighborhood calling
    and asking children to keep an eye out.  Three days later, just as I was 
    about to put up posters and write checks for the add --  Robinson came 
    back.  
    
    WE are speaking to sister/aunt again, but the other cats aren't speaking
    to us.  Thank you Feliners for the advise in this note conf. it really
    worked for me this time.