When a dog or cat is missing for months or even years, the most effective search methods are not necessarily the same as those used in the first few days or weeks.  This is especially true when there are few to no confirmed sightings of the missing pet.  

The goal of this research project is help determine what search methods are most effective for conducting a long-term search.  Some of these methods may work best if maintained over time such as online posting and posters.  Others are perhaps new ideas to try when nothing else has worked so far.

The preliminary research for this project is published on the Lost Pet Research Blog.  See Effective Long-term Lost Pet Search Methods.

If you have found a missing pet after a long-term search, please consider sharing your story in the comments and/or completing this short survey about your experience.  

A long-term search is not specifically defined, but most pet detectives surveyed considered a search long-term after 2-4 months.  However, anything over a month, especially without sightings, could be considered long-term for this project.

The Lost Pet Research Blog is home to my current research articles.  Most of these articles are based on research studies published in the scientific literature.  A few articles are summaries of my own research such as the Cat Homing Behavior Survey.  These articles go back as early as 2011 and some could probably be updated with new research.  But there are so many new topics to explore as well.

Upcoming Blog Article Topics

Some of the articles that I plan to work on this year include:

• Do owner scent articles work as an attractant for lost cats?
• A review of Bluetooth tracking devices
• Characteristics of cat remains from coyote attacks
• How much can raptors (eagles, hawks, owls) lift?  
• A review of pet GPS trackers

Suggestions for Research Topics

Do you have any suggestions for lost pet research topics?  Submit one in the comments or send a contact form.  I periodically run surveys in the Lost Pet Research Facebook Group to determine what article I will work on next.

The articles listed here are all published in peer reviewed scientific journals.  For a discussion of published lost pet research studies, visit the Lost Pet Research Blog.

View full bibliography with abstracts and notes here.

Bibliography

Huang, L., M. Coradini, J. Rand, J. Morton, K. Albrecht, B. Wasson, and D. Robertson.  2018.  Search methods used to locate missing cats and locations where missing cats are found.  Animals 8(1): 5.  https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8010005

• Visit the Lost Pet Research blog for a full review of this article.

Lord, L.K., T.E. Wittum, A.K. Ferketich, J.A. Funk, and P.J. Rajala-Schultz.  2007a.  Search and identification methods that owners use to find a lost cat.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 230(2): 217-220.  

Lord, L.K., T.E. Wittum, A.K. Ferketich, J.A. Funk, and P.J. Rajala-Schultz.  2007b.  Search and identification methods that owners use to find a lost dog.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 230(2): 211-216.

Lord, L.K., T.E. Wittum, A.K. Ferketich, J.A. Funk, and P.J. Rajala-Schultz.  2007c.  Search methods that people use to find owners of lost pets.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 230(12): 1835-1840.

Šurbek, M., Zupčić, A., Ostović, M., Kabalin, A.E., Dragović, J., Mikuš, T., Matković, K., & Pavičić, Ž. (2015). Obilježja koja utječu na pronalazak izgubljenih pasa. Features influencing missing dog recovery.  https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/336548

Vučinić, M., Radisavljević, K., Hammond-Seaman, A., & Ilieski, V. (2015). Visibly Marked and Microchipped Lost Dogs Have a Higher Chance to Find Their Owners in Belgrade. Macedonian Veterinary Review, 38, 79 - 83. 

Weiss, E. M. Slater, and L. Lord.  2012.  Frequency of Lost Dogs and Cats in the United States and the Methods Used to Locate Them.  Animals 2: 301-315.  http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/2/2/301 

Zupčić, A., Šurbek, M., Kabalin, A.E., Dragovic, J., Menčik, S., & Ostović, M. (2020). Missing cat features influencing their returning to owners. Veterinarni Medicina, 65, 394-400.

For a bibliography of lost pet research studies, visit this page. For a discussion of existing lost pet statistics studies, see the Lost Pet Research Blog.

Why we need more lost pet statistics research

At this time there are very few published studies related directly to lost pet recovery.  The existing studies also have a number of shortcomings.  

• Lord et al. (2007a) and Weiss et al. (2012) both found that most lost cats were found by returning home on their own.  This may indicate that most people are not using effective search techniques.
• Most studies didn’t separate data between indoor and outdoor access cats.  Anyone with experience in lost pet recovery knows that search and recovery statistics and methods vary a lot between these two categories.
• The Lord et al. (2007a and 2007b) studies have biased samples.  They only contacted lost pet owners that had placed a lost pet advertisement in the newspaper or contacted a local animal agency (e.g. shelter).

Perhaps most important, few people surveyed in the published research received any professional help in the search for their lost pets.  In Huang et al. (2018) only 24% of people indicated that they received help from a pet detective or volunteer lost pet recovery service/group in the search for their lost cat.  Of those people, 70% indicated that this method helped the most in finding their cat.  

Suggestions and Next Steps for Future Lost Pet Statistics Research

There is clearly a need for data collection of lost pet recovery statistics by lost pet recovery specialists or groups and/or their clients.  At this time I am researching options for future lost pet statistics research and assessing interest in participation.  If you are potentially interested in participating, please visit this page.

Some options for lost pet statistics data collection include:

• Create a Case Log template that would facilitate systematic data collection among lost pet recovery individuals/groups.
• Create a full length survey to be completed by pet owner's and/or pet detectives after the pet is found.
• Create shorter surveys on different lost pet recovery topics.  For example, how far are lost dogs/cats found from the site of a car accident.

Next Steps

Prior to starting launching any surveys, I want to learn more about survey design.  I am currently taking some online classes in effective survey design.

Start here for an overview of existing and future lost pet research projects.  

This year I'm planning to focus on lost pet research projects and blog articles.  At this point I have way too many ideas and I want to see what YOU are most interested in learning about.  I'm also hoping to gauge interest in research participation, which would be necessary for some projects.  If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a Comment at the end of this article or Contact me here. 

Right now I am working on organizing my existing research and gauging interest in future projects.  Those updates will be posted in this Lost Pet Research Project Blog.

Lost Pet Research Blog Articles 

The Lost Pet Research Blog is home to my current research articles.  Most of these articles are based on research studies published in the scientific literature.  A few articles are summaries of my own research such as the Cat Homing Behavior Survey.  These articles go back as early as 2011 and some could probably be updated with new research.  But there are so many new topics to explore as well.

Lost Pet Statistics Research

At this time there are very few published studies related directly to lost pet recovery. The existing studies also have a number of shortcomings.  Perhaps most important, few people surveyed in the published research received any professional help in the search for their lost pets.  

One of my priorities this year is to design some systematic data collection for lost pet recovery cases.  

Connect with other businesses for research on lost and found pet data

I am exploring the possibility of connecting with other pet-related groups or businesses to learn more about lost pet behavior and recovery.  

Some possible businesses/groups to connect with:

• Pet tracking device companies.  Look at GPS data on where lost cats/dogs travel and are found.  
• Amber alert services.  How often do these services directly lead to recoveries?  I suspect this info may be difficult to get since these companies want people to think that their services are very effective even if they are not.
• Microchip companies.  What percentage of microchipped dogs/cats are reported lost?  Do they collect any information on found statistics?
• Shelters.  Some shelter data is publicly available.

Collaborating with other researchers

Ultimately, I would like to connect with Universities or other research groups for collaboration on projects.  This is probably the only way to get our research published in the scientific literature since I do not have a master's degree or affiliation with a university.  

Past and current project collaboration:

• The Missing Cat Project.
• Guelph research study on cat personalities and their territories.  This is a current thesis that is almost completed.

Citizen Science Research Experiments

A lot of the research outlined here is technically citizen science.  But the particular projects listed here would involve creating hands-on research experiments for people involved in lost pet search and recovery work to carry out.  These types of research projects would be much more complex to set up and carry out compared to survey based research studies.  

Alternatively, these studies could be done as project collaboration with other research groups if we could find someone interested. 

Possible Citizen Science Experiments 

• Cat litter experiment - Does dirty cat litter attract lost cats, predators or other animals?
• Scent lure experiment - Do certain scent lures really work for attracting lost dogs or cats?
• Movement patterns of displaced cats - Perhaps collect GPS data on newly moved or adopted outdoor-access cats.

How to learn more and/or participate

If you are really interested and don't want to miss out on anything, I would suggest signing up for the Lost Pet Research Newsletter and/or the Lost Pet Research Facebook group.  However, I will also post updates to MAR Facebook groups and my Lost Pet Research Facebook page.

Watch for updates:

• On MAR Facebook groups.
• On my Lost Pet Research Facebook page.  
• On my new Lost Pet Research Facebook Group.  This is primarily aimed at people interested in participating in the research.  But feel free to sign up if you just want to make sure that you don't miss out on anything.
• Lost Pet Research Email list: Sign Up HERE