Lost your Cat?

 

Generally, cats don’t wander far from their home territory. So if yours goes missing, there will be a reason why. If you have recently moved, and not taken sufficient time to acclimatise your cat to its new home, it may well have set off to return to its old familiar territory. Maybe a visiting dog in the street frightened your cat, or maybe a ‘helpful’ neighbour has been feeding it thinking it is a stray. Whatever the reason, if you have lost your cat, there are several steps you should take.

1.       Design a flier or leaflet and print as many as possible (preferably over 100) to distribute around your neighbourhood. Place them in letterboxes and on trees, light poles and stick up at bus stops, local shopping centres and anywhere else you can; it is very important that as many people as possible are aware that your cat is missing and can be on the look-out.

Your flier should boldly say REWARD at the top to catch people’s attention; include a recent and clear photograph of your cat if possible, the date and location the cat was last sighted and contact details of the owner. If you are concerned that your cat may have been stolen, it can be very helpful to include a statement such as “Mitzy has health problems and requires daily medication to prevent her becoming extremely ill.” Even if this is not true, it may catch people’s attention.

 

2.       Check in sheds, car-ports, up trees and under shrubs; ask all your neighbours (to the side, at the back and across the street) to do the same or better yet see if they will let you in their yard to do it yourself. Put a note of this on any fliers also. Cats very commonly manage to get themselves into hiding places and then cannot get out again; someone may have a shed open during the day, your cat slips inside unbeknownst to them and then gets trapped when they lock the shed at the end of the day. We have heard stories of cats being locked in sheds for days or weeks before being found!

 

3.       Ring any vet clinics in your area and your surrounding suburbs; if someone has found your cat with an injury or in distress they may have taken it to their own vet and not necessarily the one closest, so it is advisable to call at least 4 or 5 vets, depending on the area you are in. You should also call one or all of the after hours vets in Perth. These are Balcatta Vet (9345 4644); Perth Vet Emergency in Osborne Park (9204 0400) and Murodch Pet Emergency Centre (1300 652 494).

 

4.       Place Lost advertisements in your local paper and the Saturday West Australian and Sunday Times. It is also a great idea to advertise your cat on allcreatureslostandfound.com.au and gumtree.com.au

 

5.       It is advisable to contact your local Shire Ranger. Whilst they do not currently deal with stray cats, they will come and remove any animals who have been involved in a car accident or died in another way and are on public property/council land. In the unfortunate event your cat has passed away, the ranger may have collected him or her. They scan for microchips but if your cat is un-microchipped, they will just dispose of the body if you do not contact them.

 

6.       When you report your cat as missing to Cat Haven, we ask that you give a small donation and we will then keep the report on file for 6 months. We receive approximately 8 000 cats and kittens every year so there is a high possibility your cat could be among them; however, because of this huge volume of animals it is EXTREMELY important that the description you give is accurate. It is crucial you supply us with a photograph to help with identification. Finally, if you find your cat please contact us so we can remove it from our list.

Complete the details on the attached form and email it to us at lostandfound@cathaven.com.au, or fax to 9442 3636. To make it easier to identify your cat, please attach a recent photo with your report. We’ll maintain your details on file for the next 6 months or until we hear from you that your cat is back home. Please be aware that Cat Haven is a privately funded charity receiving no government support; as a result, we ask that you help us with a small fee that will support the vital work of our Lost and Found service. Fees are as follows:

• lost report for microchipped cat - $10
• lost report with photo for non-microchipped cat - $15
• lost report for non-microchipped cat with no photo - $25

• Cat Haven Lost Cat Report Form (37 KB, pdf )