My cat is missing: what to do.

The first hours

1. 1

   Search the house first

   Cupboards, wardrobes, drawers, under the bed, the cellar. A frightened cat hides in silence and does not always answer to its name.

2. 2

   Search close by, on foot

   A study of 1,210 lost cats found that half of the outdoor cats were found less than 300 metres from home, and half of the indoor cats less than 40 metres away. Look under decks, cars, in hedges and garden sheds.

3. 3

   Ask to look in the neighbours’ buildings

   Cats often hide in cellars, garages or sheds, where they can get shut in by accident. Ask if you can look yourself: a hiding cat will not come out for a stranger.

4. 4

   Come back in the evening and early morning

   When the neighbourhood is quiet, call softly with a sound it knows, such as a shaken box of kibble, then listen.

5. 5

   Post an alert with a photo

   On Animalerte it is free and needs no account. The alert appears on the map with an A4 poster to print, and messages from people who saw your cat reach you by email, without your number being published. Once checked by the team, your alert is also published on our Facebook and Instagram pages, unless you opt out.

Who to tell

• Vets and animal shelters in your area: found or injured cats are taken there.
• Your municipality: in several cantons, including Valais, it takes in found animals.
• ANIS, if your cat is microchipped and registered: report it missing from your account (animundo app) and check that your phone number and email are up to date.
• STMZ, the Swiss lost and found animal centre: its online report is free. Use it rather than its phone line for missing animals, which is charged at a premium rate.

The following days

• Put up the poster within a few hundred metres: bakery, bus stops, vets, the municipal notice board.
• Share the link to your alert in local neighbourhood or community groups.
• After a move, check the old address: some cats try to go back there.
• Do not give up too soon: in the study above, half of the cats that were found had been missing for six days or more.
• While you keep searching, extend your alert from your private link: it stays online for 60 days, and each extension resets it to 60 days from that day.

The microchip, for the future

In Switzerland, microchips are not compulsory for cats: the National Council voted against making them so in 2025. Vets and animal welfare groups still recommend them, because a chipped cat registered with ANIS can be returned as soon as a vet, a shelter or the police read its chip.

If your cat is chipped, add the number to your alert: it is shown on the alert page, and anyone who scans your cat can find the alert by typing the number into the search.