Cat not come home? Search within 50 m first (UK 2026)

There's no set number of hours. Cats Protection says a cat that goes outside usually comes back by its next meal, though some disappear for days, so start looking once yours has been gone longer than is normal for them. Battersea says to act if your cat has been missing for 12 hours or overnight, especially if that's unusual.

Don't wait to see if they turn up. A cat that's shut in somewhere or hurt needs finding quickly, and most of the steps below take minutes.

The biggest study of where lost cats turn up is a 2018 survey of 1,210 missing cats, published in the journal Animals (most were in the US, Australia and Canada, so treat the numbers as a guide). What it found:

• Of the cats found alive, half were within 50 metres of where they went missing.
• Indoor-only cats that got out were usually found very close, half of them within 39 metres. Cats that were allowed outside went further, with half found within 300 metres.
• Of the cats found alive, 83% were outdoors: in a garden, waiting outside their own home, under bushes, under a deck or patio, in a shed or under a car. Another 11% were inside someone else's house, often in a garage.
• The authors suggest searching a 200 metre radius for an indoor-only cat, and up to 2 km for a cat that goes outside.

So the answer is usually nearby, not miles away. Our guide to how far cats roam has more on the distances cats cover day to day.

A frightened or unwell cat can hide somewhere unexpected and stay silent. Cats Protection suggests checking cupboards and wardrobes, behind curtains, under duvets, inside the tumble dryer and washing machine, and under floorboards if you've had building work done.

• Start with your own garage, shed, bins, water butts, compost bins and hedges (Battersea's list).
• Ask neighbours on both sides, across the road and behind you to check their sheds, garages, outbuildings, cars and vans. Cats Protection says cats often get shut in by accident, especially in colder months.
• Look under parked cars and in wheel arches, and around empty houses and building sites nearby.
• Go out when it's quiet, early in the morning or in the evening, with a torch even in daylight. Battersea suggests taking someone with you after dark. In the 2018 survey, walking the area at night with a torch and asking neighbours to look were among the searches that found cats fastest.
• Shake a treat packet or their biscuit box, call their name, then stop and listen. Many cats come to that sound even when they ignore their name.
• If you've moved house and your old home is within a couple of miles, search there too (Battersea's tip): cats sometimes try to go back.

If your cat wears a PetTag, turn on lost mode from your dashboard (how to log in). Anyone who scans the tag sees that your cat is missing, and you're emailed when the tag is scanned, often with an approximate location.

• Report your cat missing to the database their microchip is registered with first, and check your phone number and address are right, so a vet who scans them can reach you.
• Call local vets, because injured cats are often taken to the nearest one. The RSPCA's Surrey branch suggests vets within 20 miles and rescues within 50.
• Call your local Cats Protection branch, other cat rescues and boarding catteries, and send them a photo and your poster.
• If you think your cat has been stolen, tell the police as well (RSPCA advice).
• Battersea also suggests your council's street cleansing team, which keeps a record of cats found on the roads. It's a hard call to make, but it can save days of not knowing.

One difference from dogs: councils don't take in stray cats. The law only makes them run a stray service for dogs (section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990), and many, such as Newham, say plainly that they don't collect lost cats. In 2026, 99% of the councils in England that answered Battersea's Freedom of Information request said they don't run a stray cat service. So for a cat, the vets, rescues and neighbours matter most.

• Put posters up nearby and post leaflets through doors: a big photo, the word MISSING, and one phone number. In the 2018 survey, owners who found their cat alive after handing out fliers most often said the fliers were what helped most (60%), and half said the same of posters, and in an Ohio study of 138 lost cats, posting neighbourhood signs had the highest success rate of any search method, though only 12% (Lord and others, 2007). Check where you can put posters up first, because councils can treat posters on lamp posts as fly-posting.
• Register your cat on Animal Search UK, which is free. The RSPCA says the pets it finds are registered there, so it's worth doing even if you use other sites.
• Post in local Facebook groups and on Nextdoor, with a clear photo, where your cat went missing and how to reach you.
• Watch out for scams. Blue Cross warns about people who claim to have found a pet and ask for money for its return or for vet bills, and PDSA advises against offering a cash reward. More in our guide to lost pet scams.

Cats Protection suggests putting things that smell of home outside: unwashed bedding, a favourite toy, unwashed clothes, or used litter from their tray. International Cat Care suggests bedding or strong-smelling food.

Battersea suggests asking people not to feed your cat: one that's being fed somewhere else has less reason to come home. Tell neighbours, and anyone nearby who feeds stray cats, that yours is missing.

Keep going: many lost cats are found after days or weeks, not hours. In the 2018 survey, about a third of the cats were found alive within 7 days, half within 30 days, and 61% within a year. For the cats found alive, the typical time missing was 6 days. International Cat Care says an indoor cat that's got out may take several days to come out of hiding.

Each day, search again at quiet times, widen the circle a street or two, ring the vets and rescues again with your cat's photo, and refresh your posts. More on the odds and what helps in do cats come back?

Drivers in the UK don't have to report hitting a cat: the law that makes them stop and report covers dogs, horses and farm animals, but not cats (section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988). So no news isn't proof either way.

On motorways and major A roads, National Highways has to scan a cat that's been killed for a microchip and try to reunite it with its owner, a transport minister told Parliament in 2023. On other roads, most councils scan, but it's good practice rather than the law, so ask your council's street cleansing team directly. Our guide to hitting a dog or cat while driving covers what drivers should do.

Check them over for injuries and book a vet visit if they're limping, not eating or seem unwell. Turn off lost mode, tell the microchip database, take your posters down, and thank everyone who helped.

• A microchip with up-to-date details. In England it's the law for every pet cat over 20 weeks: see cat microchipping law. A chip only helps once someone takes your cat to be scanned, though, and in the 2018 survey few lost cats ever reached a scanner.
• If your cat is happy wearing one, a quick-release collar with a lightweight ID or QR code cat tag, so a neighbour can reach you without catching your cat and taking it to a vet. Not every cat suits a collar, and PDSA and International Cat Care both point out the risks, so make it quick-release if you use one.
• Neutering. In a US study of 138 lost cats, 57% of neutered cats got home, against 25% of cats that weren't neutered.
• A few recent photos, including one that shows any markings.
• Keeping them in at night, and around fireworks. Petlog had about 13,000 cats reported missing or stolen in 2024, and more pets go missing in summer than in winter.