PR Lessons from a Lost Cat (Who Wasn’t So Lost After All)

A few weeks ago, we lost our cat.

And like the public relations pro I am, I sprang into strategic action.

We did it all:

Flyers on every light pole

Posts to Nextdoor, local Facebook groups, and lost pet sites

Conversations with neighbors and friends

And a special stop at the retirement home across the street

We handed out flyers there and ended up in a deep, beautiful conversation with a gentleman who lives just across from us. We’d never met before. But he didn’t just take the flyer — he told us about his life, his own stories, and he offered something even more valuable than information: presence.

Kids on bikes and skateboards roamed the neighborhood, circling back over and over to ask, “Have you found your cat yet?”

It was sweet. It was neighborly. It was human.

And, in the most unexpected of ways, it was perfect public relations.

Because that’s what PR really is: building trust, creating resonance, moving people to action because they care.

Eventually, Albus (our cat, who is both noble and aloof) returned. He’d been hiding much closer than we thought — curled somewhere quiet, only coming out when thunder spooked him back through our cracked garage door.

He was home. And so were we.

The only thing left was follow-up. Because when you mobilize a whole community, they want the ending. They want to be part of the story all the way through.

The absconder.

The Takeaway:

Great PR doesn’t always look like a press release or a viral post. Sometimes, it looks like a flyer. A conversation. A kid on a scooter asking how they can help.

It looks like being findable, and helping others feel useful in the process.

Whether it’s a message, a mission, or a missing cat — what we do matters. Because connection is always the point.