When Apollo disappeared whilst on a walk his owners feared the worse and presumed he had been stolen. They enlisted the help of Animal Search UK who carried out a poster and leaflet campaign which uses a confidential free phone number to allow people to come forward with news.

On the 14th July – 10 days after disappearing – a call was received in the headquarters to say that Apollo had been sighted, but had run off into the undergrowth.

A call was immediately made to Apollo’s owners who were able to be at the scene in 5 minutes and start an on foot search of the area.

He was found moments later terrified and hiding in a ditch, but his owners managed to coax him out with plenty of encouragement, and he was taken to the vets for treatment.

Luckily he has made a fantastic recovery from his arduous ordeal and has settled back in at home with his very grateful and relieved owners.

Karen said: “I can’t thank you all enough at Animal Search UK as I do feel it was due to your posters and your prompt service that managed to get Apollo back for me. I would also like to say to everyone who loses a pet please don't give up finding them, tell everyone in the area that your pet is lost and take advantage of a service such as Animal Search who can also offer support and lots of great advice as well as the poster and call centre service”

Basil the cat found by Animal Search UK was not a sky diving cat but Sara his owner owns a sky diving company doing tandem jumps!

Sara was shocked to discover that Basil who had settled into his home in Cirencester had suddenly gone missing. Sara contacted us on Saturday afternoon when most other rescue centres would have been closed. She was pleased to hear a friendly voice on the end of the phone and spoke to a member of the team at some length about how our poster campaigns could help her to publicise the fact that Basil had gone missing.

Two hours later in the head quarters the posters and leaflets had been printed and were delivered the next day (Sunday) in person by one of the search teaam, so that the search could begin in earnest. It only took a week for the posters to work and we received a phone call at the head quarters to say that someone claiming to be Basil's owner had come forward and said that he wanted to keep Basil as his own cat.

When he explained that his own cat had gone missing two years ago and that he believed Basil was that cat, we let him know that this couldn't be the case as Basil was only 8 months old. After a micro chip test a local vet it was confirmed that the cat was indeed Basil and did not belong to the gentleman claiming to own him.

When initially handing the posters and leaflets to Sara she mentioned to Tom that if he found Basil he could be in for a cheap sky dive, but as yet Tom hasn't taken her up on this offer!

A family's horror to discover they had been burgled was only compounded when it was discovered that their pet Staffordshire bull terrier had also been taken.

After informing the police to next port of call was Animal Search UK and Harry's owners sent through a photo and details to the head quarters within hours of the break in. The campaign was quickly put together appealing for information about Harry.

These were sent as normal overnight to the owner to distribute in the area meanwhile the police were making enquiries into the where about of the family cars that were also stolen along with other contents from the house.

The posters and leaflets were handed out quickly by the owners making Harry 'hot property' and as a result the thieves released Harry back into the area and he was found shortly after by a young lady who saw one of our posters and called our call centre.

Harry's family were overjoyed to have him back alas the police have not found any of the other stolen property, maybe they should get some tips from Animal Search UK.

Rufus and his owner Sharon Webb were reunited after Rufus had been missing for some time. It was because of a poster campaign carried out by Animal Search UK that Rufus was found, and ever since Sharon has been a friend and supporter of Animal Search UK. Sharon has recently volunteered her services to help with searches in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire regions.

A grateful cat owner has been reunited with Misty her pet cat thanks to an Animal Search UK poster campaign after Misty apparently spent a month locked in a shed.Corinne Regan, 36, of Peebles, said she would love to be able to ask two-year-old Misty how she managed to survive her time away from home.


Animal Search UK said she may have survived by licking condensation off windows.Ms Regan said she had given up hope of finding Misty. However, the Animal Search UK call centre was phoned by a householder in a neighbouring street who had seen posters of missing Misty and spotted her in a shed.

Ms Regan said the cat did not appear to have been harmed by the incident. She's lost more than a kilogram in weight and she's pretty skinny, she said. She's been dying for attention but we haven't let her back out just yet. I'd love to be able to ask her how exactly she managed to survive.

Longest time

Tom said I've a lot of experience with missing cats but I've never come across a cat that has survived being locked in a shed for four weeks.This is definitely the longest time I've ever seen a cat survive after being trapped somewhere. She must have licked the condensation off the inside of the windows and eaten whatever mice she came across.

SSPCA comment:
Ch Supt Mike Flynn of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was not unusual for cats to get trapped in sheds or garages.

Cats are naturally inquisitive and often like to shelter in warm places, he said. However, to survive while trapped for four weeks is extremely unusual and we are delighted to hear Misty is okay.

On Thursday 19th March 2010 when Reuben the beloved pet of Dr Jennifer Swann failed to return home she feared the worst. Reuben could be the unluckiest cat in the neighbourhood of Harborne where he has lived for 2 years by first becoming the victim of a serious road accident which resulted in him having major surgery and a pin put into his leg in September 2009 then having made a good recovery and then going missing only last week.

However help was on hand in the form of a Rookie pet detective Carol Thomas from well know midlands based ‘Animal Search UK’. Carol was on her first mission as a member of the Animal Search UK missing pet investigation team. Once Jennifer- Reuben’s owner turned to their free website for help and advice she decided to recruit their search and rescue team for help tracking down her missing kitty. After 3 hours of searching the local sheds, garages and gardens in the rain and wind- the search had drawn a blank until whilst knocking on the last door of her search area Carol heard a distinctive meow of a cat in distress from behind the front door of a house owned by a family who according to the neighbours turned out not to own a cat AND be away on holiday since Reuben had disappeared.

After a frantic 5 minutes tacking down the spare key with the neighbour- mission accomplished- Reuben was rescued by the team and was soon home tucking into his favourite meal after not eating or drinking for 3 days.

Tom Watkins Founder and spokesperson for Animal Search UK said ‘ We were thrilled to discover Reuben safe and well as a direct result of our enquiries. The service we provide has once again proved effective and we would like to congratulate Carol in particular who due to her efforts and diligence- decided to target the particular row of houses where Reuben turned out to be trapped. A fantastic result on her first search team investigation”.

The Animal Search UK website www.animalsearchuk.co.uk which is free for owners or finders of missing pet to display 4 photos and advertise their pet on, currently has numrous pets listed that have been found and they would urge anyone who has lost a pet anywhere in the UK to look at the photos to establish whether their pet is one of those been reported as found by a member of the public.

May was a busy time for the Animal Search UK team and we decided to recruit a new member of staff - Jaimes Wall. Jaimes’s enthusiasm and excellent customer service skills and had been noticed by Tom when Jaimes served him as a customer one day. After an interview Tom decided that Jaimes’s skills and polite manner would go down well with Animal Search UK’s customers and he joined us on his first search for a cat named Casper.

Casper had been missing for 12 days when we started our search and after travelling 160 mile to Redhill in Surrey, Tom and Jaimes started distributing leaflets and putting up posters in the neighbourhood.

It was then time to start door-to-door enquiries, at the first house that Jaimes visited he spoke to a young lady and asked her the relevant questions about Casper and whether she had seen him recently. She then mentioned that she had seen a cat on the flat roof at the rear of her house over the last week or so.

Jaimes quickly went to the back of the house where unbelievably he identified the cat straight away as Casper the missing Persian. A team effort then ensued to keep Casper in one place with food and titbits, while a cat basket was collected from the van outside in the street.

A rooftop rescue then took place with dramatic moments as Casper was carefully coaxed into the cat basket and safely locked inside.

His owners, who were working in a totally different area that day, were thrilled when they received a text message photo to confirm that Casper had been found safe, thinner, but generally quite well on the flat roof 20 or so doors away from their own home. Twelve days out in the fresh air hadn’t caused Casper any major problems and after a trip to the vet the next day he was given the all clear to continue family life. Although now grounded for some period of time he really is pleased to be back with his Mum and Dad and will not be venturing onto that flat roof again in the near future.

Having tried everything they could think of the owners in this case did the right thing by turning to Animal Search UK, as it was as a direct result of our enquiries and Jaimes’s diligence that led to the right person giving us enough information to effect re-unification of Casper with his family. Why the young lady that had seen him on the roof had not responded to one of the posters that she had seen in the street several days before, we will never know. But thanks to our hard work, determination and thoroughness in asking everyone we saw and spoke to in the area, it paid off and there was a happy ending eventually.

Here Casper can be seen in the picture, with his owner Theresa, Jaimes and Tom.

When Biff the cat went missing from him home in South Wales on 3 February 2010, his owner feared the worst. Not only had Biff gone missing, he also had a habit of hiding under the bonnet of his owner’s car. That day, his owner had traveled to work and actually ran something over on the way to work. Fearing the worst, the owner searched the area, but there was no sign of anything in the road. When Biff failed to appear that night, the family were devastated and immediately set about planning a more thorough search. After contacting Tom from ASUK, it was agreed that a poster campaign would take place, and within hours Tom had traveled down to South Wales personally with the posters and leaflets in an attempt to publicise the fact that biff was out there and potentially injured.

After a few sightings in the first week (which turned out to be other cats), the family began to lose hope. Then out of the blue, an amazing phone call came through to our call centre from a member of the public, who thought that their son had been feeding a cat like Biff ever since the time that he disappeared. Not really wanting to believe that it could be Biff, David the owner made the journey to visit the mystery cat, and sure enough to everybody’s amazement it was Biff! After a though check at the vet, it turned out there were no injuries at all, and he had survived some of the coldest weather for years without shelter for six weeks.

We’re delighted to hear that Biff is back home now, and enjoying being back with his family. He now has eight of his nine lives left, and we hope he won’t use any of then up in such an exciting way again.

We are pleased to report that after their 400 mile round trip, full search and enquiries- combined with the publicity provided by the BBC both on local radio and the news programme LOOK NORTH and the local newspaper the Telegraph and Argus that Rocky is now home safe and well. It is believed that he was trapped in a building and was released by someone prompted to have a look by the publicity in a locked building / shed / garage etc almost 4 weeks after going missing-

His owners Sophia and Sug and have asked us to express their thanks to the BBC in particular who showed an interest in the story and the pet detectives on the trail of the escapee. Animal Search UK are also very grateful for the help recieved with local publicity and raising awareness of the search. Tune in to 92.4FM, 95.3FM & DAB BBC Leeds to hear their great shows and local and national news reports.

Another amazing story now. Charlie the cat found 180 miles from home. This is how the "Tail began"...

It was only whilst checking his engine that a driver noticed a cat stowed away underneath his bonnet. Thinking the cat had only just climbed in there he shooed it away and the cat ran off into some nearby woods.

Only once back home 180 miles later did the driver notice the "missing poster" matching the description of the cat that had jumped out from under his bonnet. The car owner phoned the number on the missing poster and explained that their cat Charlie could be the cat that jumped out of his car 180 miles away.

The owner who'd lost Charlie called Animal Search UK for help and to explain the driver's story.

What next?
The Animal Search UK team swiftly prepared a poster and leaflet campaign and arranged for a local primary school in the area Charlie jumped out of the car in to hand out the posters and leaflets.

Had it not been for the team's quick thinking and plan to have the posters and leaflets distributed by the school then Charlie, who was found 2 days later as a result of the posters, could have got more lost moved areas again or even come to some harm.

Owner Nikki Shepherd was delighted with the result and couldn't believe her eyes when having travelled the 180 miles herself she saw Charlie sitting there with the man who had found him. This is one of the most amazing survival stories we have come across and yet another success story for Animal Search UK.see the amazing TV stories here and here too

Tinker decided to live up to his name when he went missing on 23rd November from his home in St Leonards on Sea.

Owner Joanne Pepper asked Animal Search UK to help by providing her with their professional poster and leaflet campaign. This was promptly dispatched and distribution began.

On the 8th January a call was received by Animal Search UK's call centre to indicate that a cat matching Tinker's description had been handed in at a local vets. They had scanned the cat for its micro chip and confirmed it was indeed the ellusive Tinker!

Animal Search UK informed Joanne immediately and she was promptly reunited with him.

We hope Tinker thinks twice before deciding to live up to his name and cause mischief again...

Tiggy was found on the 1st February 2010 after being missing for 6 months. He was found in the next village along to where he was last seen; a lady remembered seeing Animal Search UK’s posters that urged people to take Tiggy to the vets if found so that he could be checked for a micro chip and reunited with his owners.

She did this and amazingly, after being on the run for 6 months, Tiggy had escaped with no injuries and looked well cared for.

He is now settling in back at home with his two very happy owners Penni and Luke.

After 14 days of not seeing her cat Rudi, owner Pat De'Pauli was very worried. When she had almost given up hope she received an answer phone message from a security guard at an abandoned hospital near to her home.

They had seen a ginger and white cat in the maternity block, but by the time they had managed to get hold of her the cat had gone.

Pat drove to the hospital anyway, with little hope of a result, and stood in the empty wards calling his name. She was just about to give up when she heard a cats cry becoming louder and louder. Out popped Rudi from a hole in the roof space - he had made himself a home in amongst the pigeons nest that filled the roof space.

He now wears a tracking collar, and after going missing more and more often, was traced to the exact same spot! Pat thinks that he will keep returning there until the hospital is demolished, but at least she will know the first place to look when he doesn’t come home for tea!

Pat commented ‘Some people say let him stay and he can fend for himself, but I love him dearly and despite the inconvenience of going back to the hospital time after time I will not give up on him because when he is at home who's lap is it he likes? Mine of course. It just goes to show that sometimes they just decide a dirty pigeon coop is much more preferable to a warm, food on demand home. Sometimes they are nearer that you think.’

When Ellie the cat who is owned by two airline workers went missing, little did they know she was trying to join them at great heights, having clambered onto the roof of a local industrial estate unit.
Several days had passed with no sightings or news of Ellie whatsoever so the owners decided to make use of their pet insurance provided by Argos and ask Animal Search UK to produce a professional advertising campaign. Thankfully the cover offered by Argos pet insurance was excellent in terms of the number of leaflets and posters we could provide. A total of 750 leaflets were printed straight away and 25 posters distributed throughout the local area.
A few days after the posters had been put up by the owners, a call was received in the early hours of one morning by a Security guard who had heard a cat meowing on the roof of his industrial unit that he looked after. A call was made immediately as per the instructions of the owner, and details were passed on straight away. With ladder in hand the owners marched down to the industrial estate ready to give Ellie a firm ticking off if she was found.
Luckily for Ellie the ladder reached the roof, and luckily for the owner it was Ellie who was stuck up there and again thanks to Animal Search UK’s call centre and widespread publicity campaign, one more pet was happily reunited with its owner. Ellie is now firmly grounded (excuse the pun) and will not be climbing up high or going near that industrial estate again. I think we can now announce that Ellie is not a member of the mile high club, but a member of the “30ft up in an industrial estate club”.
Glad to hear your home Ellie.
Once again this story just proves how important Pet insurance can be in times like this. We would like to pass on our thanks to the owners of Ellie for using our service and to Argos pet insurance who provided the facility for the advertising campaign in this case.
GOOD RESULT FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED.

Oscar the young kitten was feared stolen so his owners contacted Animal Search UK for help. A poster and leaflet campaign was delivered by Tom and Jenni the very next day (Saturday) to the owners home in Birmingham so that the distribution could begin.

Within two hours Tom received a phone call from a very happy owner to say that Oscar had just turned up at their house!

It is thought that he could have been stuck in a shed or outbuilding and was released when the owner of the property was prompted to check, as this is stated on the posters and leaflets.

Harry disappeared from his home and his owner Svetlana know that something wasn't quite right.

She contacted Animal Search UK to ask for their help with a poster and leaflet campaign. Within 3 days of the posters and leaflets being distributed a call was received in the Animal Search UK headquarters to say that a cat was stuck in a basement of a block of flats near to Svetlana's home. The caller could only make out that the cat was fluffy because it was so dark, but called just in case it was Harry.

Harry's owner was contacted and made her way to the flats where the caretaker was waiting to unlock the door, and out came Harry!

Seemingly none the worse for his adventure, he was taken home to enjoy a good meal.

It was very out of character for Balou to disappear, so when he didn’t return home as normal his owners were very worried. They set about distributing home made posters and leaflets, but with no luck.

Animal Search UK designed a
poster and leaflet campaign for Balou using their confidential free phone number and the posters and leaflets were delivered by Tom in the Animal Search van the next morning.

Several possible sightings were received in the head quarters and within 2 – 3 days a call came in to say that Balou had been taken in by a gentleman after he was found wet and bedraggled in the street. He called us after seeing one of Animal Search UK’s posters about Balou in a local petrol station.

Balou is now settling back in at home thanks to another successful campaign by Animal Search UK.

When Garfield went missing from his home in Devon on 1st August 2009, owner Paula contacted Animal Search UK for help.

A large poster and leaflet campaign was drawn up and sent out for distribution. Weeks passed with no news at all and then out of the blue a call was received at the end of October in the Animal Search UK head quarters instructing that a 'ginger cat' had been seen. Using the callers postcode Animal Search UK quickly narrowed down the list of possible matches for lost cats and Paula was contacted.

It was later discovered that Garfield was mistaken for a stray and was being fed by a number of local people from the next village along, including the gentleman responsible for his safe return.

9 weeks after he was last seen Garfield is now thankfully home safe and well.

When Cassie went missing from her home in the West Midlands on Good friday this year her owner Margaret Callaghan was distruaght and turned to Animal Search UK for help.

A widespread poster and leaflet campaign followed along with numerous phone calls to the local dog wardens and vets alike. If seemed that Cassie a collie cross had simply dissapeared from the face of the earth.
Using their experience of missing dogs and with the knowledge that they simply just do not dissapear, the advice to Margaret was to keep on advertising in a local paper using the Animal Search UK FREEPHONE telephone number in the hope that someone who had taken her in - or someone that knew where she was would see the advert and contact us.

Then on Sunday the 19th April 2009 (good job we're open seven days a week!) the phone rang and a lady explained that she thought she knew where Cassie was. It turned out that Cassie had been picked up by the lady (Sue) on the day she went missing.Thinking she was a stray Sue took Cassie to her parents house where she then lived for 100 days because they were unaware of the fact that they should have informed the dog warden about their new family member!

See a video of the moment Cassie was reunited here. Our thanks go to the BBC who kindly covered the story on BBC West Midlands (BBC WM) on Tuesday 21st July 2009.

For more details about what to do if you have found a dog- see this video.

After an agonising 3 months without their family pet a family from Scotland have been reunited with their cat Rocco following a 150-mile mystery journey to Cumbria.

Steven and Laura Buick said they had given up hope of finding Rocco after he disappeared from their Edinburgh home three weeks ago. They reported him to Animal Search UK and after following all the advice- no news was forthcoming:-(

On Saturday 18th July 2009, an amazing call was received at the Animal Search UK HQ. Rocco had been found at the Tebay service station and taken to the Animal Rescue Centre near Grayrigg.

He had no collar but was listed on the Animal Search UK website. The rescue centre had a poster about another missing pet on the wall of their centre and they immediately called us so that we could put them in touch with the owners.

It is not known how Rocco came to be so far from home, but one theory is he may have stowed away on board a lorry, and then taken up a temporary home at the Tebay service station.

Rebecca Walker, of the rescue centre, described the result as remarkable.

She said: "To have come this far is just crazy really."

Rocco was reunited with his owners on Sunday, who said they were delighted to have him back.