The numbers shown are for the Chesterfield area only however, the advice does give you an idea of what to do in any area using different numbers. e.g for Ashfield & Amber Valley Cats Protection deal with  Bolsover, Alfreton & Ripley ring 01773 784177.

IF YOU LOSE A CAT
 

Check that they haven't been shut in a neighbours shed, garage, greenhouse or a nearby empty building. Speak to people who are ‘out and about’ in your local area  - mail person, milk deliverer, and newspaper deliverer etc. Ring our lost and found 01246 451786 & the RSPCA 01246 273358 Contact all vets in the area The Chesterfield Vets are: - Carrick 01246 273292, Chapel House 222232, Charlesworth  862266, Companion Care 557555, Spire 455333 & Vets 4 Pets 269666. . Register lost  cats at all vets/catteries/rescue homes within a 20 mile radius.  Follow the link and click on the map to find rescues in your area http://www.catchat.org/adoption/index.html 

Leave food  and a toy  outside. &  an unwashed item of your clothing

Put the contents of your hoover bag on your garden - it’s full of smells that they will recognise and if doesn’t bring the cat  directly to your door will at least hopefully keep the cat in the area. Alternatively if you have a litter tray that has used put some of the used litter on the garden as this will have familiar smells in it.

Go out after dark when it is quieter with a friend / partner and walk round the local area gently calling every so often (give him a chance to answer you). Keep talking as you walk round that way if he is in the area he will hear you.

Produce 6 - 8 small adverts on an A4 sheet, print several and put them through doors in at least a 200-yard radius of your home 100’s if necessary. Knock on doors and ask neighbours to check their sheds and garages WHILE YOU WAIT … it's surprising how many people say they will check but as soon as the door is closed they forget.   Place and advert in the Derbyshire Times and the Chesterfield Advertiser, someone advertised for 9 consecutive weeks then got the cat back, another person advertised for over a year at a vets and was eventually reunited with her much loved cat, so please don’t give up. Make some A4 posters to cover in plastic or laminate and tape to lamp posts bus stops etc. in your local area. Place card ads in your local shops (someone kept an advert in a shop for 6 months then got the cat back)   (When you place adverts if the cat had a collar on please don’t put is wearing red or whatever collar, put may be wearing a ??? collar, as a collar can easily be lost and someone may have seen the cat but because it now has no collar not put 2 & 2 together).Contact the local radio station and ask if the will put an appeal out and to get the horrible bit out of the way phone the local cleansing department. The sooner you start advertising the better the chance of getting your cat back. We would advise that if your cat has been missing a day or two and you then get it back that you keep it in for a while to resettle. Also please advise all those who took note of its disappearance of its return and remove all posters.

Also contact PET SEARCH UK 01246 629873

If you have internet access or perhaps a friend can do it for you I suggest you also post the details on Pet Finder Online Admin

IF YOU FIND A CAT
If you have a cat living with you and think is either lost, abandoned, the owner has moved and left it behind, or appears to be just roaming around (sadly all too common and to think the cats/s was the result of someone’s so called good home, or you know of anyone else with such a cat  DO NOT ASSUME IT HAS NO OWNER (OR ASSUME IT HAS), PLEASE REPORT IT TO US IMMEDIATELY EVEN IF IT LOOKS IN PERFECT HEALTH, PLEASE THINK HOW YOU WOULD FEEL IF YOU LOST YOUR CAT AND SOMEONE DID NOT BOTHER TO REPORT IT  It may simply be lost and could have been lost months previously. It is not unknown for cats to get into cars, removal vans, and so on, and be transported miles from their homes. We have hundreds of lost cats on our Lost and Found Register and the number increases on a daily basis.  Most of the cats who go missing must be out there somewhere and, although we do manage to reunite quite a few with their owners, most of them are taken in or being fed by well meaning people, but are never actually reported., depending on the condition of the cat and the safety of the location we can decide what course of action to take to ensure the cat receives all the help it needs.  E.G. if the cat is well please ring our lost & found 01246 451786, take the cat to a vet to see if has been micro chipped, alternatively if you live near some of our fosterers (5 have microchip readers) they will do it for you. If there is no record perhaps you could on a long thin piece of paper write do I belong to you and your telephone number then attach the paper to a cat collar by wrapping sellotape round and round then put the collar on the cat if after 3 days you have received no reply take the collar off as they are considered dangerous and many cats have lost their life to them, ring us and we will put the cat on the list waiting to come in. If you ring Elaine 01246 270056  or go into our shop in Town we  will supply you with a paper collar which is very safe.  PLEASE OFFER THE CAT SHELTER &  FEED IT, I KNOW SOME ORGANIZATIONS SAY DON'T AND THEY IT WILL MOVE ON, HOWEVER IN OUR VIEW THAT IS CALLOUS, I AM SURE IF YOU LOST A PET IT WOULD BE NICE TO THINK SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE WAS CARING FOR IT. ALSO THE CAT HAS A GREATER CHANCE OF FINDING ITS OWNER  OR COMING INTO CARE AS IT IS NOT ROAMING FROM STREET TO STREET LOOKING FOR ITS NEXT MEAL AND ENDANGERING ITS LIFE. We also suggest that you ring the Cats Protection Headquarters shelter in Derby  01332 824950  between 11 am & 3 pm   any day and put the cat/s on their list of cats waiting to come in, as a shelter they usually home much quicker than us therefore spaces become available more frequently.  If the cat appears below par PLEASE  contact us immediately and we will pay for the cat to be seen by a vet and if possible bring the cat in.

So many people place a notice in a shop saying ‘FOUND’ etc, please remember that if the cat is going home even if only once a week as far as the owner is concerned they have not lost it so may not realise you are talking about their cat.

IF THE CAT IS TIMID AND YOU CANNOT CATCH IT WE HAVE TRAPS, AT LEAST THEN THE LITTLE ONE CAN BE TAKEN TO THE VETS TO SCAN, HAVE A MOT, FLEA AND WORM TREATMENT ETC.

Also contact PET SEARCH UK 01246 629873

If you have internet access or perhaps a friend can do it for you I suggest you also post the details on Pet Finder Online Admin

Some of you will already know how distressing it is to lose a cat, and others can imagine. There is nothing worse than not knowing what has happened to your pet - the imagination works over-time. How would you feel if someone in the next village, or on the next estate, found your cat, and kept it without ever reporting it?

If the cat is a garden cat, timid or feral please ring us immediately and we will arrange for it to be trapped, neutered/spayed, have an MOT, flea & worm treatment we will then if at all possible return it to site if arrangements can be made for feeding etc we will try to find it a new home if necessary. Please be aware that the traps do not harm the cats in any way, far better to trap than leave it weeks/months and the cat get no vet attention. You are doing a cat no favours just leaving it until the time you hope it will be handleable. also such cats once trapped and contained often become handleable very quickly.

PLEASE DON’T LEAVE IT UNTIL IT IS PREGNANT/ILL/INJURED OR YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE FED IT LONG ENOUGH BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE ANY ACTION, BECAUSE WE ALWAYS HAVE  A LOT OF CATS WAITING TO COME IN.