How to recover a lost pet in Vancouver British Columbia

CatLostVancouver.md

I've lost my cat several times (one time for several days) and had him mistakenly taken from me two other times (again, for days) and all those times I was able to get him back following these steps:

1. Place your cat's litter outside your front door. The smell will help notify him to walk in the right direction if he's simply lost or hiding nearby. (Jump to step seven below if you suspect the cat is nearby.)
2. Create a lost pet notice on BC Pet Registry and the BC SPCA's own BC SPCA Pet Search. This will not only get others looking, but the exercise of gathering all the details to fill in the form with provide you with a baseline of information about your cat that people need to help you. If your cat is tattooed or microchipped, make sure the clinic or hospital that administered the ID'ing has your current contact information. Unsure? Find out how to do this here: BC Pet Registry Provincial Tattoo Identification Program Guide.
3. Create a lost pet notice on PawBoost. They will automatically create a post on their Facebook page that you can track and update. They also notify others on their mailing list who are within the vicinity of where your cat was last seen.
4. Contact the BC SPCA animal shelter by phone. Give them your detailed cat description and last seen date time as indicated on your BC SPCA Pet Search post in step two and the PawBoost info in step three. BTW, SPCA monitors PawBoost, so they'll probably know what cat you're calling about based on your post. You can also email them using this BC SPCA email address, although I recommend calling.
5. Call the City of Vancouver 311 or email animal services for possibility that they may have picked up your cat's body. (Notice that animal services only collects dead animals, so they can at best only relieve you of the emotional burden of continuing to search for your lost pet.)
6. Create a lost cat poster from the PawBoost dashboard in step three, get packing tape and stapler and place posters up in the vicinity of where your cat was last seen (a few blocks north, west, south, and east). I recommend about four posters per intersection, or eight posters per block. Let me know (yes, message me) if you need help putting up posters as I have lots of experience by now.
7. Walk around and call your cat's name. People underestimate how capably cats can recognize their human's voices. I've recovered my cat several times this way because he was hiding on a roof after getting into a fight. My cat will start meowing plaintively when he hears me, so that I'll come retrieve him.

Extra credit: Copy your PawBoost listing to Nextdoor for your neighbourhood, Craigslist Vancouver and Reddit Vancouver.

PS: My cat is indoor-outdoor because he lived on the street for the first year of his life. I've tried adjusting him to being indoor only. When he's not let out during good weather, he gets depressed and starts protesting in various ways (chews electrical cables, sprays pee indoors, meows incessantly by a door). To ease my task, I've trained my cat to come back when I blow a high-pitched dog whistle, so that I don't need to bother my neighbours by yelling his name.