Have you seen Sir Dukes?

Before you read these – it’s important to try # (3) below – smelly food trick – just in case you didn’t read all the way through to the end. Good luck!

(1) call ALL area shelters. Even if someone hasn’t found and taken the cat to a shelter…all of them maintain lists of lost and found animals. If someone sees Shantu and calls there to see if anyone lost a cat matching Shantu’s description — they will put you guys in touch with each other so you can follow up. Sometimes the only thing people know to do when they see a new stray in the neighborhood is call the shelter.

(2) immediately place a LOST ad in all area newspapers. There are usually free and in Durham they run for 7 days and you have to call each week to renew the ad — but it remains free. Ask about policies in other papers. This is the other place most people look when trying to locate an owner for a new stray they’ve seen in their neighborhood….so be sure to put an ad in the papers.

(3) SMELLY, SMELLY FOOD — put canned mackerel (best), tuna or smelly canned fishy cat food in several places in the yard. To keep ants away, place food in bowl, set bowl in shallow plant saucer with a little water in the saucer. If she hangs around in the area, but gets hungry, she’s apt to be able to smell her way back to the stinky food. I “mackerel-ized’ my back yard for 4 months before I finally caught one of my cats that escaped during a break-in.