My cat didn’t come home last night: what to do this morning
Check your own garage and shed, ask the nearest neighbors to open theirs, then call vets and the shelter before noon. Do not wait days.
This morning, in this order
If your cat stayed out all night and has not shown up for breakfast, spend the next few hours on three jobs. First, check every closed space on your own property. Second, ask the neighbors on each side and behind you to open their garages and sheds. Third, call nearby vets, your shelter and your microchip company before noon. One missed night does not tell you what happened. We could not find a study that says how many nights out is normal for a cat, and your cat’s own habits are the better guide. A cat that never misses breakfast deserves action today. These steps take a morning and cost nothing, so there is no reason to wait and see.
Your own property comes first
Think back over the last 24 hours and list every door that opened. That means the garage, the shed, the basement, the car, the trunk and the crawl space hatch. Open each one, stay still for a minute and listen. Then go to the spot where you usually feed your cat and do the normal routine at the normal time, with the same bowl and the same sound. In a study of 1,210 missing cats, 19 percent of the outdoor finds were cats waiting outside the home, and 4 percent of all cats found alive were inside their own house. Ask everyone in the household when they last saw the cat, and write it down. That time will be the first thing every shelter and neighbor asks you.
What to say to the neighbors
Go to the doors today, not next week. Eleven percent of the cats found alive in that study were inside someone else’s house, and curious cats were more likely to end up there. Keep the request short and specific: Hi, I’m Dana from the gray house. Our orange cat Milo didn’t come home last night. Did you open your garage or shed yesterday? Could you look inside this morning? And would you check your door camera for last evening? Show a photo on your phone. Ask whether anyone has been feeding him or has let him in before, since many outdoor cats have a second stop you do not know about. If nobody answers, leave a note at the door and keep a list of houses you still need to reach.
The calls to make before noon
Call the vets closest to you first, including the nearest emergency clinic, because a person who finds a hurt cat may take it to the nearest place that is open. Then call your city or county shelter and animal control. Say: I’m reporting a missing cat. Male, orange tabby, neutered, blue collar, microchipped, last seen last night near Oak and 5th. Do you have a cat like this, and how do I file a lost report? Then call the microchip company and mark the cat as lost. If you do not know which company holds the chip, the AAHA lookup can show the registry if you have the number. In a Dayton, Ohio study, cat owners waited about 3 days to contact a shelter, while dog owners waited about 1. Being early costs you one phone call.
Walk the routes your cat actually uses
An indoor cat that slips out is usually in one small area. Your cat is different, because it has a routine. In the same study, cats allowed outside unsupervised were found a median of about 1,000 feet from home, and three quarters were within about a mile. So walk the fence lines, the back alley, the neighbor’s porch and any other place you have seen your cat go. Use a flashlight even in daylight, and look under decks, sheds and parked cars. Check the edge of the nearest busy road as well, so that you have looked. Move slowly, stop often and call in your normal voice. Cats allowed out are often used to being called in, so the sound you use at dinner time is worth using now.
Set the house up for a return
The most likely good ending may be the simplest one. In a national ASPCA survey, 59 percent of the lost cats that were recovered came home on their own. So make sure someone would notice. Try to have a person at home around your cat’s usual return times, especially at dusk and early morning. Leave any cat flap working. Put down a small meal at the usual time and take it up after an hour so it does not draw raccoons. If you own a door camera or a cheap motion camera, point it at the spot where your cat comes in. Do not move your cat’s bed or wash its blanket, because familiar things are worth keeping exactly as they are today.
If there is still no cat by tonight
Treat tonight as the start of a proper search. Print flyers and take them to the 20 or so houses nearest you, and hand them over in person where you can. Our free poster tool will make a PDF and post text in a couple of minutes, with no signup. Post in your neighborhood group with a clear photo, the cross streets and your phone number, and keep one identifying detail to yourself so you can test anyone who calls. Then go out again after the street gets quiet. See our posts on how to find a lost cat at night and how to post a lost pet on Facebook and Nextdoor. Tomorrow, repeat the door checks at the houses you missed today.
Sources
Huang et al., Animals, 2018: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5789300. Weiss, Slater and Lord, Animals, 2012: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4494319. Lost-pet recovery in Dayton, Ohio: news.osu.edu/lost-dogs-found-more-often-than-lost-cats-study-suggests. AAHA Universal Pet Microchip Lookup: aaha.org/petmicrochiplookup.