How to Find a Lost Cat with Cat Detective Kim Freeman

Your cat is missing and everyone has advice, but a lot of it can make things worse. I sit down with Kimberly Freeman, a professional lost cat finder who has reunited cats with their families across nearly every state and more than 24 countries, to lay out what actually works when a missing cat disappears into stress mode.

We dig into lost cat behavior: why cats often hide in silence, why they may not come when called, and why a friendly cat can still hiss or bite when you finally find them. Kimberly breaks down the biggest myths in the lost pet world, including putting a litter box outside, relying on social media alone, and assuming a cat is dead after just a few days. We also talk about how far indoor-only cats typically go, why some cats get trapped in basements, garages, and sheds, and the surprisingly common “transport” scenario where a cat rides under a car and jumps out miles away.

You’ll hear a practical, science-based approach to searching: how to profile your specific situation using indoor vs outdoor history, personality, weather, and neighborhood layout, plus the real clues most people miss like fur, paw prints, fence marks, and patterns of movement. We clear up microchip misconceptions (it’s ID, not GPS), compare GPS collars, RFID, and AirTags, and share what to do in the first hour, including how to avoid lost pet scams.

If you want a calm, systematic missing cat search plan you can act on immediately, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more cat behavior help, share this with a friend who loves cats, and please leave a rating or review so more cat parents can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And The Missing Cat Plan

Kristiina Wilson 0:00

Hello and welcome to episode 45. Today's episode is one that so many of you have asked for. It's basically what to do if your cat goes missing. And I'm joined by someone truly incredible, lost catfinder Kimberly Freeman. And she has helped reunite cats with their families across nearly every state and over 20 countries worldwide. Join us as we break down what cats actually do when they're lost, the biggest myths that can put them at risk, and the science-back strategies that will give you the best chance of bringing your cat home safely. If you find this episode helpful, it would mean so much if you would take a minute to rate and review the podcast. It really helps more cat parents find the show. Thanks. Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Hiss Centel. With me today is Kim Freeman. She is a professional lost cat finder. She has found cats in nearly every state and in 24 countries around the world. Welcome, Kim.

Kim Freeman 0:55

Thank you for having me.

Kristiina Wilson 0:56

Thank you for being on the podcast. This has been like a super asked about topic. What do I do if my cat gets lost? What's a great way to find my cat? So I'm so grateful that you were willing to come in and talk with me. Can you tell me a little bit about how you became a professional lost cat detective?

Kim Freeman 1:16

It it kind of started just with my own when I was 10 years old. Clancy, our family cat disappeared. And I mean, this is this isn't like the professional beginning, but it's kind of what intrigued me. Clancy was missing for about a week. And one day I was out playing with my brother in the driveway and I heard a squirrel up on the roof scolding. And I looked up to ask the squirrel, why are you mad at me? And I saw Clancy's face up in the attic fan up by the top of the roof. So the squirrel was scolding him. And we were shocked. It's like, and you know, my brother's like, no, that's not him. That's you're just seeing things. But it it was him. He had been up there about a week. And really skinny. We never heard him cry. I just saw his little face peeking through like the fan blades.

Kristiina Wilson 2:10

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 2:10

The big attic fan. So, you know, from then on, whenever, you know, my dad would be out walking with me in the neighborhood. And if whenever I saw a lost cat flyer or poster, I'd say, one day I'm gonna find them all. And he's like, Yeah, Kimberly don't realize how many there are. That's that's sweet. So, you know, flash forward many years, and my own cat went missing, Mr. Pearr. And I lived on a horse farm. And next door was this cattle rancher, and he had all of these like container sheds where he would put his equipment. And Mr. Pearr had gotten trapped in one of those sheds. So that was my first experience, other than Clancy.

Speaker 2 2:55

Got it.

Kim Freeman 2:55

Of what it feels like when your cat is missing and the despair and the worry and the fear. And this guy was such a grump. We we were kind of scared of him, but I had to ask, you know, to go over and physically search the area because, you know, Mr. Pearr didn't miss meal times. And I knew something was wrong. And yeah, he was in he was trapped in that shed. So I started doing cases for free just to help people because I was like the despair and the worry of guilt. It's so devastating.

Kristiina Wilson 3:27

It's such an awful feeling.

Kim Freeman 3:29

Horrible. And nobody quite gets it until they go through it. So I started um, well, I took training. I don't know if you're aware of Kat Albrecht, but she really pioneered the field. She was she did missing persons and she had a bloodhound that's looked for missing people. And then her bloodhound went missing, and she had to use another bloodhound to find him. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And that's when she realized, you know, someone should be doing this. You know, the government, the FBI, everybody jumps in when it's a kid, but nobody's helping out pets and using police procedurals, you know, science to find lost pets instead of, you know, all myths and memes and litterboxes, tricks and, you know, magic wands and animal communicators. So that's what really intrigued me was the science behind it. Sure. And the the way cats behave. Cat behavior is so different when they're lost in stress than when they're in the house.

Kristiina Wilson 4:31

Well, can you talk a little bit more about that? How and why do cats behave so differently when they're lost?

Kim Freeman 4:37

Well, think about when you've moved. You know, that's kind of an example of a cat under stress, right? Or when there's a party and the cat isn't doing their normal things and acting like they normally do. Sometimes they don't want to eat, sometimes they hide for hours after people have left. Cats just behave differently when they're stressed. I mean, even feral cats, you know, if something disturbs their environment, they're gonna behave differently too. But then, you know, it breaks down into, you know, the skittish, timid cats versus the more outgoing, bold, gregarious cats. You know, they're gonna behave differently.

Speaker 2 5:17

Right.

Kim Freeman 5:18

And hide longer and in different places. So yeah, behavior changes so much when a cat's stressed and lost is kind of the ultimate stress, especially if people have done things like a letterbox often will attract other cats in to see who's this, who what's this smell, who's this new intruder? And then the cat's even more stressed because he got picked on or bullied or chased further away. You know, by another cat or a scary raccoon they've never seen before. What the hell is that?

Speaker 2 5:53

Right.

Kim Freeman 5:54

Or even coyotes sometimes are drawn in by the smell of cat poop.

Speaker 2 5:59

Mm-hmm.

Kim Freeman 6:00

So yeah, that that can make them even more stressed than they were already.

Kristiina Wilson 6:04

Sure. Yeah, it's funny, Steve, who I was telling you about before, my best friend cat who passed, he, when he was, I'd say like a teen, he got lost just for the day. And it was terrifying because I had in the city where we lived at the time, I had a little yard that was totally fenced in, but he managed to get up over the wall and fall over into the next yard. And yeah, and I, you know, didn't realize for a bit and then just absolutely lost my mind, like covered the neighborhood in flyers and you know, uh just offered like a bajillion dollar reward and was just absolutely, absolutely losing my mind. Then eventually somebody, the super of the building next door was like, Oh, I think that cat, you know, I think he I saw him in the basement of literally the building next door, which has been my experience, and you can tell me if this is true or not, that when cats are lost, they're at least in my experience, they're not very far away. He at least was 20 feet away. He had just fallen over this fence. And so I went in into the basement of that building and he was just rolling around in like a puddle of oil in the disgusting, unfinished basement of this tenement house in New York City. But once he saw me come in, he freaked out. He just really freaked out, even though we were best friends. He freaked out and he was like hissing and fighting and he was trying to bite me, and I had to towel him to get him in a carrier to get him home. Um, and it was it was really crazy. And then as soon as we got home, he was fine. It was like nothing had happened, except that I had to give him a bath to get all the oil off, which was did not love that. He didn't love that, but it was really such an awful, terrifying experience.

Kim Freeman 7:42

Every every story is another data point. And yes, sometimes they are close by. Uh, was he indoor only?

Kristiina Wilson 7:50

Yes, except for they had access to our little yard, which they only ever had access, like obviously when we were home and supervised, and then I must have just had my eyes off of him for a second and he fell over this wall.

Kim Freeman 8:04

Yeah. So yes, very stressful. Yes. A lot of a lot of behavior comes into play there. You know, cats, when they're in a new environment, and he was stuck in there, right? He couldn't get home. He was trapped in there.

Kristiina Wilson 8:19

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 8:19

Yeah. And you approached him. All he knew was, and the smell of all that oil probably couldn't pick up your scent. Um, he just knew something big is coming. And cats just, you know, you tried to pick him up. I can't tell you how many people have found their cat and then got bitten and scratched when I tried to pick him up. And this was a sweet cat who would never do that normally.

Kristiina Wilson 8:44

Of course. Yeah.

Kim Freeman 8:45

It's it's, you know, predator prey instincts kicking in and they are just fighting for their life. It's nothing personal.

Popular Myths That Backfire

Kristiina Wilson 8:53

Oh no, I I didn't take it personally. It was just, and this was way before I knew anything about behavior. This was when I was still a photographer and I was just acting on stupid instinct, like, oh, it's Steve, I'm gonna go grab him. Dumb, but don't didn't take it personally. It was not, you know, he was just being reactive and and fair enough. Uh, but it was interesting the second he got home, he was just like, yeah, whatever. Like immediately like fine, nothing fine and filthy, and yeah, just cool. No, whatever. But you know, I'll tell you, it never happened again. Never, ever, ever happened again. So, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that you find that people have about what a lost cat might do?

Kim Freeman 9:34

Most people assume the cat will come when they call. Right. Right. And that, you know, they always come running in the house when I shake the treat jar. I'll just walk around the neighborhood shaking the treat jar. That's those are two big uh misconceptions. A litter box is another one. Oh, just out the litter box. I think also people spend way too much time and have too much hope in posting on social media. I mean, the odds of someone seeing your cat who also happens to follow a lost pet page, yeah, and who happens to look and see. I mean, it's just the odds are pretty slim. They also have a lot of faith in microchips. Oh, he's chipped. Somebody on the primary's found, you know. Those are all kind of common things. The litter box, I think, is finally that myth is getting exploded a little bit, and people are realizing that it's superstition, not science. But yeah, those are the probably biggest ones, the biggest misconceptions. They also, let me say, will assume if they've been missing. I went back over my cases to figure out some data. People will assume after three days their cat is dead.

Speaker 10:51

Three days?

Kim Freeman 10:52

Three days to week. They think all hope is lost, must be dead. Yeah. It's it's crazy.

Kristiina Wilson 11:00

That doesn't make it cats can survive. Like, that doesn't make any sense. I know.

Kim Freeman 11:05

Cats can survive way longer than that without food.

Kristiina Wilson 11:08

Yeah, it's it's interesting. When I talked to um last season, I talked to one of the guys from Canopy Cat Rescue.

Kim Freeman 11:15

Yeah, Sean.

Kristiina Wilson 11:17

And he was talking about a similar thing about how some of the cats that he's rescued have been up in a tree with also no food, no water for a week, two weeks, like long times that cats can go. Obviously, they should not go, but that they can really survive for a long time without food and water.

Kim Freeman 11:37

Well, there's always bugs in trees, but yes.

Kristiina Wilson 11:40

Yeah, but his his point was that these cats are so they're so stressed up there, like clinging to the top of a tree, that even though they could possibly lick condensation from leaves, or they could possibly, but they're probably not because they're so highly stressed. It's just an interesting point because I think a lot of even there's a lot of stuff out in even in the literature saying, you know, cats have to have food and water, and after three to four days, they will start to have, you know, kidney and liver failure because they need the like protein constantly. So it's it's interesting to hear these kind of anecdotal cases sharing the survival that's possible.

Kim Freeman 12:21

You know, when Mr. Pearr went missing, I was a little less worried because he was kind of tubby. And it actually turns out that the cats that are a little overweight are more prone to hepatic lipidosis. Interesting if they don't eat for three days. Yeah. You would think that those fat reserves would keep them good for a little while, but it's more dangerous. Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 12:45

Interesting. I read years ago this really interesting book called The World Without Us. And it's essentially what what would happen to the earth if people were suddenly wiped off the face of the earth, right? And it takes you through the science of, you know, what would happen to buildings and what would happen to the ecosystem. And then it goes through what would happen to companion animals and to all animals. And the really interesting thing was that the author did not think that most dogs would survive. You know, that at first they could they could form kind of roving gangs with other dogs, but eventually they would not be able to survive. But who would survive easily? Cats. Easily. No problemo, cats would survive. So it is really interesting to kind of think about all of that stuff together and think about cats as survivors as well. Not to say that your indoor-only cat who is not used to that lifestyle will fare great if they suddenly get lost, like run out the door and get lost.

Kim Freeman 13:41

They will figure out a system and a daff.

Kristiina Wilson 13:45

So I wanted to ask you, why is it that so many cats just hide silently when they hear their people calling for them? Is it just the stress?

Kim Freeman 13:52

It is mostly the stress.

Kristiina Wilson 13:54

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 13:57

Cats have amazing hearing. Yes. I think people underestimate the hearing. I think I have read that they have the best in terms of frequencies from low to high of any land mammal better than elephants. Now, bats are a mammal, but they're an air. Yeah. So I'm not counting bats and moths. Yeah. Yeah. Cats have amazing, they can hear a mouse underground move, right?

Speaker 2 14:29

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 14:32

Example story. People never believe this, but Henry, who was my search cat, uh, was sleeping next to me while I was working one night, sound asleep. He suddenly woke up, jumped up, looked out the front window. There was an orange cat walking on concrete, just walking past. How Henry was inside, this cat's outside and it woke him up out of a sleep. How do you hear cat paws on concrete?

Kristiina Wilson 15:05

Yeah. I wonder if he smelled him too. Because they also have such a good sense of smell, but who knows?

Kim Freeman 15:13

It's probably a combination of both.

Profiling Hiding Spots And Travel Range

Kristiina Wilson 15:16

But yeah, it's truly what kind of behavioral clues can help you predict where a cat might be? Like how do you go about figuring out where somebody might be hiding?

Speaker 4 15:29

Well, you know, it does it starts with is this cat indoor or outdoor?

Speaker 3 15:35

Mm-hmm.

Kim Freeman 15:36

Indoor and got out, they're gonna be hiding more likely under something.

Speaker 2 15:42

Right.

Kim Freeman 15:42

An outdoor cat that goes missing is probably stuck somewhere. You know, outdoor cats aren't, you know, as skittish in hiding of everything because they're used to their routine and they're a lot of times they have a patrol and they go here and they check this and sniff that. But a lot of times cats that are outdoor get curious, like, I've never been in this garage before. Let me check it out. Or this shed, you know, someone's doing yard work and the shed's wide open, and they're oh, I haven't claimed this is mine yet. Let me go in.

unknown 16:19

Right.

Kim Freeman 16:19

And then they get closed up and shut in, like Steve did in that basement.

Speaker 2 16:26

The basement, the grody basement. Yeah. So gross.

Kim Freeman 16:30

Poor baby. Yeah. But yeah, so a lot of it is whether they're indoor or outdoor, skittish, timid. But then there's also factors like you gotta look at what was the weather doing, what time of day was it? Wind is very disorienting to cats.

Speaker 5 16:47

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 16:47

I would say more so than rain. Wind is worse. They can't hear as well. They don't have their sense of smell because the wind is is disrupting everything. So the weather's important, population density, you know, are you urban? Are you in the city or the country? You know, how many people, how many cars? You know, a cat that's lost in an apartment complex is a whole different case than a cat that's lost out in the country, obviously. Sure. So all of those factors go into kind of analyzing the highest probability inward look. Right.

Kristiina Wilson 17:24

That makes sense. Is there behavioral research that has like influenced how you approach finding a lost cat, or is it just everything that you've just kind of learned as you go?

Kim Freeman 17:37

Well, it's both. It's both. Right. A lot of what I do has been informed by studies into there are not a lot of studies on lost cats. Right. More people seem to be interested in dogs. There have been two good studies. Sample sizes weren't huge, but still it's something. I've also really been influenced by tracking, being able to find tiny little clues and start to form a database on what cats typically do. For an example, indoor cats, when they get out, based on the fur clues and footprints and things that I've seen, paw prints, they generally will go around the perimeter of a building. They're not going out in a straight line, they're not running across the street, they're going all the way around the walls first. That's kind of what they do first. Sometimes they're looking for a way to get back in. And if they can't get back in, then the next thing is where's the dark place to hide? And I have found a lot of times an indoor only cat that gets out is more prone to go downhill if they have a choice.

Speaker 2 18:46

Huh.

Kim Freeman 18:46

Yeah. Interesting. I'm not sure why that is. No one studied that. Yeah. But I do see a trend that they often had downhill if, you know, it's equal in terms of bushes. Like they're not going to go downhill if it's a wide open space. They're more likely to go uphill if there's a lot of bushes.

Kristiina Wilson 19:09

Yeah, I was gonna say maybe downhill feels less exposed somehow, or more hidey, since they're predators and prey and they're surprise predators. So maybe the downhill just feels somehow.

Kim Freeman 19:21

Yeah. Um it's also easier to move downhill.

Kristiina Wilson 19:25

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 19:26

And people tend when they've got two ways to go, they tend to go downhill. Sometimes it's path of least resistance.

Kristiina Wilson 19:33

Yeah, that's fair. That's so interesting. That's cool. That's a lot to think about just right there. Are there other patterns in your in your data about the distance that they they tend to travel, like indoor cats when they get out?

Kim Freeman 19:48

Yes. There was a really good story, um, study um by Professor Lorde, and then there was another one, Elizabeth. And the data is conflicting, and it doesn't really agree with my experience either.

Kristiina Wilson 20:05

Are these those studies that were done in England?

Kim Freeman 20:08

England and Queensland, Australia.

Kristiina Wilson 20:11

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 20:12

Yeah. Um, I can send you these are really interesting, but you know, it really bugs me when they say, well, there were two cats that were found so far away that we threw out that data.

Speaker 2 20:24

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 20:25

Because there's no way a cat could travel that far. Well, maybe they got accidentally transported, and you still need to include that because it does happen. And I I guess they thought it would skew the median or message. Yeah, it's gonna be too much.

Kristiina Wilson 20:38

To do a good statistical analysis, you do have to throw out the outliers, but I understand also why you should not. And maybe adding in a separate analysis for those outliers would make use of that data because I agree with you, it should still be used, but I also understand why they couldn't include it, you know, in the statistical analysis.

Kim Freeman 21:05

Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 21:05

It's frustrating. That's frustrating.

Kim Freeman 21:08

Yeah. And I I would love to see a study on how many cats get transported because now when I was when I was learning lost cat behavior and how to profile cats to, you know, like the FBI profiles missing persons, I really thought, you know, there are eight probabilities of what could happen to the cat. You know, lost is translates down. He could be stuck and trapped, he could be dead, he could just be hiding in silence. I could have been taken by a predator, but transported is one. And remember learning and thinking, oh, that's so unlikely statistically, how many cats are going to get in a car. But it's not that they're jumping. They're not jumping into like an open window, they're climbing. Up under usually SUVs that have those platforms of space underneath them.

Speaker 2 22:07

Right.

Kim Freeman 22:08

And when the car starts, you know, this is why I ask in profiling, what does your cat do when there's a loud noise? Do they freeze or do they run? And a lot of cats will just freeze in place, especially if it's, you know, raining or a car chased a dog chased them under the car. They're not about to come out into the jaws of a dog. And they'll just freeze and the car starts and starts moving. And they're like, oh my God, this is scary. And then the car comes to a stop and they think, it's over. Right. And then the car starts again and they're they start to panic. And eventually they will jump out. Some cats will jump at what I have found very interesting to me is at the third stop. Not every time, but I do see data that shows it's often the third place the car paused, turned, or stopped. And I think it's because the second time the car stops, they're like, I gotta jump. I gotta get out of here. And I haven't got the nerve yet. But the third time they're like, Enough. I see a trend here. I'm gonna go for it. Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 23:14

Right.

Kim Freeman 23:16

So yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 23:17

I had a a client a few years ago who came to me for help with socializing. She worked in a warehouse for like construction material. And the cat had ended up being transported to their warehouse in one of their trucks in like I feel like they were like big uh concrete tubes, or it it was something that the cat had been transported like halfway across the country on a flat bed in this construction material and arrived like bedraggled and obviously freaked out. And and she was caring for the cat in the warehouse, just trying to get him to calm down and then eventually adopted him, and he now lives happily with her. But that was the first case that I remember hearing of a cat being accidentally transported and he wasn't microchipped, you know, there's no way to figure out where did this cat come from. But it was an interesting case that I had just in my own clinical practice of this actually happening. Are there common like behavior mistakes that people make when they're searching? What dumb things do we do as humans when we're looking for our cats?

Kim Freeman 24:20

We tend to just walk around calling, shaking treats, we not including me, and assuming the cat's gonna come out, just here I am. Right. I think litterbox is a dumb thing, for sure, because you're actually jeopardizing your cat's safety and possibly life. It's also, I think, really bad. I'm seeing a lot of trends lately for just just put out a trap. No. And I also see people saying, search at night with flashlight, and you can see their eyes. So both of those can be bad. A, the trap is kind of like a litter box because you're putting food in your own yard and attracting other cats.

Kristiina Wilson 25:02

Well, and you're gonna trap all kinds of stuff too.

Kim Freeman 25:05

Yes, all kinds of stuff. And that stuff that gets trapped, if your cat sees it, it's gonna scare them and then they're gonna be like, I'm not going in that thing.

Kristiina Wilson 25:13

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Kim Freeman 25:14

So you don't want to invite other animals. Now, if you have a sighting, yes, put up a trap. But putting a trap in your own yard is just inviting, it's kind of like a litter box. You're inviting trouble. So I wouldn't say it's a dumb thing, it's just counterintuitive to what people they don't think it through. Just like calling out a search dog for a lost cat. How many cats are gonna let some like panting, dog walk up to them?

Speaker 2 25:41

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 25:41

They're gonna run further away. So a lot of things that are they're not dumb, they're just you gotta think it through from the cat's point of view.

Kristiina Wilson 25:50

Yeah, that's fair. I just realized we never actually talked about the patterns that we you found in the distance traveled. Like, how far do cats usually go? If an indoor cat gets out and is lost, in your data, how far do you find that they typically go?

Kim Freeman 26:08

Well, my data shows six, oh yeah, this is assuming a suburban block. Yeah. Six houses in all directions. Used to I don't know if the data has changed or I just have more of it, but I used to focus on 250 feet radius for an indoor cat. An outdoor cat 500. That's kind of my rule of thumb. The Queensland study found 17 houses for outdoor access cats was more typical. And I think indoor was three houses, but again, you know, not a huge sample size, not as large as the sample size of my own experience. Right. And you know, indoor wonder only are more likely to get transported too. So, you know, it really bugs me when I see people say, search with a flashlight at night, which is not a good idea, and they're hiding close by. People are cutting and pasting this advice they picked up from somewhere. And that's what happens, yeah. Two to three houses. But indoor only cats are often transported because they do hide under cars and and you know, they're so scared, especially let's say it's raining, and the the best place they can hide from all the people walking dogs is under car. If it's raining and the water starts running and their feet are getting wet, they go up.

Kristiina Wilson 27:41

Up into the car. Yeah.

Kim Freeman 27:42

Into the chassis. Usually it's a skid plate. For some reason, I have found Toyota RAV 4s are especially appealing to kids. They have this like basket in the front that's like perfect, you know, and when the car starts driving, they're not getting wind in their face or anything, or just in this little sealed little basket of RAV 4s. Um, I had a case in Brooklyn where the cat disappeared into a parking lot and it was the RAV 4.

Speaker 2 28:09

Man.

Kim Freeman 28:10

Anyway, indoor only cats often get transported, and people don't consider that. And they think after, you know, a week or two of no sightings, the cat's dead, when actually it could easily be across town. Right. And when I work with people and they listen to me and follow up on that possibility, I tell them about the three stops in every direction. A lot of times they find their cat and they're just amazed and astonished because they didn't think it was possible.

Speaker 2 28:36

Right.

Kim Freeman 28:37

My cat hates cars and would never go near a car. Well, that's if it's running.

Speaker 2 28:41

Right.

Kim Freeman 28:42

If it's sitting still and it's near where they want to hide and it's raining or it's windy. Cars like a cat cave.

Kristiina Wilson 28:51

It's true. I've I have pulled a lot of cats out of a lot of cars.

Kim Freeman 28:55

Yeah.

The Lost Cat Kit And Tracking Clues

Kristiina Wilson 28:55

Just just working feral cases and doing rescue work in New York City. I have pulled a lot of cats out of chassis, out of engines, a lot of a lot of that. So my experience is that cats love to climb up into a car. So moving on, can you tell me a little bit about your lost cat kit and what's involved?

Kim Freeman 29:18

The lost cat kit was created so that, you know, somebody in another country or another state can sort of have my advice without having to fly me there and you know, hire me in person. So it's basically everything I've learned. I update it about every year, every two years. So the video, it's kind of a show and tell. So the book tells people if you have this kind of cat and this situation, this probability, this is the path to follow. It explains, you know, cat behavior. It's it's basically a crash course on being your own cat detective. And then the video shows how I do tracking, how I do my searches, the gear that I use, how to use the gear, how to set up traps and cameras, just little tips that so you know they feel like I'm there helping them. Because it's a lot, it's a lot to learn. And you kind of get thrown into it. And it's like, which one should I buy? You know, gear that you might not ever have thought of to use for cats, like a plumber's boroscope and you know, amplified listening devices, things like that, so that people can kind of get the key equipment they need for whatever their situation is.

Kristiina Wilson 30:37

Okay. That is there a link that people can go to to find your lost cat kit. Where do they find this?

Kim Freeman 30:44

It's on my website, lostcatfinder.com. There it is. Um, and I think it's under it's under Lost Cat Kit.

Kristiina Wilson 30:54

Okay. Cool. I will put um a link to that also in the show notes for everybody so you guys can find it. And hopefully nobody needs it, but it will be nice to be able to actually post this for people to use.

Kim Freeman 31:07

Yeah, it's, you know, really it's helped thousands and thousands of people who are on the verge of giving out. They're like, oh, I bet I can't believe this information. It's, you know, it's it's beyond the typical stuff that's out there.

Kristiina Wilson 31:20

Yeah. What clues do you look for that you think most people miss when you're looking for a cat?

Kim Freeman 31:26

Fur. When cats are stressed, they shed like crazy. It's true. I'm sure when you've pulled cats out of engines, there was a ton of fur in your hand and left behind. And Sean from Canopy Cats probably knows when a cat's been up. I bet three clumps of fur on the bar. Yeah. Yeah. So fur clues are very helpful. And they show me where a cat's been, where they where they bedded down sometimes. So I know this is where they're sleeping. A lot of times cats will have one hiding place in the day and one at night. And they move between the two, usually, you know, in the wee hours. But yeah, fur people just don't notice fur. When they're searching for their cat, they're looking for their whole cat. You know, they're looking for the cat's body, and they're not seeing little things like, you know, unfortunately, sometimes I have had coyote cases and there's nothing but fur left. But the person was walking past it every day because they're looking for their cat and they didn't see.

Kristiina Wilson 32:30

See the yeah.

Kim Freeman 32:31

Yeah. But fur also shows me, you know, even if it's just he went through these bushes, gives you a direction of travel. You know, you can analyze and see if it's your cat or another cat. You know, if you look at it closely. Fur paw prints. Sometimes I'll find a poop pile. You can see the little grape marks, you know. I always ask people when I'm working with them, does your cat cover their poop in the litter box, or do they just kind of leave it up, leave it there and jump out? But that's also a good clue. But yeah, fur paw prints. Uh I look and see, you know, what the weather was that day, but also are there any lost dogs? Are there any loose dogs that could have chased your cat? And on next door, often you'll have you'll be able to go through the post and see who lost a dog, how close to you are they? Has the dog been recovered? Was the dog out loose while your cat was missing? All of those are are really kind of, you know, detective work clues that most people don't think to do.

Kristiina Wilson 33:35

Right.

Kim Freeman 33:37

Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 33:38

Okay. Those are really interesting. The fur thing is very interesting that totally makes sense.

Kim Freeman 33:42

Yeah, fur is an amazing clue if people slow down and look for it. Another one is claw marks on fences. You can see if you look at a fence carefully, like a wooden fence, not chain link. But you can see like where the cat stepped over a rail and their tummy fur got caught. You can see when they go under a fence, I'll see like a smooth place in the dirt. And then if I put my flashlight on the bottom of the fence, I'll see a couple of hairs clinging. You know, claw marks. If the cat jumped over a fence, you see where their little hind claws dug in. And, you know, it's usually about 12 inches below the top of the fence. And you can see where they jumped up. Let me just ask about Steve. Oh, yeah. When this happened with the fence, how old was he?

Kristiina Wilson 34:27

Oh, he was barely a year, I think. He was quite young. So that's why I think he was still like a kind of a teen and inexperienced, and that's I think why it never happened again. Once, you know, it happened the one time he learned, and then he was much more careful after that.

Kim Freeman 34:42

Yeah. You know, something I learned from vets is that most cats that are hit by cars are young males. Makes sense. And you know, they're out, they're like an 18-year-old boy. Yeah. Nothing can hurt me, taking risks, often unneutered. You know, they're crossing streets and doing whatever they want. Yeah. Between like one and two years old is kind of the range.

Microchips Trackers And False Confidence

Kristiina Wilson 35:10

Yeah, that that doesn't surprise me. And I think, you know, this applies to to all mammals, is that I forget the statistic, but I think it's like 51% of births are males versus 49. It's it's a tiny percentage, but it's enough because there is that extra percentage of males of any mammalian species is going to act up in a stupid way and get themselves killed. But it's true, that's what happens. They act up, they they take too many risks, they do something stupid, they take themselves out of the gene pool so that by the time they reach sexual maturity and it's time to start mating, there are now an equal amount of males and females that are available in the gene in the gene pool, like circulating of the same age group. Do you find that people think that a microchip is also a tracker? Yes. But yes.

Kim Freeman 36:05

They I think some people don't microchip their cat because they don't want it to be tracked. They're just so suspicious microchip. Now, Bill Gates is getting in my It's tracking my cat. Like they care about cats in the first place.

Kristiina Wilson 36:20

I know the government's gonna track where my cat is. It's so funny. I love that idea.

Kim Freeman 36:26

Or they're gonna eavesdrop on me through my cat.

Kristiina Wilson 36:28

Through my cat's neck. Mean cat's meanwhile, meanwhile, the person's walking around with one of these. Yes, you know, like the government's listening to me to me through my cap, but I've got this next to me at all times. But it's not through this that the, you know, I always have on my person. This is not the mechanism.

Kim Freeman 36:50

All right. So, yeah, there is still a huge um misconception about microchips. When I moved to Texas, I the person I was living with, my my cat got out within one of the first few nights because he had left the door open.

Speaker 2 37:08

No.

Kim Freeman 37:09

It was like, oh, we don't have to worry, it's microchip. You can just track where he goes. And this was what I thought was an educated pet owner. Now, granted, this was 2004, but still. Yeah, people still think microchips are tracking devices. It's it's it's ID only, and only if it's scanned, if if someone first has to find the cat.

Kristiina Wilson 37:34

Well, you have to register it.

Kim Freeman 37:36

And register it, right? Yeah. And then if the cat is microchip and someone does find it, they have to catch the cat. You know, that's hard enough on its own, but especially by a stranger, and then transport the cat to, you know, a bandfield or a vet and ask them to scan it. I I kind of wish vets, you know, so many people, I think it's 30, 34, 35% of cats owned were found or obtained because they just showed up one day.

Speaker 2 38:09

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 38:10

A lot of those were someone else's cat. And when they take that cat, they just he chose us. He just showed up right and wanted to come in. Vets aren't required to scan cats, a new patient. They're not? Nope. They're not required to scan a new cat. They will if you ask them to, but most people don't. Crazy. Yeah. I mean, it takes three seconds. I I wish vets were required to scan new patients because so many cats that were lost, you know, they're crying at the next door neighbors and they let him in. He's our cat now. But yeah, so think about all the variables to identify a cat with microchip. Or, you know, he finally shows up at a shelter after you've stopped searching and you never registered your chip.

Speaker 2 38:57

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 38:58

They're they're not magic, they're just purely ID. And yes, people do think that they're somehow tracking devices.

Kristiina Wilson 39:05

Yeah, I've I've had a few clients who have who have thought that as well, and I found that interesting. What do you think about actual, like putting actual trackers on cats? Like the tracking collars and like the little things that you can put on your cat.

Kim Freeman 39:21

Um, I was super excited. I've tried so many of those when I had Henry. Yeah. And when I took my cat Henry out on lost cat cases, I had not only a uh a GPS tracker on him, but also RFID. Radio frequency, I think, is in some cases better than GPS, because you know, GPS tracker is relying on satellites that can't see your cat under a car or underground in a storm drain. But the RFIDs do. So I had I used both. RFIDs are much smaller too. They are. You get those little tiny ones. I was really excited when AirTag came out and designed collars uh told everybody has them now. But I I think AirTags are pretty good depending on where you live. You know, you need to be in a you know population where other people have iPhones for work. Um, it's not gonna work on 15 acres, probably.

Speaker 2 40:19

No, it's not. It's not.

Kim Freeman 40:21

But I I also like that the air tags are round. A lot of the who designed this GPS tracker that's square that's gonna poke the cat in the neck, you know?

Speaker 2 40:33

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 40:33

I thought air tags were a great idea, but I can't tell you. I mean, I could tell you if I looked it up, how many cases I've had of cats that got lost with an air tag on. And the air tag it gives a person a sense of confidence that they can just let their cat out anytime to go anywhere because they'll always know where they are. But the collar came off or the the tracker, you know, the battery died. But I've had a few cases where the cat's collar was found. And, you know, based on another clue I look at is maps of a person's area. And are there power line eastements? Are there water sources? Are there creeks? Are there railroad tracks? Those are all indicative of coyote presence. Coyotes travel power lines like you know, coyote highway. There are no fences, it's easy access, there's wildlife. Same for train tracks and creeks. So I guess to answer your question, what do I think about them? They can give per people a false sense of security. I have found more people find cats with the RFID, the radio frequency chips. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, the cat could be next door in a garage, and that will find them. Whereas the GPS long.

Kristiina Wilson 41:51

Yeah, that makes sense.

Kim Freeman 41:52

It varies. Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 41:54

So um what are the first two or three things that people should do within the first hour after their cats go missing? Or cat goes missing. I don't know why I pluralized that.

Kim Freeman 42:05

Yeah, hopefully only one went missing.

Kristiina Wilson 42:06

I know, just just the one cat.

Kim Freeman 42:09

The first thing to do is search every inch of the house. And you know, I told you the story about the cat that got locked locked up in the blanket chest.

Kristiina Wilson 42:16

Yes.

Kim Freeman 42:17

So when I say every cubic inch, you gotta look inside things, under things. You gotta even look at under the dishwasher. Nobody realizes there's behind the refrigerator, cats can get behind and under refrigerators, and their collars can get tangled up in the coils. So all those, seriously, every cubic inch. Post on next door because you want, you know, just your neighborhood. And I would talk to in person every neighbor, at least two houses adjacent to you, all the way around.

Speaker 5 42:54

Okay.

Kim Freeman 42:54

Those would be the get those done quickly right away. Don't worry about Facebook and posters and all that. Do those things first. I there are a lot of scams going on with lost pet. And people preying on the owners. Yes. On my website, I have a list of the common scams to avoid. And unfortunately, people don't go, I wonder if I ever lose my pet if I'll get scammed. So, you know, a lot of times they've already been scammed. Only respond to people who can send a picture.

Kristiina Wilson 43:27

If someone says, I've got your cap and I need $500 to the vet because you got run over, you know, all those are I that reminds me of when Steve got lost and I like immediately papered the neighborhood in in flyers because I was so terrified and upset. That night, all these because these teens kept calling me, and I guess they just thought it was like a funny prank. And they called and they were just like, Oh, your cat's been hit by a car, he's in the middle of the street, blah, blah, blah. You know, and I could tell it was a prank because they're just dumb teens, but I got so many calls like that, it was just like What is wrong with you guys? What an awful thing to do to somebody. Like terrible.

Kim Freeman 44:09

Probably happens to most owners.

Kristiina Wilson 44:11

Yeah.

Henry The Tracking Cat And Legacy

Kim Freeman 44:12

Not only the scams, but the pranks, and just you shouldn't be letting your cat out. Well, I did. Yeah, he is gay, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's very sad. I would love to talk about Henry. Yes. So please. Henry was so special and he was my Steve, right? And as far as I know, he's the only cat that's ever been trained to track cats. Mm-hmm. But I also want to talk about him because I really wanted to carry on his legacy. You know, he was of course. He was 20 when he died. And he was still just as friendly and fearless and carefree and sweet as ever. Um part of the reason I want to talk about him is I do think there are other cats, I haven't found one yet, that can be trained to track lost cats. And I want to start teaching people how to do it.

Kristiina Wilson 45:06

I've that is a great idea.

Kim Freeman 45:07

Never revealed my secrets of how I trained him. You know, it it started with clicker training, but then it goes way beyond that. But I would love to help, I want to leave a legacy and have other cats help cats because everybody wants to train their dog to find cats, but it's really not, it doesn't make sense. It's not a great idea.

Kristiina Wilson 45:28

No.

Kim Freeman 45:29

Um, if you're gonna try and dog train them to find lost dogs, or maybe tortoises. They can't run from a dog very well.

Kristiina Wilson 45:36

That's true. Is there a problem with lost tortoises?

Kim Freeman 45:39

My first case after I was trained on the you know missing persons procedural use for pets was a giant African tortoise. His name was Lightning Bolt, 300 pounds, 350 pounds gigantic. And my next door neighbors had a llama farm. This was in Texas, and different neighbor than the Mr. Pearr rancher. And Lightning Bolt had escaped the night before. And I tracked him. I found him he had gone, and you know, it's easy to track a huge tortoise because it mashed the grass down where they go. And he had crossed my pasture where my horse was and gone down a hill towards a dry creek bed, and he rolled, and I found him upside down at the bottom of the hill. Yeah. It took three of us to turn him over. I bet. And then get him in a golf cart to get him back home. So yeah. That was my first. Well, I wouldn't say it's my first professional case because they didn't pay me. I guess that's the definition. But it was one of the first cases after I trained. Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 46:49

That's so cool. I imagine after that it would be pretty easy for his people to just stick a tracker on top of like have that not happen again.

Kim Freeman 46:58

Yeah, this was 2008. I don't know if they had trackers, but yeah. What I think what they did was they they stuck a um flag.

unknown 47:07

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 47:07

Like an orange flag pole.

Kristiina Wilson 47:09

A flag, yeah. Yeah. Or you could put a balloon, but I guess that wouldn't last that long.

Kim Freeman 47:13

Not with the trees and yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 47:15

No.

Kim Freeman 47:15

The lime oaks would have popped.

Kristiina Wilson 47:17

I like that the flag is a good idea. So anyway, what traits made Henry such an amazing tracking cat? Like, what was it about him, do you think?

Kim Freeman 47:27

He was so fearless. When I met him before I knew him, I went to a Jackson Galaxy outdoor event in Austin. And I went to get my book signed. Jackson had just come out with his first book. And I had been at the shelter. I was doing like enrichment and clicker training for the shelter cat so they would make eye contact with visitors. And I had all my clicker stuff in the car. And I'm out walking around and I see this big tuxedo cat lounging in a purple harness out on this grassy hillside, just watching all the kids screaming and the dogs walking by, just chaos. And he's just cool as can be. But, you know, the light bulb went off, and it was like, instead of, you know, I was thinking about getting a bloodhound to help me with tracking because I was still doing dogs and cats.

Speaker 2 48:19

Right.

Kim Freeman 48:20

And I thought, why not get a cat who thinks he's a dog? Yeah and train him. So I took Henry off to the side and uh I got my stuff out of the truck, my clicker and treats and stuff. And I wanted to see how scent focused he was. You know, is he interested in other cats? Is he interested in tracking scent? And he was so good. I wanted to adopt him on the spot. I'm like, this is the perfect cat for this. It took me a month of begging and pleading. Because they had a rule if you adopt a cat, you can never let him outside. I'm like, well, I'm gonna have him on a leash. You know, yeah. Can't do it. Took a month of here are all my vet records, you know, to show that I'm a good animal guardian. Finally, one day after I was on the news, I did an interview on the news, and she called me and said, Okay, come get him. So after a month and then probably another six months to a year of training, we started doing cases. But yeah, Henry was just so fearless and so friendly and chill, and he loved other cats. He especially loved kittens, but he was just curious.

Speaker 49:28

You know, he was He sounds just like Steve. Yeah, he was sounding like exactly the same guy.

Kim Freeman 49:34

Yeah, also he was a peacenick. He didn't want to kill stuff, he just wanted to watch Yeah.

Speaker 49:39

That's so they sound like very much like the same.

Kim Freeman 49:43

You know, and people who have cats like that know they're special, but they don't know how to direct it and you know, make them a working cat that actually has a job. And I think he loved his job 100%. He used to, you know, when he got a chance, he would go sleep in the car. If he saw me, you know, loading my gear into the car, he would go jump and sit in the car waiting for me. Like we're gonna go. I only took him though on indoor-only cat cases. Yeah. Because, you know, you gotta have a single scent trail. I want to train, I want other people to learn to, you know, everybody has adventure cats. Why not, you know, those are the most likely prospects.

Kristiina Wilson 50:26

How old was he when you adopted him and when you started 10?

Kim Freeman 50:31

So his personality was, you know, very much already there.

Kristiina Wilson 50:35

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 50:35

And I you know, I kind of thought, you know, 10 is up there for training a cat, but he just took to it and yeah. He had 10 year a 10-year career.

Kristiina Wilson 50:45

That's amazing. That's amazing that you had him for that long.

Kim Freeman 50:48

I took really good care of him.

Kristiina Wilson 50:51

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure.

Kim Freeman 50:53

But yeah, I I would love to see other people. And I think, you know, I've kind of worked out how I can do this. And, you know, training other people to train their cats.

Speaker 2 51:04

Yeah.

Kristiina Wilson 51:06

That's cool.

Kim Freeman 51:07

So yeah, I think Henry would like that. I've heard his voice telling me you need to do this.

Kristiina Wilson 51:12

Yeah.

Kim Freeman 51:13

Pass on the torque.

Kristiina Wilson 51:14

You should. Yeah. You should. You absolutely should. I think that's a great idea. I think that's a great idea. Okay. So if somebody who's listening to the podcast unfortunately loses their cat tomorrow, what do you think the most important mindset is that they should have while searching?

Closing Takeaways And Where To Get Help

Kim Freeman 51:29

They need to realize that cats are survivors. Don't give up. You know, don't make assumptions. Your cat is out there somewhere. Stay determined and positive. Don't wear yourself out. You got to take care of yourself. Use a systematic approach that's tailored to your cat's personality, geography, everything about, you know, whether it's an indoor or outdoor cat, all of those things need to be targeted to your cat. So don't listen to all the like cut and paste, cookie-cutter general advice everyone throws at you on social media. You need to follow a the appropriate approach for your cat and your situation.

Kristiina Wilson 52:09

All right. Well, I just want to say thank you so much. This was such an important and super interesting conversation. I really love talking to you. And I think this is gonna be such a helpful episode for so many people. Hopefully, nobody ever loses their cat ever, ever again.

Kim Freeman 52:26

That'd be a great world.

Kristiina Wilson 52:28

I know, it would be an amazing world, but unfortunately, that probably isn't gonna come true. So I just hope that people are able to use all of your tips um and go to lostcatfinder.com and find your kit and to be able to just use this episode for help and to share it with people that that they know who may have lost their their pets. Yeah. So thank you so much for being on the episode.

Kim Freeman 52:50

You're so welcome. It's good for people to know that there are cat detectives, you know, that there are people that can help. Yeah. Um, there are pet detectives and cat detectives. It's nice that you know you can find someone that's more specialized in cats because we know they're very different than dogs. They are.

Kristiina Wilson 53:11

All right, thank you so much.

Kim Freeman 53:13

You bet. Thank you, Christina.

Kristiina Wilson 53:15

Thanks so much for listening to the show. If you're looking for one-on-one support with behavior issues like litter box problems, aggression, anxiety, or multicat dynamics, you can find me through my behavior consulting business, Catitude Adjustment, at catitude-adjustment.com. If you like the episode, please consider leaving a rating or review. It really helps us grow. For more episodes, show notes, and resources, head to hissandtellpodcast.com. Huge thanks to Cat Beats for the music, and I'll see you next time.