Call the shelter or foster now, search within 150 feet of the door, and do not count on your voice: this cat does not know you or your home yet.
Call the shelter or foster, then search close
Phone the shelter, rescue or foster within the hour, then search very close to the door your cat left by. Those two steps come first because the foster knows this cat better than you do, and because a new cat has no reason to think your house is home. It is probably hiding nearby. In a survey of 1,210 missing cats, indoor-only cats found alive were a median of 39 meters from where they got out, about 130 feet, and 75 percent were within 137 meters, about 450 feet. Newly adopted cats were not studied separately, so nobody can say whether they do better or worse. Treat the first 150 feet as your whole search area for the first day, and look under every deck, shrub and parked car.
What to ask the shelter or foster
Most of what you need sits with them, so ask these questions while you are on the phone. What does she eat, and what treat does she come out for? Does she answer to a name, a bag rustle or a can opening? How did she act when she was scared? Was she ever outdoors, and was she caught as a stray? Do you have more photos, including her other side? Is she microchipped, what is the number, and whose name is on it? Do you have a trap, and a volunteer who knows how to use it? Could the foster come over? A foster’s voice and smell may mean more to the cat than yours do, and they have probably caught a scared cat before.
Fix the chip record today
Chips from shelters and rescues may still be registered to the organization, or may not be registered at all. Get the number and put it into the AAHA lookup, which shows which registry holds a 9, 10 or 15 digit chip, then call that registry and put your name and number on it. If you cannot change it today, ask the rescue to mark the cat as lost and to pass any call straight to you. A study of microchipped animals in shelters found that 17 percent of strays whose owners could not be located were registered to another group, and many others had a bad phone number. Read your adoption contract as well. It may say what you must do if the cat is lost, and whom you must tell.
Why calling her name may not work
A cat you have had for three days does not know your voice as a signal of safety. Kat Albrecht, a lost-pet practitioner, says frightened cats hide in silence and will not meow, and Humane World for Animals treats hiding as a sign of stress in a new cat. Its advice for bringing a new cat into a home with other cats is to start in one room until she is confidently exploring, and the whole process can take days, weeks or months. So a cat that got out in that first stage may have little idea of where your door is. Walk slowly at dusk, or after dark with a flashlight, and look for eye shine under things. Sit quietly by the most likely hiding spots with food. Calling loudly up and down the street mostly tells you that you tried.
If she came from nearby
International Cat Care advises owners who have moved a short distance to keep cats in for as long as they can, since they may try to return to the old home. If your new cat came from a foster home or a colony a mile or two away, take that seriously. Tell the foster. Put a few flyers around that address, and ask the people who live near it to check sheds and under porches. If she was trapped as a stray, ask for the exact location and leave a flyer with whoever fed her. If she came from a shelter across town, there is no known route she could take, so stay near your own door.
A poster for a cat you barely know
You may have only two photos and no list of habits, and that is fine. Use the shelter’s listing photo if it is the clearest, and ask for more. Do not write a personality you have not seen. Say what is true and useful: Adopted last week. Shy, may run from people. Do not chase, call me. Include her color, any tipped ear, her size and whether she is wearing a collar. Do not give the name as if she will come to it. A neighbor who sees a thin stranger under the porch should know it is a pet. Humane World also suggests telling anyone who feeds outdoor cats nearby, as they may spot a newcomer first.
Bring in a trap early
With a cat that has no bond with you, a humane trap may be the realistic way to get her back, because she may never walk up to you. Albrecht calls trapping the recommended method for skittish cats. Ask the rescue whether it can lend you a trap and show you how to use it. Put a motion camera on the food first, as Humane World suggests, so you know she is the one eating. Our post on how to use a humane trap to catch a lost cat explains the setup. Once she is back, go to one closed room and start over, with a second door between that room and the outside.
Sources
Huang et al., Animals, 2018: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5789300. AAHA microchip lookup: aaha.org/petmicrochiplookup. Lord et al., JAVMA, 2009: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19601734. Missing Animal Response: missinganimalresponse.com/lost-cat-behavior. Humane World for Animals, introducing a new cat: humaneworld.org/en/resources/how-introduce-your-new-cat-resident-cats. Humane World for Animals, finding a lost cat: humaneworld.org/resources/how-find-lost-cat. International Cat Care: icatcare.org/articles/moving-house-with-your-cat.