What to do when a pet doesn't return home

One of the worst nightmares of any pet owner is their beloved fur baby going missing. Not knowing where they are, if anything has happened to them, or if they need your help as the hours tick by is absolutely awful.

Luckily, though, despite what it may initially feel like if your pooch or kitty are missing, you’re not completely helpless. While only 2% of missing pets are found without the intervention of their owners, the chances to find your missing furry friend and safely return them home increase dramatically if you just follow a few simple steps. Here is what you can do to find lost pets:

Search the neighbourhood and ask for help

The first step whenever you’re looking for a lost dog, cat, or other pet, is to thoroughly search for them, starting close to home and then gradually expanding your radius.

While it’s unlikely to overlook a dog in your own house or flat, the search for any other pet, especially cats or rodents, should start in your own house. Systematically search your way from one end of your home to the other. Search under cupboards and on top of them, in shelves and wardrobes, in boxes and between the cushions of couches and armchairs, under the blanket in your bed, and literally every nook and cranny you can think of. Cats love to hide and will sometimes watch you search for them and calling their name for hours before happily emerging from a newly found hiding place. While you search, keep calling their name, rattle a box with lovely smelling treats, or put out their favourite food out to try and lure them out. Also, regularly stop and just listen to see if you can hear anything that would give away a possible hiding spot or a pet in need of your help.

Once you’re sure your pet isn’t hiding at home, extend your search to the area close to your home. If the pet wasn’t supposed to be outside in the first place, try to figure out how they escaped and then follow their tracks from there. Most pets that haven’t been outside before will stick to places that feel safe to them, for example close to walls, in bushes, trees, or open sheds and garages. Try to think like your pet and follow where you think they might have gone. Look in low places, like under your porch, and also high up in trees or on your roof. Cats, especially, have been known to climb places and then get stuck there.

If the search still proved fruitless at this point, it’s time to ask others for help.

Contact local animal shelters and animal control agencies

Local animal shelters, animal control agencies and vet offices should be your first point of contact. Call them and ask if someone brought in your pet, describing them in as much detail as possible. Make sure to mention anything obvious, such as their size, fur colour and length, ear and tail shape, or special markings such as spots in specific places, a chipped ear and the like. Also provide their name and age, and, especially for dogs, the breed.

Whenever you’re told your pet wasn’t brought in, politely ask them to please contact you in case a pet that matches your description is brought in later, and leave your name and phone number. If your pet is chipped, be sure to also contact your microchip company so they can flag your pet as lost. This will automatically alert anyone scanning your pet’s chip.

Engage your community

Should you still not have found your lost pet after all that, reach out to your community.

1. In person

Start by making missing pet posters that clearly state “Lost cat/dog/pet” and add one or two pictures of your missing fur baby, their detailed description, a call for help and a way to contact you. The photos should be in colour and, ideally, you’ll choose one close up photo of the pet’s face and/or any distinguishing markings, as well as a full-body shot of them standing up. When writing their description, mention their name, age and looks, and be as ‘visually descriptive’ as possible – don’t assume everyone reading your poster will know off the top of their head what an Italian Greyhound or a Scottish Fold looks like. Instead, go for fur colour/length/quality, size, ear and tail shapes, etc. 

Don’t forget to ask people to please check their basements, sheds, garages and porches, and to give you a call should they see your lost pet or hear anything about unknown pets being spotted by other people. Also, be careful about which personal information you hand out on the poster. Add your phone number and maybe an email address but not your full name or postal address. To make the info easier to take away, you can add a few tear-off slips with your phone number at the bottom of the poster. If you want to add some extra incentive, mention that there’s a reward, but don’t disclose how much.

Laminate the missing pet posters to make them waterproof for outside, then hang them up every few meters in your neighbourhood, wherever allowed. You can also ask to put them up on local message boards, in schools and kindergartens, at local shops, at vet and doctor’s offices, the police station, pet boarding kennels and catteries, etc. Further, have a shorter version printed in the lost and found pets section of your local newspaper. Doing so is often free. 

The more people know you’re desperate to find your lost dog, cat, or other pet, the more people can be on the lookout with you and the more likely your furry friend will be found. Should your pet be missing for several weeks, update the posters from time to time, adding “still missing” or similar, so people know you’re still looking and asking for help.

Once you’ve done all that, grab a few of the posters, a torch, your pet’s favourite treats to lure them to you, and maybe a friend or two to help, then head out once more. Knock on people’s houses, especially any neighbours close to you or in houses and gardens you know your pet has been to, and ask if they could have a look around their property with you. If your pet isn’t there, once again politely ask them to keep a lookout and to please contact you should they see or hear anything. For this purpose, you can have small cards with your phone number at the ready to hand out to them.

In case you’ve recently moved from a place not too far away, you might also want to check there and let the new owners know that the pet might be on their way back, especially if your missing pet is a cat. Ask them not to feed them but instead contact you asap should they see them.

2. Online

Thanks to the internet, there are numerous further ways to go look for your cat these days, by letting people online know to please help with the search and be on the lookout, too. Places you can post lost pet notes to:

• Social media: set the posts to ‘public’ and ask anyone who reads them to please share them; add helpful hashtags like #lostpet, and also check out the Lost Dogs of America Facebook network if you’re looking for a missing dog, and similar social media networks
• Pet, local and other forums and communities such as TrustedHousesitters’ own Community Forum, Reddit, or Craigslist
• Lost pet finder sites like Pet Alert, Animal Search, Pets Reunited, Pet FBI, or Fido Finder
• Online newspapers: pay for lost pet ads or contact newspapers with lost and found dog/cat/pet sections who publish inserts for free

Should someone contact you, claiming they found your pet, confirm it’s indeed your pet (and not just one looking similar), and beware of scams. Ask for details and maybe even photos before you go, then be sure to bring a friend when you pick up your fur baby.

Don't give up

Most lost pets are found within the first twelve hours of them going missing, but don’t give up if your little one is lost for longer. They might be locked in someone’s garage until the people living there return the next day, or have jumped into a neighbour’s window while it was open and are now hiding in their house since the way out is blocked. There are numerous cases of missing dogs and cats who showed up home safe and sound several weeks or even months after they went missing.

Also, keep in mind that not every pet that’s missing is actually lost. Outdoor cats have been known to be gone for several days in a row, especially in summer when it’s nice outside and there are lots of critters to hunt, or they might be going in and out of the house while you’re off to work or asleep without you even noticing. Putting food outside and directing a night-vision surveillance camera at the bowl could help you determine if that’s the case.

Prevention is key

The best way to avoid having to worry about lost pets is by making sure they don’t go missing in the first place.

Be sure to keep doors and windows shut if you would like to keep your pets inside, and also warn visitors that your pet isn’t allowed outside and to be careful when entering/exiting rooms, or when opening windows. If you know your pet loves to roam about a lot, and to enter other people’s gardens, sheds and homes in the process, consider also giving them advance warning that your cat might be visiting them, so they take care not to accidentally lock them in.

You might also want to think about getting a pet tracker for your cat or dog. To learn more about how these trackers work and what the best pet trackers currently on the market are, have a look at our article here.

As a pet owner, having to worry about lost pets is among the worst things that could happen, but don’t think your precious fur baby is gone for good just because they haven’t come home for a while. If you’ve followed all of the steps above, your chances of bringing them back home safely are pretty good. And who knows? Maybe the little sweetie will just show up on their own in a couple hours – healthy, unperturbed and excited to tell you about their latest adventure.

Ask our pet-loving community to help with the search

Did you know that TrustedHousesitters’ pet-loving community has members from all around the globe, most likely also from your area? And if you’re currently looking for a lost pet, we are one hundred per cent sure they’d love to help you find them! Go to our Community Forum for even more help and advice on finding a lost pet, or post your missing pet’s description, name, photos and where you last saw them.