Japanese technique for finding lost cat seems surprisingly effective

Cats and dogs go missing all the time. It's a heartbreaking moment when we discover that our beloved pet has vanished from our home. How easily horrific images come to mind of busy roads and evil people.

A Japanese cat owner suffered the dreaded fate when his cat escaped from his care and was missing for two days.

@charlie0816 took to Twitter to ask other cat owners what he should do. He was told to talk to other cats in the area to ask them whether they had seen his cat.

Sceptical at first @charlie0816 knew his only hope now was to do what others had suggested. Thus he spent the next two days talking to cats.

Reaching out

He wrote on Twitter that someone had said, ‘Talking to cats in the neighbourhood and saying to them, ‘If you see my cat, please tell it to come home’ is an effective technique.’ So last night, I went to the local convenience store and gave it a try by speaking to the stray cats there.'

The next morning @charlie0816’s cat arrived at the front door of the house, seemingly worse for wear and even a little larger than he was before he left.

‘Um…is it seriously this effective?,’ @charlie 0816 wrote.

Doomsayers are of course quick to jump to conclusions. They would argue any number of reasons for why the cat returned home; one being that the cat's re-appearance was pure coincidence.

However, numerous Tweeps made their voices heard in response to the return of @chalrie0816's cat. They too had asked neighbourhood animals to 'put the word out' about their missing pet. And in many cases their doing so worked.

There may be something far greater going on in the minds of our pets than we had previously thought.