If your cat has gone missing, the most useful thing to know is that most lost cats are found close to home, and the owners who find them are usually the ones who go out and look. In the largest study of missing cats, three-quarters were found within 500 metres of where they disappeared, and physically searching the area was what made the biggest difference.
This guide walks you through exactly what to do, in order: where to search, how to search so a frightened cat doesn't stay hidden, who to contact in the UK, how to make a poster that works, and how to avoid the scams that target owners of lost pets. If you want to know how worried to be and how long cats usually stay away, read my cat hasn't come home: when to worry. If your cat lives indoors and has slipped out, our guide to finding a lost indoor cat is the better fit.
Do these first: search your home properly, check your garden and your neighbours' sheds and garages, report your cat missing to their microchip database, and tell your local vets. Everything else builds on those four.
Step 1: Search your home properly
A surprising number of "lost" cats never left the house. Cats squeeze into gaps you wouldn't think possible, and an unwell or frightened cat will stay silent even when you're in the same room. Before you go outside, check:
- Inside wardrobes, drawers and cupboards, including ones you're sure were shut
- Behind and under the washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge and oven
- Inside sofa bases, recliners and under beds with storage
- The loft, the boiler cupboard and any gap behind kitchen units
- Boxes, bags and anything recently delivered or packed
Do it with a torch, and do it slowly. Then check your own shed, garage, car and any outbuildings.
Step 2: Search outside, close to home
Start where your cat was last seen and work outwards in a slowly widening circle. Most cats are found within a few houses, so the first few gardens in every direction matter far more than the next street.
Search low and slowly. Look under decking, sheds, hedges, parked cars, garden furniture covers and wheelie bins. A cat that's hurt or scared hides in the darkest, tightest spot it can find. Shine a torch into gaps: a cat's eyes reflect the light even when you can't see the cat.
Ask to search your neighbours' gardens yourself. This is the step that finds cats, and the one most people skip. Knock on doors, explain, and ask if you can look under their decking and in their shed, garage and greenhouse, or ask them to open those up and check while you're there. A cat shut in an outbuilding is one of the most common reasons an outdoor cat doesn't come home, and Cats Protection says it's particularly common in colder months.
Keep it quiet. Walk slowly, call your cat's name softly, shake a treat box, and then stand still and listen for a minute before moving on. A group of people shouting and walking quickly through gardens keeps a frightened cat pinned in its hiding place.
Go out again at dusk and after dark. A hiding cat is most likely to move or answer when it's quiet. If you only have time for one thorough search, make it the evening one.
Step 3: Use scent and food to draw them back
Cats rely heavily on smell. Put something that smells of home outside your door: your cat's bedding, a blanket they sleep on, or an item of clothing you've worn. Some owners also put strong-smelling food out at dusk, such as tinned fish.
Putting the litter tray outside is common advice but it's debated: it can attract other cats from the neighbourhood, which may put a nervous cat off approaching. Bedding and worn clothing are the safer bet.
If you put food out, a cheap motion-triggered camera pointed at it will tell you whether your cat is visiting, and when, so you know where to focus.
Step 4: Report your cat missing
Do this on the first day, alongside the search. Each of these is a separate place your cat could turn up.
| Who to contact | Why |
|---|---|
| Your cat's microchip database | Mark your cat as missing and check your phone number and address are current. If you don't know which database the chip is on, a free lookup such as Check-a-Chip will tell you. Petlog, Identibase, Animal Tracker and UK PETtrac are among the government-approved databases. |
| Local vet practices | Found and injured cats are usually taken to the nearest vet to be scanned. Call every practice in your area, and visit with a photo if you can. |
| Local rescues and Cats Protection | Your nearest Cats Protection branch and local rescues may be told about, or take in, a cat matching yours. |
| Your local council | Ask whether any cats have been reported injured or found on the roads. It's a hard call to make, but it can end days of uncertainty. |
| Your neighbours, online | Local Facebook lost-pet groups, Nextdoor and a community lost-pet alert reach people nearby who may have seen your cat or taken it in. |
Can you find a lost cat with its microchip?
Not directly. A microchip isn't a tracker: it has no battery and no GPS, and it can't tell you where your cat is. It only works once someone has your cat and takes it to be scanned, usually at a vet or rescue. At that point, the number on the chip leads to your details on the database.
That makes two things important when your cat is missing. First, report them as missing on the database, so anyone who scans the chip knows to contact you. Second, make sure the details on it are current: a chip that leads to an old phone number is almost as bad as no chip at all. If you want to be able to see where your cat is, that's what a GPS tracker does.
Step 5: Make a poster that people actually read
Most lost-cat posters are glanced at from a car or across the road, so they need to work in a couple of seconds.
- "LOST CAT" in the largest letters that fit, at the top.
- One clear, recent photo, as big as you can make it. A photo that shows your cat's colouring matters more than a cute one.
- A short description: colour, markings, size, and the area and date they went missing.
- Your phone number, large. Add "please check your shed and garage".
- Keep one detail back, such as a distinctive marking or a quirk. It helps you tell a genuine sighting from a scam.
Print on brightly coloured paper, put them through letterboxes in the streets around you rather than only on lamp posts, and leave copies at local vets, shops and noticeboards.
Step 6: Watch out for lost-pet scams
Unfortunately, a lost-pet post is also a target. The common ones:
- "I've found your cat, send money first." Someone claims to have your cat and asks for a payment for transport, a vet bill or the reward before you see it. Never pay before you've seen your cat in person. Ask for a photo that only someone with your cat could take, or ask about the detail you kept off the poster.
- Fake microchip messages. Texts or emails claiming your cat's microchip registration has "expired" and needs paying for. Trading Standards has warned about unapproved databases that take a fee but leave your cat effectively unregistered. Contact your database directly using its official website, and forward scam texts to 7726.
- Meeting safely. If someone says they have your cat, arrange to meet in a public place or at a vet practice, and take someone with you.
Step 7: Keep going
If your cat isn't back in the first day or two, don't stop - change the approach. Repeat the neighbour checks, because a trapped cat doesn't always respond the first time. Widen the area you search and leaflet. Visit rescues to look at the cats in person, as descriptions get mixed up. If a camera shows your cat visiting but you can't get near it, local rescues will often lend a humane trap.
The first week is when most lost cats are found alive, but reunions still happen weeks and months later, usually through a microchip scan. Our guide to what to do when your cat hasn't come home covers what to do at each stage, and when to scale the search down.
When you find them
Bring your cat inside, offer water and a little food, and give them a quiet room to settle in. If they've been gone more than a day or two, or seem thin, lame, quiet or off their food, book a vet check. Then let everyone you contacted know your cat is home, and update the microchip database so they're no longer listed as missing.
Making it easier next time
Most lost cats are found by a person, not a system: a neighbour who opens their garage, or someone who thinks your cat is a stray and takes it in. What decides how quickly you get the call is whether that person can reach you straight away. A microchip helps once your cat gets to a vet. Visible ID helps immediately.
If your cat wears a collar, always use a quick-release (breakaway) one. A lightweight QR pet tag lets anyone who finds your cat scan it with their phone and contact you instantly, and you can update your details whenever they change. Cats are surprisingly good at finding their way home within their own territory, as we explain in do cats find their way home?, but a tag means they don't have to.
Sources
- Huang L, Coradini M, Rand J, et al. (2018). Search methods used to locate missing cats and locations where missing cats are found. Animals, 8(1), 5.
- Cats Protection: Lost cat advice.
- Missing Animal Response Network: Lost cat behavior.