Recently, our cat, Lily didn't come home at night. She had never been out overnight. She's now about a year old. She knows her way around the neighborhood and who the neighborhood bullies are and how to deal with them. But, it was cold out and our last cat had been killed by a raccoon at night. The next morning, I got up at dawn and walked around the neighborhood looking for her. No sign of the princess. My husband made up color flyers and posted them around the neighborhood. We posted photos on Facebook. She has an inbedded microchip that she received when we adopted her from the shelter. We contacted the microchip company and they sent out an alert to local vets and shelters. I went on line to get tips on finding a lost cat. One website that was especially helpful is
http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-lostcat.php . After reading that, we made up calling cards with a color photo of Lily and our contact information. At dusk, we set out to canvass the neighborhood handing out the cards. I felt like I was running a political campaign. At our last stop, our neighbor was just driving in. She looked at the photo and said that she had seen Lily that morning in her garage looking out the window. She opened the garage door and out trots Lily. Lily was hungry & thirsty, but fine. It's not a garage that's used everyday, so Lily could have easily been trapped for several more days, if we hadn't been proactive and searched for her door to door. Lily has received lots of hugs since her adventure.
