How to find a lost cat

An indoor cat that gets outside is displaced, not exploring. It has no mental map of the territory, so its instinct is to find the nearest dense cover and stay there, often without moving or making a sound for days.

An outdoor cat that stops coming home is a different problem. That cat knows its territory, so a sudden disappearance usually means something interrupted the routine: it was shut in a shed or garage, chased out of its range, injured, or picked up by someone who assumed it was a stray.

Both situations reward the same approach. Search slowly, search close, and search the places an animal would choose to hide rather than the places you would find convenient to look.

Take a flashlight even in daylight. Eyeshine is the single most reliable way to spot a cat pressed into a dark space, and you will not see it without a beam. Get down to ground level and look, rather than reaching in.

• Under decks, porches, stairs and raised sheds
• Inside sheds, garages, crawl spaces and basements, including neighbours’ after asking
• Under parked cars, and in wheel wells and engine bays
• Dense shrubs, hedges, woodpiles, long grass and blackberry
• Behind and under anything stacked: pallets, bins, patio furniture, firewood
• Drainage culverts and the gaps beneath outbuildings

Search the same places more than once. A cat that was too frightened to move on day one may shift a short distance on day three.

Late night and the hour around dawn are the best times to search. Traffic and voices have died down, and a hiding cat is far more likely to move, drink or approach food when it feels the world has gone quiet.

Go out with a flashlight, stand still, and listen for long stretches rather than walking continuously. If you have another person, work outward in a slow grid instead of both covering the same ground.

Make it as easy as possible for your cat to come back on its own terms.

• Leave a door or window open where you safely can, or set an open carrier with familiar bedding just outside
• Put out the used litter box and an unwashed piece of your clothing
• Set out food and water at the same spot each evening

Then put a camera on that feeding station. A basic wildlife trail camera or an old phone on a timelapse app will tell you whether the animal eating your food is your cat, a neighbourhood cat, a raccoon or a skunk. Without a camera you are guessing, and guessing is how people trap the wrong animal.

A humane trap is the most effective tool for recovering a frightened cat, and the most commonly misused. Trap only once your camera has confirmed your cat is visiting a specific spot at a predictable time.

• Borrow a trap from a local rescue or trap and neuter group rather than buying one
• Never leave a set trap unattended for long, and check it through the night
• Cover the trap with a blanket once an animal is inside to reduce panic
• Have a plan for releasing non target animals safely

Blind trapping catches wildlife, stresses your cat away from the area, and can teach a wary animal to avoid the one place you had it returning to.