This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

How to Find a Lost Pet

Finding a missing pet includes taking a lot of steps both in physically searching and in getting the word out.

Finding a missing pet

While our first initiative is to panic and run around screaming their name, finding a missing pet includes taking a lot of other steps both in physically searching and in getting the word out the pet is missing to neighbors, local police and agencies and local shelters and veterinary clinics. It may be difficult to sit down and make phone calls and print out a flyer on your computer, but all that effort can only help you find your pet.

Especially pets who have always been indoors are out of their own territory and need to somehow set up new territory while they are frightened, usually hungry, and possibly injured.

Find out what's happening in Chartiers Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, the behavior of lost cats is different from lost dogs—aside from the most outgoing personalities, cats tend to find a spot they deem to be safe and stay there, often not moving except to find a "litter" spot. They'll enter a garage through a broken window pane and stay in there, or crawl under a shed, for instance, and be impossible to see at all if you don't specifically search these places, calmly, quietly, and with a flashlight.

Visit the website for the Missing Pet Partnership, founded by Kat Albrecht, author of the award-winning book, THE LOST PET CHRONICLES: Adventures of a K-9 Cop Turned Pet Detective (Bloomsbury, April 2004) for tips on searching and making contact as well as successful stories that may give you ideas on finding a pet who is lost. I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by Kat at a conference a few years ago, and the information she gives is invaluable and truly fascinating in understanding how cats behave when lost.

Find out what's happening in Chartiers Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This page gives specific information on searching for and successfully finding lost cats: http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-lostcattips.php

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Chartiers Valley