Initially I found Melon as a stray kitten at 10 weeks old. She was scared and skinny and living under a boardwalk near my work place. I used a cat carrier as a trap to secure her, with food inside and a rope attached to the swing door, then I waited. It was very comical, I never expected it would work, but here we are.
She became a member of the family very quickly, her goofy personality and obsession with ripping apart cardboard boxes instantly won our hearts.
We realised she was missing when we woke up one day and she wasn't in the house. We usually keep her inside at night time, but she's a bit of an escape artist. This was one of those nights when she had managed to outsmart all of us and ran outside at about 8pm. When this has happened previously, she's come home herself in the middle of the night. When we woke up and she still hadn't returned, we knew something was wrong.
I tried every technique I could think of, some conventional and some outright ludicrous (including following birds that were making alarm calls during the day, sounds ridiculous but I did actually come across several cats this way, but not Melon). She had been missing about a week when I found her. In the end what worked was a physical search at night with a flash light. I had searched every night since she went missing, this was night number 8. The house I found her was only 3 doors down from our own, I must've walked past this house 30 times in the week she went missing. My search technique had evolved over that week based on responses from other cats in the area. I found that if I walked down a street with a flash light calling her name, I wouldn't see any cats. But if I turned around and walked back down that same street immediately, all of a sudden 3 cats would appear. So I was checking all streets and houses twice before I moved on. It was on my second pass by this particular house when I spotted her little eyes shining back at me. I assume after 8 days she was hungry enough to come out of her hiding spot when she heard me calling her name.
The pain I felt during that week was different to losing loved ones, it was a desperation I'm not sure how to describe. Not knowing what happened, where she was, or if she would ever come back, were the most difficult thoughts to deal with.
My community was wonderful, although I found her myself, the support from our neighbours gave me hope to keep searching.
Lost Pet Finders emails throughout that week were also very helpful. There were tips to finding her I hadn't considered, advice on how to care for myself, and hope. Although Lost Pet Finders wasn't responsible for her return, I felt comfort knowing that if anyone found her, they could identify her and contact me easily.
The biggest piece of advice I can give is don't give up, don't lose hope, no matter how much it hurts. Try everything, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. Don't let others tell you you're going overboard. And physically search. Make it a routine to walk around your local area calling your pets name. Either first thing every morning, last thing every night, or when you get home from work. Listen to a podcast in one ear if that makes it easier. And get a good torch! Always. Be. Searching.
