The Cat Search: A Memorable Experience Finding My Lost Cat | Life

This article has been machine-translated from Chinese. The translation may contain inaccuracies or awkward phrasing. If in doubt, please refer to the original Chinese version.

Last Friday around 9 PM, I had finished work and studying, ready to continue my Black Myth: Wukong New Game+ run. OBS was all set up for streaming. Just then, my younger brother suddenly came in and asked me, “Sis, have you seen Laba? I haven’t spotted her at all.” Since I had seen her that afternoon, and my brother had been home since before 5 PM — she usually plays with him in the living room around that time — I assumed she was still in the living room. “No, she’s probably hiding somewhere,” I replied, then went out and called loudly: “Laba — Laba —” But there was no response. Normally she would have come running out meowing by now. My heart immediately sank.

I started checking the living room surveillance camera and discovered a big problem. The Mijia camera, which should have been covering the living room and front door, had somehow been knocked off-angle and was only capturing the cat litter box by the window. The last time the cat appeared on camera was 3

PM. The other camera (an old one my dad had bought from the Lechange brand — absolutely terrible, only recording segments with motion and capturing nothing useful) couldn’t see the door at all. I couldn’t confirm whether she left through the door or some other way, but I could be certain it wasn’t the window. Unwilling to give up, I started searching the entire house — up and down, every cabinet, storage room, and tiny corner. Nothing. My cat was truly lost. In that moment, I was devastated, as if I had lost a family member.

My mom comforted me, saying it would be fine. She said she’d immediately send messages to the property management community group and the building cleaners. A neighbor’s cat had run away before and was found by the cleaners two days later. There are many stray cats in the area, and Laba must have followed them — she wouldn’t have gone far. That did comfort me somewhat, but I still couldn’t eat or rest, my heart heavy all evening (I didn’t even dare to think about what would have happened if she’d gotten lost during work hours). Then I decided I needed to do something, so I started searching on various platforms for “what to do after losing a cat.” The first measure I took was based on many people saying that 11 PM to 4 AM is when cats are most active, and the success rate of finding cats during this time is very high. So I went downstairs to continue searching.

The Long Search

At 10 PM, while searching for the cat downstairs, two girls sitting on the front lawn mentioned they had seen an orange cat fighting with a white cat earlier, and it ran to the other end of the community. So I walked several more laps around the community, calling Laba’s name the whole time. I found quite a few other cats along the way (that’s when I realized just how many cats there are in our community — orange ones, black ones, tabby cats), but none were Laba. Then I tried another suggestion: someone recommended scattering some used cat litter near home to guide her back. I scooped a bowl of cat litter and sprinkled it from the doorstep down to the building entrance, leaving the unit door open.

At 2 AM, I called the first cat-finding team. They arrived around 3

AM with high-powered flashlights and a thermal imaging camera. They searched until 4 AM and said Laba had very likely gone into the underground parking garage. While searching the garage, I spotted another little orange cat following me the whole time. I told it, “If you see Laba, please tell her to come home.” It was getting late, so they stopped searching and didn’t charge me. After the cat-finding specialist left, he messaged me on WeChat saying I should write a “Missing Cat” poster and send it to him for review. So I drafted one.

Woke up around noon on Saturday. While eating, looking at Laba’s scratching post, cat bed, and all her toys, the pain was unbearable. An emptiness hit me hard, and I kept fantasizing that she would suddenly appear at the door, meowing to come home. After resting for a bit, I waited for the security office to open. I went to check the property surveillance footage in the afternoon — nothing useful. The camera at the ground floor angle wasn’t working, and there were no hallway cameras (the security in these older buildings is really terrible…). Then I called a second cat-finding team. They also came with flashlights and thermal imaging, first checking our home and the neighbors’. Based on cat hair in the hallway, they determined that Laba had likely gone downstairs — no signs of jumping from the window or other traces.

So we went downstairs. The specialist searched outside while I printed several copies of the missing cat poster at home. I posted them on the unit door of our building and the adjacent building, at the community supermarket, and at the exit (always note on the poster that you’ll clean them up once found). After posting, I continued walking around the community, calling Laba’s name.

During the search, I spotted another little orange-and-white cat, but it didn’t look like Laba in the photos. I went down to check, and indeed it wasn’t her.

The Turning Point

I honestly hadn’t placed too much hope on the missing cat posters, but at 7

PM, I suddenly received a phone call. It was from a kind young woman living on the 1st floor of the adjacent building. She said that when she opened her window that morning, she saw a cat lying on her windowsill, not moving. The cat was still there at noon. When she got home from work and saw the poster on the building door, she realized the cat on the poster looked exactly like the one on her windowsill! Upon hearing this, I immediately thanked her and rushed downstairs to her apartment. The young woman was very gentle and had two dogs at home. She led me to her bedroom, opened the window, and I saw a round orange behind — I reached in and pulled her out. It was really Laba! She was still there!! She had been hiding on this lady’s windowsill the entire day!! Because the windowsill was blocked by plants, she had gone unnoticed (the cat-finding team had even been to that area…). What an incredible hiding spot.

I’m usually quite rational, but when emotions take over, there’s no stopping them. Having raised this cat for so long, I had nearly thought I’d never find her. The moment I pulled Laba out, tears instantly streamed down my face, startling the young woman. While holding Laba, she was trembling. I wanted to put her down but worried about the dogs — she got even more scared and squirmed harder, so I just kept holding her. I asked the young woman if we could add each other on WeChat so I could send her a generous red envelope, but she declined, saying we’re neighbors and it was nothing at all. So I brought Laba home first and placed her on the bed to calm her down. My mom brought a box of dates to give to the kind neighbor. After checking Laba over, I found that despite being very scared and timid, she showed no signs of injury. She must have run downstairs on her own but didn’t know how to get back home, so she just stayed on someone’s windowsill the whole time.

As for how she escaped, the likely scenario is that my aunt came to visit my grandma around 5 PM, and when she left, Laba slipped out through the gap in the door.

Right after being found, she was dazed and kept hiding under the bed, as if her soul had left her body. I fed her several cat treat sticks to help her calm down.

She’s back to normal now — she hisses at me, bounces around energetically, and even bites me. I’m happy.

As for preventing this in the future, I’ve readjusted the living room camera to the correct angle, told my aunt about it, and I already had an AirTag. I’ve ordered a collar with engraving and contact information to put on Laba. I’ll also pay more attention to her daily and make sure my brother doesn’t roughhouse with her too much. Sigh, once you’ve lost a cat, it’s real PTSD — every time I see her in the living room, I’m terrified she’ll disappear again.

Tips for Finding a Lost Cat

Even if your cat normally responds when you call their name, after getting lost, cats will quickly revert to a wild state. They become afraid of people, and calling their name has limited effect (sometimes it can even backfire). Most of the time, you need to rely on physical searching, posting flyers, and other methods.
Playing cat sounds or attention-grabbing noises — I feel like it didn’t work for my scaredy-cat (though in the parking garage, a little orange cat did follow me the whole time). For timid cats like Laba… I’m honestly not sure.
Missing cat posters are the most effective method. Be sure to clearly describe the cat’s distinguishing features and note that you will remove the posters yourself once found (I went and took them all down after finding her). Always print in color and post them in high-traffic areas like unit doors and supermarkets. Posting in property management groups, community chat groups, and on platforms like Xianyu can also help, but some people don’t check group messages.
In the first two days after getting lost, cats usually don’t go far — they’re most likely in your building or the adjacent one. Even if someone doesn’t check chat groups, they’ll see a poster on the unit door when coming home from work.
Start searching as early as possible. The golden 72-hour window really does make a difference (I don’t dare imagine — if we hadn’t found her on Saturday, would Laba have just kept lying on that windowsill indefinitely…?).
After losing your cat, try shining a flashlight on the ground to look for cat hair — you can usually trace their movements through the hair. If you’re really anxious, you can also rent thermal imaging cameras and high-powered flashlights to help search (that’s basically the standard equipment for all cat-finding teams).

I hope that anyone reading this article will never need to use these cat-finding tips. It was an excruciating experience.

As long as little Laba is back, everything is fine. Back home, I went on a photo-taking spree with her.