If you have lost your cat, you will need to do the following as quickly as possible:

Establish that your cat is lost by checking your home and garden thoroughly.

Speak to your neighbours asking them to check their property, garden, shed and garage. Don’t forget to include neighbours whose gardens back on to your property.

If your cat is still missing you will need to initiate the following steps:

1. Contact all of the following:

~ If you live in Enfield or it’s surrounding areas, please ring our Lost and Found department on 020 8366 3313
~ If you live outside our area, your nearest RSPCA centre can be found by click here
~ RSPCA National Call Centre - 0300 1234 999
~ RSPCA Harmsworth Hospital - 0870 90 85 312
~ All your local vets - a list of these can be found by clicking local vets
~ All your local rescue centres - a list of these can be found at catchat.org
~ PetLog on 0870 606 6751 - if your pet is microchipped
~ Your Insurance Company - some make provision for reward and advertising costs
~ Your Animal Welfare Officer & Cleansing Dept at your Local Council - Enfield Coucil 020 8379 1000

2. Produce posters and leaflets, using the following tips as a guide:

1. At the top of the page write ‘Reward Offered’ in big letters - people will assume that it is money
but it doesn’t have to be i.e. it could be a box of chocolates

2. State the date he/she went missing and the name of your road (not your door number)

3. Add a clear photograph. If you haven’t got a photo, a brief description should be displayed. When writing this think of the way other people would view your cat. i.e. a clearer description of  a persian is long-haired or fluffy

4. Make sure you add the temperament of the missing cat i.e. friendly or nervous

5. Add your contact details - be careful of hoax callers so do not let children answer the phone

6. Lastly, add ‘Please check your shed and garage’ at the bottom of the page

7. For full effect, produce a smaller copy of your poster to make a leaflet which can be put through letter boxes

3. You will now need to distribute your leaflets and posters:

1. Your cat could be missing in any direction from your home. You therefore need to imagine your home as the centre of a dartboard and so when you distribute your leaflets and posters, you will need to work in increasing circles away from the centre

2. Please get permission to display your posters - otherwise you could be in trouble for ‘fly postering’

3. When postering/leafleting make sure you talk to people along the way - especially those who have animals. Also talk to delivery people or people walking dogs, mums pushing prams, kids on bikes

4. It is also worthwhile asking ‘Do you know anyone who tends to feed the stray cats and foxes?’. Do your best to tap into this source as these people know lots of other animals people

5. When distributing, if you reach a park or open area you will need to look at the parameters of this area and poster the roads on each side. i.e. if you cat got into the park where could it come out for food

6. Display your posters where there is a lot of ‘people traffic’. i.e. outside Drs surgeries, newsagents, schools, bus stops etc.

7. Look out for building works or vacant properties - could your cat have wandered in?

4. If your cat is missing longer than a week:

1. Telephone all the contact numbers again stating that your cat is still missing - for maximum effect do this on a weekly basis

2. Extend your search area using leaflets and posters

3. You may wish to consider taking an advert out in the local newspaper or speaking to your local newsagent to see if you can pay him/her to add your leaflet to their paper delivery

5. When you find your cat:

1. Telephone all contacts with the good news so your cat can be taken off the ‘missing’ lists

2. Depending on the condition of your cat it might be beneficial to take him/her for a ‘check up’ at your vets

3. Keep him/her in for a period of time depending on length of time missing. i.e. if missing for a few days best to keep in a week

4. Get your cat microchipped! This could avoid most of the time and energy taken to look for him/her if he/she goes missing again. i.e. if an Inspector had found your cat she/he would have scanned the animal and would then be calling you

5. Take your posters down!

Branch Trustees
Hon. Chairman - Sarah Jones,   Hon. Treasurer  - Peter Jackson,  Hon. Secretary - Margaret Marden
Cat Homing Co-ordinator - Christine Garrett,   Membership Secretary - Jean Hocking,  Sponsorship - Anne Waters