Hello everyone,
It’s one of every pet lover’s worst-case scenarios: a pet goes missing, and I know we’ve seen a few posts on the Forum about the subject.
I thought it might be helpful to share tips on what to do if a pet goes missing. It’s a scenario many of us think about but hope never happens… but if it did, how would you respond?
Whether you’ve dealt with this before or have a plan in mind, sharing your experience in a reply might make a big difference to someone else!
Jenny
Ask the host if it’s happened before , how long do they usually go for and where was the pet eventually found ?
They may have “usual” hiding places that you can check .
We always discuss this during handover for sits with cats that are free to go outdoors .
With a cat that ran out while I was taking the dog out, I laid out a little line of treats to test whether he was still nearby. The treats disappeared, so I just waited till his lunchtime (which was soon) and called out while shaking his dish of kibble. The little guy came dashing back in. It probably helped that he was food motivated, which I had discussed with the hosts about the possibility of the cats escaping, which had happened before. After my first experience with that happening, I squeezed the dog and myself out and back in each time.
In another instance, the indoor/outdoor cat was chased off by the dog on our last trip outdoors for the night. I woke every couple of hours to open the door and call the cat back in, because it was a chilly night. No luck. Then at dawn, I went and checked again and she was moseying her way up the walkway. Sigh.
Depending on how or where a pet went missing, I might lay out their humans’ clothing for scenting purposes. You’re not supposed to leave say a dish of food out, because of raccoons, predators, etc., if applicable.
In the case of the indoor/outdoor cat above, I had asked where her hiding places were and the hosts said they’d never figured them all out (even after seven years).
I might ask neighbors for insights or help looking.
I recently bought a QR code tag for my own dog, sold by Ring. It includes the ability to input the pet’s description, photos and such ahead of time, so you can instantly blast among Ring subscribers in the vicinity if your pet goes astray. I might get one for sits as well, because you can easily update all info and it’s probably the quickest way to get word out, even if you don’t know anyone in the neighborhood. (This assumes that there are Ring users nearby.)
BTW, where I live, there are community and pet-advocacy groups on social media where you can blast info about missing or found pets. I figure such groups exist for many communities, so maybe I’d leverage those, too. The problem is, some groups require moderation periods before you can join and sometimes before you can start posting. With a missing pet, I’d worry about delays, especially if you’re in a heavily trafficked area and/or somewhere with predators, like coyotes.
Next door is an option to get local coverage quickly. One village I worked in had a WhatsApp group so I was introduced as the sitter and no one thought I was a dog napper!
We had a black cat go missing food was eaten by the other one ! But I finally mentioned I hadn’t seen it recently.. transpired it didn’t like strangers( me) so had taken off to a second home with a kindly lady looking after him. Address? Witches’ Wood Avenue!
It was an old haunt.
The owner retrieved it on her return! Phew!
One of my questions is - if I can’t find your pet where are their hiding places? In one case the cat would get underneath the patio decking …
Hi @Jenny
If it happened to us, we’d do a few things straight away:
• Do a calm but thorough search of the house and immediate area first (pets often hide close by when stressed).
• Let the homeowner and neighbours know immediately, with a clear description and a recent photo.
• Contact local vets, shelters, and animal control as soon as possible.
• Post in local Facebook groups and community boards — these are often the fastest way pets are found.
• Leave familiar items (bed, blanket, worn clothing) near the home to help them find their way back.
• Keep checking back regularly — persistence really matters.
Hopefully it never happens, but having a simple plan helps keep panic in check if it does.
What a great check list !
Cats are a law unto themselves!
Dogs I don’t let off the lead! Minimum risks. Check garden is dog proof, for sure!
Our cats have AirTags. The cats are indoors only but the tags are still useful in tracking down a cat for a run to the vet or if they’ve gone unseen longer than usual. If they do get out and are hiding nearby, real time tracking is possible. Otherwise, the “last seen” updates are better than nothing.
Newer real-time GPS trackers are small, cheap and last up to 6 months. They could be even more effective.
We had this happen once and only became aware because of our RING doorbell (the sitter came out countless times after midnight calling for the cat.)
I would expect the sitter to contact us immediately (this one did not) and work with us on a plan. In our case, we reached out, wrote a Facebook post for our local community and suggested she open the garage door and place food there, since our cat hangs out occasionally there during the day.
The plan worked. She was missing for 2.5 days and finally came home tired and hungry at 2 am. She was filthy, but we were relieved to get her home.
Bottom line: The sitter should contact the Owner ASAP if an animal goes missing, since the Owner will have the best intuition about how to get them to return home.
I carry Airtags to my sits; one for each pet & an extra for the owner’s keys. (Long story on another thread about how useful this was on one sit!)
I also try to “condition” the pets by singing “Din-din…!” whenever I feed them. Depends on the pet & my length of stay whether they really pick up on this, but it’s something I can do proactively. I always it that with my own pets at home…you can feel the earth shake from the stampede to get back to the house, whenever they hear me sing it. 
I do the same thing with feeding, except I say, “Yum, yum, yum!”
And my dog has been obsessed with these dehydrated chicken chips as treats, so I taught him, “Chip, chip,” and he’d run from the ends of the Earth for them.
I first tried out those chips on a sit dog (with his humans’ approval) and he acted as if they were crack. I just shook the bag and he’d come in from the yard every time, even though he’d resist otherwise normally, sitting in the drizzle sometimes and drinking from puddles.
We call them “chippies” and my cattle dog wakes up from a dead sleep if she hears me say it! It’s the only treat she begs for…
IMPORTANCE OF MICRO-CHIPPING
This is a not THS related but certainly worth sharing. My sister’s cat, Eight-Ball (named because he looks like the 8-ball in a game of pool/snooker), went missing in July of last year. She got a call in December, just days before Christmas, from an animal shelter about an hour away from her home saying someone had turned in her cat. She immediately went to get him and brought him home. Eight-Ball was thin but otherwise acting like nothing had ever happened. Everyone was so happy to have him back home, even the other pets. It’s a sad-happy-sad story though. Eight-Ball arrived home but passed away a week later. My sister and her family are sad again but glad he was happy in his warm home when he passed.
MAKE SURE YOUR PETS ARE MICRO-CHIPPED.
