My animal is missing
First - what to do right now. Then, if you need it, we will open a search: a page you can send to a neighbourhood chat, and a poster to print.
The first twenty minutes
Most animals are found close to home and in the first few hours. Do not spend those on notices.
- Walk the house and the yard with a torch: a frightened cat is usually two or three metres up, or under a car, not far away.
- Call in your ordinary voice and then listen. A frightened animal does not come to a shout - it freezes.
- Ask the neighbours now, while they still remember today.
- Ring the nearest vets and shelters: that is where found animals are taken first.
- Leave something of yours by the door - a bed, a worn shirt. Smell works better than food.
- And only now, the notice. It is how the people who have already seen your animal find you.