How to FIND YOUR LOST CAT OUTSIDE: Found My Cat in 3 Days (living in an apartment near the woods)

Last month, my cat Melvin went missing for 3 whole days. We live in a condo apartment building so we couldn’t really just leave the door open for him to come back. We also live near a forested area so it was incredibly difficult to search for our lost cat. We tried several tactics which I share in this video, and you’ll learn how we finally got our missing sweet little cat Melvin back!


If you’re looking for your lost cat, your missing pet, or just curious how you can search for a cat, then I hope this video is useful to you!

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:33 How and where I lost my cat
2:20 Tip #1
2:39 Tip #2
3:12 Tip #3
3:50 Tip #4
4:45 Tip #5
5:59 Tip #6
7:00 Tip #7
9:20 Tip #8
10:18 Tip #9
12:16 Finally found him 😸

FREE RESOURCES:

TECH EQUIPMENT

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[DinaLu]

Were these tips heplful? Have you lost your cat and how did you find him/her? ❤️️

[lowrilove]

Commenting because this video gave me comfort when my cat Rusty was missing and I was distraught. Seeing other people’s cats come home made me feel SO much better. And soon enough, he came back home! Hope this comment gives worried owners some extra hope and encouragement.

[artsbysonia.y]

I lost my cat once 2 years ago but thanks god I could find him finally. I know how it feels when losing cats, it is so worried and depressed! I remember my mum and I walked through the village and kept trying to call his name, but still couldn't find him. Until few hours later, I tried to find him again but I was quite sad about losing him, when I called his name again I heard 'Meow~' he was responding! I found out he was in my neighbour's garden and look so scared.

[XenaWarrior-xqsu]

I lost my cat for 2 weeks. I finally found him two houses away at 3 am. He was just out looking for food long after all people went to bed. He cried and ate for like an hour, he was so happy. He was untouched, just skinny. Definitely, look for your cat late at night. Scared cats are really good at hiding for a long long time but eventually they will come out to look for food when they think it’s safe

[topworld]

Your video gives me hope. I’ve lost my cat three days ago and it sucks living without him. I hope I could come back to an edit that I found my cat🥺

[MimiS]

Posters definitely help, and putting the posters through peoples letter box is even better! That’s how I got my cat back after 8 days

[juliewang]

My friend lost 2 cats that she was fostering, and I had no idea how to help her find them. I was literally shaking the treats outside until Dina told me that’ll just scare them more. Thanks to Dina’s tips, both of them came home - one after 4 hours, and the other one after 15 hours. We used the cat attracting sounds and got a cat trap. ❤️

[cy]

Thank you so much for this video, my screen door broke and my two foster cats got out!! I was so scared and frantic but I called my friends and she actually recommended this video to me. The cat sounds helped and one of them actually came back immediately after 2 minutes of playing the sounds T___T. The other cat took another like 15 hours but eventually he came home. Anyways thank you for your video!!! ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️

[therealnefali]

I lost my new kitten three days ago and still haven’t found her :(( It’s so so stressful and hard to sleep at night, thank you for the tips Dina 🥺💕
It’s also hard to look for her because my parents don’t care that she is gone and said we can just replace her since there are always other cats, but I would never replace her 😭

[laiba]

I am living in a village too. Reading the comments and your video gave me so much hope. It's day 2 without her and I've been crying since yesterday morning imagining my life without her is nothing. Can't work. Can't sleep. There are alot of places she can get lost here and many dogs too i think they scared it off and now we can find her nowhere. Looking for a dog that can sniff and tell where did she run to as I can't find a pet detective here. Your video really helped so much I'll come to edit my comment soon hope so.

[rangtajha]

Lucky you!!!! I am looking for him since last two months. No sign of his presence. I wish such services were available in my country. Still I will keep waiting for him. Thanks for sharing.

[panko_vt]

Your story is just like mine. Taking my cat for a walk and he escaped his harness and ran into a forested brambly area behind my apartment. I've done EVERYTHING. It's been 4 days. I have to keep going but I'm so broken. I feel like I'm going through every every stage of grief simultaneously every hour of every day. Please pray for my baby.

[rvzyxx]

i lost may cat 2 days ago, i haven't seen him in so long i litterly cant eat/ sleep. he's an indoor cat and look multiple times during the day and night, put posters up and just praying he's still around. my cat is neautred male and very scared so i don't know if he'll come out of hiding cos he's too scared. Hopefully I find him soon.

[christineribone]

LOST CAT - missing since 9-6-23, microchip on left shoulder.
Solid grey, straight tail, 10 lb. 5 yr. old, neurted male, black nose & paw pads. Shy but friendly. ABQ, NM North valley.

[michellebarclay]

You are so funny! Thank you for sharing this video.

[SonnyL]

Glad you we're able to find your cat! ❤

[marya]

This was a very good video and kind of her to share. The "up talk" was difficult to listen to. As a public service I'd like to add: Cats escape to the outdoors. Sometimes it can't be helped. BUT for those of you who choose to let your cats out to roam, what are you thinking? This puts the cat's life at risk - getting hit by car, running into a mean person, being poisoned, or getting lost. I could never forgive myself for such irresponsibility toward the safety of my cat. And to allow an unfixed cat outside to roam is simply unforgivable.

[loskrem]

I went on holiday five days ago and gave my cat to my friend who lives in a different part of town to look after him for my holiday (he was ecstatic and really happy to do it). Two hours later and hours before my flight, he messaged me saying my cat jumped out of the window and ran away.
I returned last night and went to go look for him, found nothing. Ruined my trip and now ended up with a lost cat. I cried so much and miss him so much..

[mayaarbach]

Thank you for this video. Our cat has been missing for 11 days now. I really wanted to use Pet Searchers but I contacted and they don't operate in Ottawa (no such service there). I just ordered 2 cat traps. Your video gave me hope that the traps may work

[cjreplay]

I lost my cat April 16th, 2023 in a very similar way to how you lost your cat.

I lived in an apartment and was harness/leash walking my indoor only cat. He escaped and I tried to run after him, but he also ran into a wooded area right by my apartments. The only difference in how they got lost is that my cat actually wriggled out of his harness and leash before running away. My girlfriend and I also looked immediately for him for hours and also put out his litter box (before realizing we shouldn't have). We also notified our neighbors with signs. Ours was also a stray (technically feral at the time) when we got him. We also bought flashlights to search at night. We've also only taken him outside a few times (this was his 3rd time). I also found my cat in a tree, but similar to you, he was too high and I couldn't climb the tree, so just as you did, I turned off my flashlight and sat in silence waiting for him. Unfortunately, just like your cat, he left the tree and ran away again. I also came to the same conclusion your boyfriend did that I should've used a longer leash, but for a different reason (the short leash was partially how he escaped). We also did called a local pet detective to come out and help find our cat. We also put out cat traps and cameras, but we did this on our own and not with the cat detective. The cat detective did bring 2 dogs (one was a hound) to search the area just as your detective did.

Unfortunately, despite all our efforts so far, as of May 9th, 2023 (24 days since), we haven't seen him since the day he was missing. We've spent at least $1, 000-2, 000 trying to find him so far (traps, wildlife cameras, pet detective, signs and materials, flashlights, online advertisements, etc) with no luck. The local animal shelters won't help, nor will the local animal agencies/animal control. We've checked local shelters in case he was brought in, checked online listings for found cats or cats to get adopted, posted him on all the local missing websites, facebook groups, nextdoor, etc. Every neighbor in our apartment got a missing sign with his picture and our number. We posted signs on nearby poles and areas close by. We called the city for permission to search at a nearby water tower (which they let us) and to search inside storm drains (which they didn't let us, but we did it anyways). We asked neighbors if we could search their properties (Everyone allowed us to, until one got mad and said no more). Some people in my family and my girlfriends family have lended us money or tried to come out 1-2 hours away to help. We've put out traps with his favorite smelly foods with one of the traps covered (Except the door) with his favorite blanket that smells like him. We even put out a reward for trapping him and a reward for just taking a photo of him and telling us where you found him. In this whole process, we've found many cats and kittens, but not our cat.


He means so much to us, is our child, and we are heartbroken, but we aren't giving up. I will come back to this and update this comment if we do end up finding him, but I'm losing hope that I will need to do that anyways.