Check under the hood for lost cats. On March 5th, Mu, the cat-detection dog, found a lost cat in the engine compartment of a large SUV. This cat is blind, and she had been missing for four days. She got out of the apartment when a door was opened accidentally. She was found about 100 feet from the point of escape. Fortunately, she chose a vehicle that doesn’t get driven very often. The search dog gave a strong indication that there was a cat behind the radiator. We used an optical scope to peek through the narrow openings and see that there was in fact a cat hiding in a tight space. Her owners had walked past her dozens of times, searching for her, and never realized she was so close. Most missing cats are found within 500 feet of home. In less than 15% of missing cat cases, the cat is found miles away. Although there is no way of knowing how cats end up miles away from home, the most likely reason is that they are accidentally transported in vehicles. If your cat is missing, especially an indoor only cat, try to check under the hood of as many cars as possible within 200 feet of your house. Also, ask your neighbors to bang on the hoods of their cars before starting their engines when they leave for work in the morning. If it is difficult to talk to all of your neighbors quickly, you might consider putting a lost cat flyer under their windshield wipers, with a note asking them to bang on the hood before starting the engine.