This month Dr. Jacqui writes about Lost Cats

When your indoor cat darts out the front door or your outdoor cat fails to return home for dinner, it is a dreadful feeling. Concern about their safety and welfare plagues you until you are reunited. Unfortunately not all lost cats get reunited with their owners. However there are ways to minimize the chances of ever losing a cat and ways to maximize the chances of a successful reunion, if your cat should ever become lost.

Maintain an indoor-only policy for your cat. Indoor only cats have longer life-spans and suffer less injury and disease than their outdoor counterparts. Indoor only cats do need indoor enrichment such as elevated perches and owner initiated play, but with these they can have happy indoor-only lives. Giving your cat periodic access outside may encourage attempts to escape at times that aren't so safe (e.g. nighttime). If you want your cat to have some outdoor access, consider creating a cat proofed yard to contain your cat safely in your yard while allowing it outdoor access. There are commercially available products to help create this option.

Neuter/Spay your cat. By surgically removing their reproductive organs, you reduce the drive for your cat to find a mate and the roaming that accompanies this activity.

Have a current, clear photo of your cat. If your cat ever does become lost, a picture may aid in the reunion. A clear, close up photo of your cat placed on posters is much more helpful than a written description.

Indoor only cats

Create a neutral zone. If your indoor only cat tends to wait for an opportunity to dart out the door, it may be best to create a neutral zone before opening any external doors. The ease of doing this may depend on the floor plan of your home, but if you enter/exit via a mud or laundry room, you simply would close the door to the mud/laundry room, ensuring the cat was not in this area, before opening the door to the outside. Another option would be to put your cat into a bedroom before opening any external doors.

Double check security of all windows/screens. Cats are fairly agile and cat fit through small openings. Make sure that all your windows and screens are secure to prevent a cat from escaping or falling out of a window.

Have your cat wear a collar with identification tags. Ironically, the cats that could probably benefit the most from wearing a collar with identification tags, are the group that is the least likely to have them. Indoor only cats are more likely to get frightened, disoriented and truly lost if they get outside so having a collar with identification is critical for this group of cats. Make sure that you get a cat-safe collar (a collar that will release if it gets caught/snagged on something) to prevent against accidental choking. It may be particularly helpful to identify the indoor only status of your cat on its tag so that if someone finds your cat, they will recognize that it truly is lost and needs help. If there is limited space for information on the tag, consider placing your cat's name, your last name, your phone number and the statement "Indoor-only, Reward" on the identification tag instead of your address, to clarify that this cat needs immediate assistance.

Microchip your cat. In addition to a collar and identification tags, a microchip is indicated for all cats. A microchip is a tiny (size of a grain of rice) device injected under the skin by a veterinarian. This little chip has a unique identification number that can be read by a scanner that is held up next to the cat's skin. If registered in a data base, that unique number will provide the rescue organization/veterinarian with your contact information. Almost all veterinary clinics and rescue groups have scanners and routinely check found animals for this vital piece of information. If you neglect to register or update your information in the database, the microchip may not be helpful, so it is critical that you do this after getting the microchip placed and after any relocation. One of the great benefits of a microchip is that it can't fall off, as a collar may. However, it doesn't replace the need for a collar/ID tag. Instead, the two identification methods compliment each other to provide the greatest chance of a successful reunion.

Cats with outdoor access

If your outdoor cat does not return home one day, the most likely reasons are that it is injured/ill/deceased, it is trapped, or it has found a better place to reside. Cats are naturally inquisitive and may be drawn to sheds or garages when the doors are open, getting trapped when an unaware person closes the door. Your cat may remain trapped until the next time your neighbor accesses that area. So make sure to check with your neighbors and have them open any closed spaces if your cat fails to return home on its usual schedule.

Have your cat wear a collar/identification tag. Cats with outdoor access should wear a collar and identification tag to help people recognize that they are an owned cat. For cats that are allowed outdoor access, the tag information should contain the cat's name, your last name and contact information including phone and address. The address is important here because this may allow someone to identify that your cat has wondered far from home and is in need of help.

Microchip your cat. Consider a microchip for your cats. See above for details.

Keep your cat inside at night. Although traumatic injury and cat altercations can happen at any time, risk escalates when the sun sets. By establishing a routine where your outdoor cat returns home in the evening and is contained inside the home overnight, you reduce risk. An evening routine check-in will also alert you early in the course of a disappearance so that you can pursue reunion tactics.

Finding a lost cat. Various methods may be employed to find a lost cat: posting neighborhood signs, checking animal agencies, posting internet alerts, running newspaper advertisements, alerting veterinary hospitals in your area and canvassing the neighborhood and alerting neighbors.

Most lost cats don't travel great distances so recovery efforts should be concentrated in your neighborhood, making sure to check any dark hiding spots such as crawl spaces or sheds or garages.

When posting a lost pet sign or ad, include identifying information about your cat – gender (including neuter/spay status), coat color, eye color, age, name and any distinguishing features, including collar color/design. A clear color picture can be very helpful. Be sure to include your contact information and date of disappearance.

In one study of 138 lost cats, about half of the cats (53%) were recovered and the average time to recovery was 5 days. Most cats that were recovered returned home on their own (59%). The highest success rate of any search method used was posting neighborhood signs, although even this was not highly successful, only representing 12% of the recovered cats. Only 19% of the cats in this study had some type of identification at the time they were lost. A neutered/spayed cat was more likely to be successfully reunited with its owner than was a sexually intact cat.